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geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => DIY Discussions ARCHIVE => Topic started by: zmurf on Sun, 29 August 2010, 15:32:08
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At last! I finished it... I put together the trackpoint from a Lenovo Thinkpad USB keyboard with trackpoint with a Cherry 80-3000 keyboard.
So now I'm one of the few in the world with a mechanical keyboard with trackpoint. :)
(And probably the only one with a Cherry MX clear keyboard with the latest generation of trackpoint in it. :D )
My work can be seen on the following link to my Picasa album.
http://picasaweb.google.com/k.peter.mattsson/CherryG803000LQCWithLatestGenerationTrackpoint#
Any questions will gladly be answered here.... :)
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Some linked pictures:
(http://lh5.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqGZb7hisI/AAAAAAAAWpA/OoAHfMvxO5E/s640/201008011833.jpg)
Three keyboards are going to be one. From top:
Cherry G80-3000LQCDE-2 (Brand new)
Lenovo Thinkpad USB with Trackpoint Keyboard (Brand new)
IBM Trackpoint USB Space Saver Keyboard (refurbished)
(http://lh5.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqGZ547DFI/AAAAAAAAWpA/W5R_CiSWSi4/s912/201008211919.jpg)
Lenovo Thinkpad USB trackpoint keyboard opened and seen from underneath. USB controller is already detached. Trackpoint unit is located under the metal plate in the centre of the keyboard.
(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqGbYWzefI/AAAAAAAAWpA/KCgjdHHCkGo/s912/201008211921.jpg)
(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqGgsg2AtI/AAAAAAAAWpA/wZY6mmpISYU/s912/201008211930.jpg)
Drinking coffee... and whiskey! You have to have coffee and whiskey while drilling the hole for a trackpoint in a Cherry keyboard... :)
(http://lh5.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqGhYrJDGI/AAAAAAAAWqU/eZMwl0SVPxs/s912/201008241934.jpg)
Separated the membrane layers of Lenovo Thinkpad USB trackpoint keyboard.
(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqGjiY9H3I/AAAAAAAAWpA/xPf9EnQe3PU/s912/201008251940.jpg)
Trackpoint unit from the Lenovo Thinkpad USB keyboard.
(http://lh4.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqGmTFgpvI/AAAAAAAAWpA/qgbDoL3wB-o/s912/201008251944.jpg)
Cut the membrane to minimum. The buttons only use three conductors (signals) on one layer and one conductor (ground) on the other layer.
(http://lh4.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqGm4u6lPI/AAAAAAAAWpA/57m3lJF-dSY/s640/201008251945.jpg)
Cut the membrane to minimum. The buttons only use three conductors (signals) on one layer and one conductor (ground) on the other layer.
(http://lh5.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqGnb0pMGI/AAAAAAAAWuU/p6SWCk5OYyY/s912/201008251946.jpg)
Some soldering were necessary since I drilled of some conductors.
(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqGu-vtkfI/AAAAAAAAWpA/91lRCO9pI4E/s912/201008251951.jpg)
Cherry MX Clears with a hole between them.
(http://lh5.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqGxjHgGhI/AAAAAAAAWpA/5577bYn2wQ8/s912/201008251955.jpg)
Lenovo Thinkpad USB keyboard and Trackpoint USB controller
(http://lh4.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqGzfuwq-I/AAAAAAAAWpA/tBbkZ9QrHAo/s912/201008251960.jpg)
Stick from the IBM board.
(http://lh4.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqGz-4KH8I/AAAAAAAAWpA/jkF9Y5dXvks/s912/201008251961.jpg)
Buttons with hole made in them for the rubber cap.
(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqG1oemBsI/AAAAAAAAWpA/zV0MU-SGrhg/s912/201008281965.jpg)
When cutting of the stick of the IBM trackpoint keyboard it broke in the top. Fixed it with some epoxy.
I don't know what material the stick is made of. But it is rock hard. It took three cutting wheels on my Dremel to get through. And even then it managed to crack?!
