Adding extra keys to your Kinesis Advantage

[Salt Peanuts]

Nice work! I like your key caps too.
About the sticking button, you can open it up and see if it's the switch or the outer button sticking, in which case you could file it or something...

Thanks!  The keycaps are combination of PBT DCS (the gray modifier keys), DSA Homing Dish and SA (Ctrl/Alt keys) from PMK, and Gateron PBT blank sets.  Bit of a pain as you need two Gateron sets for each board, thanks to needing two NumPad Enters and NumPad 0's for the thumb clusters.  You end up with a pile of leftovers.

I've opened up the sticking button and it's the outer button sticking, but haven't been able to figure out how/where it's sticking as it only sticks when pressed at a certain angle.

Also bought Seimitus 24mm buttons but haven't decided if I'm actually going to install them yet.

On a related note, found out there's adapter to use Cherry switches in Sanwa OBSF/OBSC buttons.  Unfortunately, OBSF/OBSC buttons are too tall (I think) for the palm button locations.

[themoon]

Here's my modded Advantage2 by the way:

Can you please add pics of the soldering for Advantage2 - for the palm keys? This is the only mod I'm probably going to make, but a bit scared of ruining the keyboard with my soldering 'skill' 

[sordna]

Here you go, I used pair 1+6 for the left palm button (mappable as F24 in the v-drive) and 4+6 for the right (mappable as F22)

[themoon]

Here you go, I used pair 1+6 for the left palm button (mappable as F24 in the v-drive) and 4+6 for the right (mappable as F22)
(Attachment Link) (Attachment Link)

Thanks a lot, that's exactly what I've been looking for!
Now to wait for gamefingers to arrive, and one of my advantages will have another advantage against other keyboards

Those little resistors (?) - are they needed when soldering just one key to the same pin?

I was hesitating to use the foot switch connector primarily due to some reports that on Mac os it was impossible to use keys on a switch as modifier keys, while it works just fine on win. Maybe I got it wrong or it would be solveable by using key trampling software, such as a karabiner. Using karabiner with Kinesis anyway - supported remapping/macro functions are just not enough for me.

Will post a pic here when mod is complete.

[sordna]

Footswitch actions are remappable to any key including modifier keys. By default one of them is mapped as shift already. I doubt there is any issue. Contact Kinesis support, they would know for sure. It's harmless to try it for yourself; get a footswitch, or just use a wire and touch different pairs of contacts on the RJ11 connector.

Those "resistors" are 1N4148 diodes. They are not really necessary, I just added them to simulate the Cherry switches Kinesis is using, which have built-in diodes for N-key rollover (I think it's actually 6KRO on these keyboards). I don't play games and haven't tested it, so it's mostly for completeness; your extra buttons will work without them.

[sordna]

Added part 7 to the wiki: extra keys on the Kinesis Advantage2. The main PCB can handle 4 extra keys, the thumbcluster PCBs another 2, and the footswitch 3, for a total of 9 extra keys, all of them individually remappable. Enjoy!

[themoon]

Here are the results of the mod. I've done it to both of my adv2's
Palm button location is not really ideal, but the key I chose for the mod (gamefinger 30) did not want to fit
in locations depicted in other photos here. It must be a bit taller.

Now I want to use QMK firmware and going for PCB designed by Stapelberg. Has anyone got any experience with it? What I wonder if palm keys I added (f22 and f24) will be recognized by QMK.

[sordna]

No clue about QMK firmware, but your work looks great!  BTW you can always bend the button terminals if the buttons are are too tall, that should help. How do you like the palm keys / what actions did you map them to ?
BTW recent firmwares on the Advantage2 support mouse clicks (the keyboard registers as a pointing device too in that case), that' s really cool, letting folks know if they haven't noticed!

[themoon]

Also thought about bending terminals, but even so keys were too tall to place them where I wanted. Anyhow, I'm pretty fine with current location too.

