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Ignore my post. Jumped the gun. While I do have 2 keyboards, they are for IBM terminals and not adaptable for PC use.

I assume you mean they cannot be directly plugged in. This is not the same as "adaptable". Depending on the amount of effort you are willing to spend, almost anything/a. is adaptable for use as a PC keboard.

http://www.multipledigression.com/type/

I've been working on converting an old smith-corona for a while now, based on the above site. Day to day use would be difficult, due to the lack of a numeral 1 (you used to just use a lower case l), an exclamation point (period, move back a space, apostrophe), arrow keys, escape, etc. But you can hit enter by slapping the carriage return, and it has some extra keys that could be wired to act like the missing ones, at least enough for it to work for simple emails/web browsing. Plus it would look far better in my living room than my current keyboard.

You miss the mechanical carriage return you say? Wait no more!

http://www.multipledigression.com/type/

Often super new technology calls to mind technology of bygone eras. For example, UNIX-style command lines made a huge comeback in the 1990s among general computer users (the experts never left it). The Matrix provides visual representations of this phenomenon in the form of command centers jury-rigged with rotary phones and virtual staging grounds furnished with leather wing chairs.

But one of the most memorable versions of this, to my mind, is William Gibson's 1984 Neuromancer which overlays elements of film noir with information technology. Fitzpatrick's typewriter mod calls to my mind Gibson, Burroughs, and the Wachowski brothers, to name a few. The retro-tech feel is just too fucking cool and I wish something like this was available for mere mortals (who don't know how to solder) such as myself.

The moment where Fitzpatrick's reminded me most of Gibson is when he writes:

Then I found that a few of the wires had lifted the conductor right off the board so I had to scrape off the green insulation a little further up the circuit to redo it, [. . .] like a junkie looking for a new vein.

Here, Fitzpatrick seems to be purposefully calling to mind Gibson and Burroughs. Way, way cool stuff, both the mod and the writing.

Kudos.

If you just want to browse the pictures look here:

http://www.multipledigression.com/type/pics/index. htm

is this one

I was considering doing this with a vintage mechanical typewriter... woulda looked cool but it's a lot of work. Here's a website of a guy that's already done something like this with PS/2. It's pretty easy to convert ps/2 keyboards to usb. the typewriter-keyboard conversion [http://www.multipledigression.com/type/]

the typewriter-keyboard conversion

If you're that into typewriters, you might be interested in this typewriter-keyboard conversion page (featured on /. a while ago here).

Actually, I'd quite like to have open-source 8048 code for a keyboard, such that I could build a sensible PCB for a custom keyboard, and not screw around with lunacy like this.

This might be moot with USB hardware, though. Don't know, haven't looked.

Anyone notice he took a photo of his checkbook on his photos?

http://www.multipledigression.com/typewriter/pics/ pages/type07.htm

Opps.