(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqG3Ez0CNI/AAAAAAAAWpA/hcAzMve-lw4/s912/201008281967.jpg)
Buttons mounted... four screws should do it. :)
(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqG51TRA4I/AAAAAAAAWpA/KrIMUbAuo1c/s912/201008281971.jpg)
(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqG6k6yYrI/AAAAAAAAWpA/ArO2iwxKBzs/s912/201008281974.jpg)
IBM stick glued with epoxy to the Lenovo trackpoint unit.
(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqG7QUKapI/AAAAAAAAWpA/coXydS4MSRY/s912/201008291975.jpg)
Trackpoint unit and USB controller mounted to the Cherry board.
(http://lh4.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqG79Ban4I/AAAAAAAAWpA/tdMY-mO8k48/s912/201008291981.jpg)
Everything put together. Glued a plastic part to the cherry shell above the trackpoint mouse buttons to hide the membrane. Not the most beautiful solution. But it works. Also twisted the two USB cables (One for the Cherry keybord controller and one for the trackpoint controller.) and connected these to an USB hub. Also this is not the most beautiful solution, but it gets the work done. The original thought were to build in the USB hub into the cherry keyboard and have a mini USB connector on the back of it...
(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqG81SdisI/AAAAAAAAWpA/xPWLpKZ-KEw/s912/201008291983.jpg)
(http://lh5.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqG9b35dwI/AAAAAAAAWpA/3WvRzNZrKX4/s912/201008291984.jpg)
(http://lh4.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqG-bNo95I/AAAAAAAAWpA/2mLboADDGA8/s912/201008291985.jpg)
(http://lh5.ggpht.com/_2uiP-mGY9II/THqG-8ULRPI/AAAAAAAAWpA/j0fUAoFbN4g/s912/201008291988.jpg)
On the label it says "Refer to manual for proper installation." .... that is what I've done... right?
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At last! I finished it... I put together the trackpoint from a Lenovo Thinkpad USB keyboard with trackpoint with a Cherry 80-3000 keyboard.
So now I'm one of the few in the world with a mechanical keyboard with trackpoint. :)
(And probably the only one with a Cherry MX clear keyboard with the latest generation of trackpoint in it. :D )
My work can be seen on the following link to my Picasa album.
http://picasaweb.google.com/k.peter.mattsson/CherryG803000LQCWithLatestGenerationTrackpoint#
Any questions will gladly be answered here.... :)
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Added some pictures with comments to the article.
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bravo!!
I want to do the same thing for a long time
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@arieswu:
Just open a bottle of whiskey and get cracking then... ;) (http://xkcd.com/323/)
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That's a neat keyboard. Looks a lot like an M13. The next thing I'd work on would be neatening up those buttons for the trackpoint. But nice work!
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That is totally awesome.
It's too bad you had to move the buttons back and leave a cut hole though...
But I guess on your next one (which will include the blue enter key w/ mini USB cable), you'll know to only cut a little bit ;)
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But I guess on your next one (which will include the blue enter key w/ mini USB cable), you'll know to only cut a little bit ;)
YES! Next one! Of course! There will most definitely be a next one....
...
OR I just keep modifying this one... get a blue enter key and a red Esc key. Move the mouse buttons to a correct position. Put in a mini USB port. And remove the Cherry logo and put something nice there instead... like ... coffee...
I also have to change the LEDs to classic old school red instead of the green they are now.
One thing I also want to do is to get a Logitech M500 mouse (http://www.logitech.com/en-us/mice-pointers/mice/devices/5743) and build in the free scrolling wheel somewhere in the keyboard.. like between the right shift key and the arrow keys.
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YES! Next one! Of course! There will most definitely be a next one....
...
OR I just keep modifying this one... get a blue enter key and a red Esc key. Move the mouse buttons to a correct position. Put in a mini USB port. And remove the Cherry logo and put something nice there instead... like ... coffee...
I also have to change the LEDs to classic old school red instead of the green they are now.
One thing I also want to do is to get a Logitech M500 mouse (http://www.logitech.com/en-us/mice-pointers/mice/devices/5743) and build in the free scrolling wheel somewhere in the keyboard.. like between the right shift key and the arrow keys.
