I have 5 ideas for things I would like to do to my 122 key Model M and can only find a few reference of anyone trying any one of these with any keyboard. I am in the planning stage, so some of these might get dropped and new things else might get added. I plan on documenting the progress in this space and hope that the Geekhack community will add encouragement, insight, and helpful suggestions on how best to proceed. With any luck, this might become a group project that we can all enjoy – if only vicariously.
[h=3]Mod I: Key Layout[/h]
Why did I buy a board with 21 extra keys? Good question. I don’t play games or use macros frequently. But there have been times that it would have been nice to have media control keys and maybe even a Windows key (gasp!). I was thinking that I would like to have my mouse closer to the home row. A SSK would be nice, but with the extra keys a terminal has up top and to the left, I could do something like what Daniel Beaver did
here, but hack off everything right of the Enter key. I did some test arrangements. This is what I'm planning.
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[h=3]Mod II: Terminal Space Saving Keyboard Hack[/h]
I wanted to embed a 2.25” trackball inside the case on the right side. I would have covered most of the numeric and directional keys with a custom plastisol (think fake fishing worm) wrist rest, leaving two double-wide keys for mouse buttons. But it seems most people would prefer to see the “hack” instead of the “track”, so a change of plan here. I’m calling this the “TSSK” hack. The end result will be less than 15” wide which is about the same as the original SSK.
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But doing this hack well will not be a walk in the park either. Cutting the back plate and barrel plate will be simple “remove 6 inches from the right”. This is not the case with the outer shell and one of the membrane sheets. Lets take a look at the membrane sheets first. The bottom sheet can be cut off because all traces terminate within the cut. In other words, no traces enter the cut area and then exit the cut area. See the graphic below - blue circles are termination points.
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Unlike the bottom sheet, the top sheet has several traces that enter the cut area and then exit the cut area. If i were to cut this sheet, these traces would need to be jumpered or some keys would not work. Instead, I'm not going to cut this sheet, but will insulate the traces and fold them under the back plate.
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For the keyboard case, cutting off the right side would remove ... the right side. We need the right end to keep the case rigid, so we have to remove 6” from the middle and weld the two sides together. But this can not be done with vertical cuts. We want to keep other structural element of the board. Take a look at the image below to see what I’m talking about.
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You would want to cut the top where I put the two red lines, but then you would loose the right most front shell clip and the right shell screw receiver. With both of these gone, the right side would likely feel loose. As a work around, we could make a mold of the screw receiver, cast a copy and glue this in a new location. For the bottom of the shell, we want to keep the feet and the screw holes. This shifts the cut away from the top half – which is good for strength, but you have to watch out that the drainage holes and shell tabs and slots line up. We also loose a back-plate support. I can move that in the same was as the screw receiver on the top. Rather than all this cutting, I might want to build a case from scratch. I plan on consulting someone in the “Plastics Fabrication” industry for some guidance.
[h=3]Mod III: Built-In USB Hub[/h]
So when I bought the board, I also ordered a Teensy and followed Soarer’s excellent
instructions to make a USB converter. Depending on how the trackball is controlled (by teensy or discrete chip) I might need to embed a USB hub. I have found that the keyboard is a very convenient location for connecting other USB devices and there are good port-mounting points on the Model M sides.
I will have one USB-A port on either side of the keyboard. I’m using two panel mounts that came with a motherboard I purchased long ago. First, I check placement – is there room to mount it? Will anything get in the way when the case is reassembled? It looks like this spot is good on both sides.
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I used the first 6 inches of the original cable and pin header as the leads to the Teensy. Double-sided tape on the back will keep it secured against the backplate. For the USB hub, I ordered an "octopus" type from e-bay. This one has a mini-USB connector that will mate with the Teensy. I will be replacing the USB-A male with a USB-B female.
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[h=3]Mod IV: Keyboard Overhead Light[/h]
The 1394100 does not have any indicator lights, but the USB converter adds them if desired. I saw
this video and thought I could add something similar but a little more professional looking by using a booklight like
this. My wife ordered one for her Kindle, but said it did not stay attached securely. It is powered by 3 AAA batteries (4.5v). It has an 8" long gooseneck and a switch on top. When it is not needed, i can fold it along the back of the keyboard.
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[h=3]Mod V: On-Key Caps Lock Indicator[/h] And while we are adding indicator lights, why not have one on the Caps-Lock key like the Leopold? The Model M has a plastic stud at the top left of the key. I will be drilling that out when I do a bolt mod, what if I ran a 3mm LED or light tube up that hole. I could drill out a hole in the top left of the Caps Lock key-cap and then back-fill with translucent epoxy or plastic.
Well, there you have 5 new ideas of what someone could do with an IBM Terminal. I plan on doing some or all of these and showing off the results here. But I need your ideas and experience to help me along the way.
Thanks