I'm using them as ctrl's on Mac, but this does not tell the whole story, as most of the modifiers are remapped at OSX level by Karabiner Elements. QMK here is an attempt to make this remapping software-independent and thereby cross-platform.

Built-in macro and remapping functions are not bad but waaay too limited IMO.

P. S. Thanks for the detailed info and inspiration in this topic!

[Phenix]

[GB] Kinesis Contoured/Advantage/2 QMK mod kit R2: still open http://reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/8n8y7n/gb_kinesis_contouredadvantage2_qmk_mod_kit_r2/g

Here is a GB for Staplebergs.

Arcade buttons will be usable - they are treat as „just another „mx“ switch. Only thing needed is to change the makefile and keycap to use them.

[Megavvolt]

Hi guys,

I keep getting a strange numpad button issue: when I press the button and try entering a numeric value nothing comes up.
I need to release and press the button again (sometimes even a couple of times) for it to start working.
Every time I press the button the numpad led lights up so I am sure the button is not at fault here.

Any ideas?

Two years and a gazillion of attempts later I figured it out.
The solution calls "StarTech.com USB to PS/2 Adapter"
I tried numerous adapters and they all pervert the signal somehow. This one is the only one that does the job.
It's not cheap, but it's well worth it.
Here's a couple of links just in case:
https://www.startech.com/Cables/USB-2.0/USB-Adapters/USB-to-PS2-Adapter-Keyboard-and-Mouse~USBPS2PC
https://www.idealo.de/preisvergleich/OffersOfProduct/4675832_-ps2-adapter-usbps2pc-startech.html


Oh, and in the quoted text the "numpad button" actually means "numpad pedal". I hooked up the "pedal" wires to the buttons I inserted into the keyboard and, to add insult to injury, I have also inserted a PS2 to USB converter into the keyboard. The converter has been replaced numerous times to no avail - they all kind of worked but the numpad pedal simply didn't. This Startech thingy was the only one that clicked.

[sordna]

Yesterday I decided to add a 5th button to my Advantage2. On the top side of the keyboard you can see 2 sorbothane pads I use to rest an Arkscan TP01 touchpad which works really well on my xubuntu workstation.

[derpdederp]

What's your info on switch compatibility? I was wondering about heavier switches on thumb keys, medium on main, and light (cherry mx speed) on F-keys.

I'm also curious about potentially using Cherry MX Speed on all Kinesis Advantage keys... Might increase typing speed, which is what I'm after.

[sordna]

F-keys have those small Cherry ML switches, not sure what you could replace them with.
The easiest switches to replace would be the thumb ones since they are simply soldered and not glued like the main ones are and yes, cherry MX black or other heavy switch would be good. Just note the switches on this keyboard are the ones with integrated diodes which are harder to find. I've had a similar idea, like putting heavier switches on the thumbs, and lighter switches or lighter springs in the outer columns of the keyboard (the ones you hit with the pinky fingers) while keeping cherry MX reds in the rest of the keyboard but decided that it's too much work. Other GH members have more experience replacing switches altogether. BTW I recently tried a Kinesis Advantage 2 Quiet Red and liked it a lot, and it avoids the need for o-rings since the switch have a softer landing than regular MX reds.

[derpdederp]

I'm thinking MX Black Silenced on mine. However, I've not been able to get Kinesis to reply via support - and that is the way recommended by the guides to replace the switches (meaning to buy the parts from them instead of re-soldering existing). I'm not sure what's recommended here, but I'd like to know which switches are compatible ahead of time - perhaps something better than the cherry switches are also compatible.

[derpdederp]

This seems like the thread to ask: how does one replace the switches and keycaps of the F keys with regular sized keycaps? It appears like that was done in this picture: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=74753.0 but I'm unsure how or what was replaced exactly.

[sordna]

I've never tried to mess with the function keys. However you could probably go with a breadboard PCB cut to the right size!

[sordna]

I wonder, has anyone added palm keys to the Kinesis Advantage360 ? Please comment if you are aware of a suitable surface-mountable switch (must be easy to depress) that could be attached onto the keyboard.