You could also put in a scrollpoint stick as an alternative to a wheel -- you'd get 360 scrolling (with drivers installed), but maybe it's too similar to the trackpoint. A wheel would be easier to use in a cramped area.
The middle button on the trackpoint assembly acts as a scrolling device I should add, you hold it down and then tilt the trackpoint up/down and it transforms into a pressure sensitive scrolling device... also works horizontally, much like the scrollpoint.
As for a logo, you can do what Ripster did:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/IBM-Thinkpad-Sticker-Badge-Logo-Label-C3-/180474582929?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a051f9791 (http://cgi.ebay.ca/IBM-Thinkpad-Sticker-Badge-Logo-Label-C3-/180474582929?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a051f9791)
Buy one of those IBM badges, cut off "thinkpad," and voila!
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The middle button on the trackpoint assembly acts as a scrolling device I should add, you hold it down and then tilt the trackpoint up/down and it transforms into a pressure sensitive scrolling device... also works horizontally, much like the scrollpoint.
Yes... Im very well aware of this. It's one of the reasons why I chose to get the trackpoint from a latest version of the Lenovo trackpoint keyboard. That way I get Win7 drivers, which means that the scroll functionality also work correctly in Win7 (Which they didn't do on my old IBM Trackpoint USB space saver keyboard... which it didn't exist any Win7 drivers for.).
But there is some problems.
At work where I use the keyboard we use Visual Studio to do our developing. And for some reason the trackpoint scroll function doesn't work in the code window... when you try to scroll there you just start to scroll around in the project explorer... :P
(Found a solution for this problem which I present HERE (http://geekhack.org/showpost.php?p=219463&postcount=17) )
With a scroll wheel this wouldn't be a problem since it works to scroll in the code area with a scroll wheel mouse. And I really like the free spinning functionality on the M500.
As for a logo, you can do what Ripster did:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/IBM-Thinkpad-Sticker-Badge-Logo-Label-C3-/180474582929?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a051f9791 (http://cgi.ebay.ca/IBM-Thinkpad-Sticker-Badge-Logo-Label-C3-/180474582929?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a051f9791)
Buy one of those IBM badges, cut off "thinkpad," and voila!
Hmm.. that a really nice idea. And that way I also get the nice looking original IBM logo with some colours. :)
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Great mod!!!!
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Coffee and whiskey is great for drilling anything, really. Just don't drink too much whiskey, or you won't be drilling anything. Your wife/GF/whatever will be really disappointed.
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That was o2dazone. Oatmeal gives me the ****s. Some beer, too, but that's the next day.
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Actually.. the whiskey made me slip with the dremel... so I had to do one extra soldering...
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but that's ok... cause it was whiskey. ;D
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Actually.. the whiskey made me slip with the dremel... so I had to do one extra soldering...
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but that's ok... cause it was whiskey. ;D
Jack Daniel's crazy whiskey:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/90/Jack_Daniels.jpg)
Hmmm Jack Daniel kind of looks like Claude Debussy:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Claude_Debussy_ca_1908%2C_foto_av_F%C3%A9lix_Nadar.jpg)
I guess that's where he got inspiration to write "claire de lune".
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Bah! Jack Daniel's ain't whiskey! Jack Daniel's is kerosene...
Give me a bottle of Black Adder or Laphroaig un-chilled filtered... THAT'S whiskey! :)
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SCROLL FIX FOR VISUAL STUDIO
I also found a solution for making Trackpoint scroll in Visual Studio 2010 work ...
There is apparently two different drivers depending on if you have a Lenovo laptop or if you use the Lenovo Thinkpad USB with Trackpoint keyboard.
For the laptop keyboard you just have to find the tp4table.dat inside your C:\Program Files\Lenovo\TrackPoint\ directory. Open it in Notepad and under:
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; Pass 0 rules (These rules run first)
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
add the lines:
; VisualStudio 2010
*,*,devenv.exe,*,*,*,WheelStd,0,9
Then reboot your machine and it should work.
