After a long search I have finally managed to get my hands on one of the Korean AIKON keyboard controllers (previously known as LIMKB). These were designed and produced by the Korean keyboard community OTD.
AIKON stands for "Aqua+inornate Kontroller" which is obviously based on the authors names. The firmware is being written by Aqua (you may know him for his key testing utlity) and inornate.
Despite the firmware for the controller being closed-source the schematics to build the controller yourself are available online. However, a few months back they had a limited run of them available as a professionally made SMD PCB. The one I got is one of that very limited run.
When you first get the controller it is not assembled. You get the PCB, a mini-usb jack and 2 jumpers.
After I finally managed to somehow attach the mini-usb jack to the PCB with my large soldering iron (it was really hard and dirty, believe me) the first thing I had to do is upload the firmware to the controller. This was actually quite easy!
To get the controller into firmware-programming mode you have to bridge 2 points on the PCB by using the smaller jumper that came with it. After you have bridged the jumper you can connect the controller by USB. If you decided to put the optonal status led onto the PCB you should now see it flashing which indicates the controller is ready for firmware programming/updating.
The AIKON is flashed with a simple commandline tool and is ready for further use in just a few seconds. After flashing the firmware you have to replug the USB cable and you can theoretically start programming the controller.
For my first project-attempt I decided to pick an old WYSE Terminal keyboard (tenkeyless). Somebody
had already figured out the matrix of the newer (full-size) version so I just went to see what would happen if I use the same Matrix for the older keyboard. I have desoldered the old controller chip and I am going to re-use the same solder points to connect the AIKON.
So many wires! It seems that the board uses a 9x13 matrix, so I setup the controller for this.
Back on the PC, I connected the AIKON and started the AIKON client. The controller is detected automatically and you are presented with a blank keymap showing all the rows and columns. Keymaps can be imported and exported, so if you wish to share a matrix with a friend or save different layouts/setups you can always export the full matrix and import/upload it to the controller again within seconds.
The second tab in the software is where the true magic begins:
This is where I went "holy crap, this is amazing!" for the first time. What you do here is simply press a key on the physical keyboard and then click (or select from the dropdown menu) the according key to map on the virtual keyboard in the AIKON software. Whenever you press a key the software automatically detects the row and column that was triggered and lets you asign a function. Every key can be mapped on 3 layers (normal, function lock, numlock). Whenever you update a key function it is automatically written back onto the controller in real-time. Yes, this is indeed real-time remapping.
Within minutes I had the first few keys on the WYSE board mapped out and fully working.
Sounds cool? You bet. Check out the video inornate has up on youtube which shows exactly what I just described:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qAIEpUoJjU
The controller also already supports full n-key rolover if you matrix supports it. There are also a few other options which could come in useful.
For now I don't know what else to say - I am pretty much stunned by how easy and convenient this thing is. Even without knowing the matrix you could probably have almost any vintage keyboard converted to USB in a matter of hours, assuming you can solder some and have some patience to figure out the matrix and remap the board.
Sadly this has been sold out and has been out of production since a long time now, so this is probably the only one I will ever get. Therefore I will keep it like a treasure!
Whatever happens to our "
opensource keyboard controller" project here on GH -- It will be damn hard to beat the AIKON in terms of features and usability.
I will keep this topic updated with my progress on converting the WYSE board to full USB.
