Slashdot Mirror
Modding a Thinkpad Keyboard for External Use?
Rinisari asks: "I've recently acquired a working keyboard from a IBM Thinkpad. It has ~87 keys, mousestick with left, right, and rocker buttons, and five other buttons: IBM, volume up/down/mute, and a power button (part number 08K4785). I want to make an interface cable, preferably USB but PS/2 will suffice, to be able to use this on my desktop. Has anyone ever tried something like this?"
Have you checked if this thing has a keyboard controller chip built in? Normal PC keyboards have their own logic but laptop keyboards AFAIK don't, the logic may be somewhere on the laptop's mainboard.
Are you aware you can buy keyboards from IBM that are pretty close to what you want? In fact, this is slightly cooler, just because it comes with the number-pad, too..
D C= 461017
D C= 170470
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?E
Or, if you really want the number-pad-less version, try this:
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?E
Don Head
UNIX/Linux Administrator
Available from IBM:
88-Key Space Saver II Keyboard (Business Black)
Link is to the danish model.
I spent some time pondering something similar while putting together a home-made vertical split keyboard.
Didn't come across anything with IBM's name on it, but among the salvage laptop keyboards that I found in parts stores, none were easy to turn into a working keyboard. They not only lacked a controller, but they seemed to have entirely unique path layouts, making the prospect of finding a suitable ready-built controller unlikely. That's based solely on the three I explored - perhaps there are standards among some manufacturers.
The only suitable solution I could see was to cut every single circuit path on the keyboard and then wire them up *by hand* to a keyboard controller ripped out of a desktop keyboard, after carefully tracing out every path from the original desktop keyboard. Needless to say, it didn't seem worth the time required. But, with a DMM, a dozen dremel cutting disks, a half pound of solder, a weekend, and a whole lot of patience you could do it.
If you're willing to spend 100 bucks or more, you can find programmable controllers, and you might get lucky and find one compatible with the existing laptop keyboard. But, for that price, you can probably buy a keyboard to suit your needs right off the shelf.
If by some chance you find a nifty solution, please post it here. I'd love to see it.
I guess the silliest answer would be to attach it to an ibm laptop and write a program to mimic a keyboard on the usb port. (I suspect you'd run into latency problems - but it could be fun just for the shear absurdity of it.)
In order to pull this off, you will need to figure out how the keyboard's matrix is set up, then hook it up properly to a microcontroller, and then program said microcontroller to work with PS/2 (forget USB). Simply put no easy task. And then there's the trackpoint. With that, you will have to find a microcontroller with analog inputs, and figure out how the thing behaves electrically. Just give it up and buy a new keyboard. This thing is a task only for someone who knows a lot about EE, and has the time to do it.
Mewyn Dy'ner