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On the Lenovo Thinkpad USB with Trackpoint keyboard on the other hand this file doesn't exist. So you have to go for an alternative solution.
Download either the Marble Mouse Scroll Wheel software:
http://simans.net/marble/
or this AutoHotkey script:
http://cid-007cd0e9a587a8a1.office.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Drivers/trackpoint.exe?wa=wsignin1.0&sa=901893068
Then turn off the trackpoint drivers scrolling function (in the Choose Scrolling or Magnifying Glass Functions part choose Neither) and use the scrolling functions of one of the two softwares I just linked to.
On the Marble Mouse Scroll Wheel software you will have to change from using the fourth key to the third key (middle key) to be able to scroll. With this software you can also choose you be able to scroll horizontally. You also have to activate that the program starts automatically at boot.
The AutoHotKey script on the other hand have a much smoother scroll. But it doesn't scroll horizontally and you will have to manually put it in the autostart directory.
I choose to use the Marble Mouse Scroll Wheel software since I want the possibility to scroll horizontally.
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lol, that's funny you can use drivers from another device. Well at least it works!
Visual studio hey? Did you know they made the 2010 visual studio within visual studio?
(http://www.soundentistry.com/storage/Charlie%20Daniels.jpg)
The devil came down to Georgia, looking for some whiskey to steal
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Visual studio hey? Did you know they made the 2010 visual studio within visual studio?
Yepp... Visual Studio: The most generic Windows program on the market. It can do what ever program function you want... as long as you know how to "configure" it.
;)
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Hmm, if anyone wants to save some money and build their own TP controller, I found this page:
http://wwwcssrv.almaden.ibm.com/trackpoint/
http://wwwcssrv.almaden.ibm.com/trackpoint/download.html
Appears to be for TP IV.
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wget -r -np http://wwwcssrv.almaden.ibm.com/trackpoint/
Great stuff. Thanks!
Btw: Scottish Whisky, Irish Whiskey.
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zmurf: I'm really happy to see your trackpoint mod. I want a USB trackpoint for my Kinesis Contour mod (in my sig), I'm using PS/2 with a converter now. Wish I saw your work sooner.
You've done a GREAT job with the photos, too, very helpful.
If you have any other info whatsoever, it is appreciated. Any other thoughts on "if you were to do it again"...because otherwise I'll just copy your efforts as they are listed now.
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Btw: Scottish Whisky, Irish Whiskey.
Aah.. great.. didn't know that... I just thought it was different spelling on the same thing... like American "color" vs British "colour"...
zmurf: I'm really happy to see your trackpoint mod. I want a USB trackpoint for my Kinesis Contour mod (in my sig), I'm using PS/2 with a converter now. Wish I saw your work sooner.
You've done a GREAT job with the photos, too, very helpful.
If you have any other info whatsoever, it is appreciated. Any other thoughts on "if you were to do it again"...because otherwise I'll just copy your efforts as they are listed now.
Nice to hear that you have use of my photos. :)
One of the things that made me take all those photos and put them up on the web was that I couldn't find any pictures at all. So I really took a chance when I ordered the Lenovo keyboard. I had NO IDEA if it really could be disassembled. It could as well have been $50 in the sea...
I'm really happy with how my solution work... I really only have two regrets:
- I wish that I would have used a Topre Variable Realforce keyboard instead. Even though I think that the Cherry Clear switches is the best alternative of quiet switches in cheaper boards (I think blue switches is better... but makes to much sound since I use the keyboard at work), the variable force in the Realforce keyboard is making it superior for writing... and I'm a coder... I write a lot. But the Topre was to expansive for me. Maybe I will buy on in the future and move the trackpoint from this keyboard.
- I could have made the keyboard look better... but that's mostly a question of me being a little bit lazy and not putting enough time in the project.
Otherwise there is no regrets... the solution works better then I could ever have wished for. :)
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Wow, I've been looking all over for a mod like this. Thank you!
I have a question, so you got the stick and associated small pcb from the IBM unit and everything else was from the Lenovo unit?
Did you know beforehand what you needed from what? What was wrong with the pointer from the Lenovo board that made you need the IBM one?
Thanks!
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Sorry for this incredible late answer
so you got the stick and associated small pcb from the IBM unit and everything else was from the Lenovo unit?
Actually.. the only thing I took from the IBM unit was the stick... only the stick... no pcb... and glued it to the lenovo trackpoint.
Did you know beforehand what you needed from what? What was wrong with the pointer from the Lenovo board that made you need the IBM one?
No... I did'nt know anyhing... I did some dissembling of the different parts to get a feeling for what I needed and how to implement it... but mostly i just adhoced it as I went along.
I did know though that I would need a longer stick since the mechanical keyboards keys is like 1cm thick and the lenovo keys is just some mm thick. Thats what was wrong with the lenovo stick.. it wasnt long enough.
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Thanks so much for answering; I like your hyper-scroll mod too!
I'm hoping to add a trackpoint to my Poker soon.
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Here is (http://www.rawiriblundell.com/?page_id=155#comment-2787) some pin information I found for using the trackpoint from a ThinkPad laptop keyboard. If this is an option, it would be a lot cheaper to source the trackpoint unit from a ThinkPad replacement keyboard. Not sure how separable the TrackPoint and buttons are from the rest of the keyboard, though, and you'd still need the longer stick.
Edit: Looks like the trackpoint can be detached, though I couldn't verify because it needs a very tiny and blunt phillips. The buttons are part of the main keyboard, and would require some cutting.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]23408[/ATTACH]
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Nice as another option. Cheaper is certainly better considering the amount of product waste on projects such as this.
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Quoting it here for future reference, since the post is a couple years old already. One downside to PS/2 is you can't install a tiny USB hub to eliminate the 2nd cable.
Klaus Albers Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 3:05 am
I have a T42 thinkpad keyboard. I figured out how to use the Trackpoint as a PS/2 mouse. On the circuit board of the trackpoint, pad 1 is the pad closest to the edge of the board:
Pad Pin Function
覧覧覧覧覧-
1 5 RST
2 1 RXD
3 2 TXD
4 4 INT1/CLK
5 8/3 GND
6 14/22 VCC/AVCC
7 24 INT0/CLK
8 27 Middle key
9 27 Middle Key
10 27 Middle key
The driver chip is a TPM754 by Philips. Connect TXD/INT0 by 4.7k to VCC, RST to GND and use a keyboard PS/2 cable to connect VCC/GND/TXD/INT0 to your PC. That痴 it.
Now I値l have to figure out the keyboard matrix, but I知 getting no beeps so far. I値l post the progress.
Cheers
Klaus
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One thing I also want to do is to get a Logitech M500 mouse (http://www.logitech.com/en-us/mice-pointers/mice/devices/5743) and build in the free scrolling wheel somewhere in the keyboard.. like between the right shift key and the arrow keys.
Regarding the mousewheel, I like the freewheeling too, but I modified my current mouse, a cheap Logitech RX 250, to get this functionality. I just removed the little steel ball that is pressed against the detents on the wheel by a small spring.
The wheel has not enough inertia to scroll for more than 2 seconds, but that's generally enough. And it cannot be toggled between free and clicky scrolling. But all in all, I like this mouse enough that I have not bought a more expensive one just for that feature. The resolution is fine (1000dpi) and the wheel can be nudged left and right for horizontal scrolling.
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Edit: Looks like the trackpoint can be detached, though I couldn't verify because it needs a very tiny and blunt phillips. The buttons are part of the main keyboard, and would require some cutting.
(Attachment) 23408[/ATTACH]
The keyboard in the USB model and in the laptops should be the same. So you should be able to use my pictures of how to cut in the keyboard as a reference. And yes... the trackpoint unit is just to screwed to the keyboard...
For my part I also needed to have an USB connection since my work computer doesn't have any PS2 connectors. And I don't think the Lenovo drivers would work well if you connected the trackpoint to a computer through a generic PS2->USB adapter.
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Wow, expensive whiskey, got a bottle right here. :)