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geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => Topic started by: trashpanda on Fri, 06 March 2020, 09:57:45

Title: Resources for a beginner keyboard builder (and on electronics in general)?
Post by: trashpanda on Fri, 06 March 2020, 09:57:45
I'm just about finishing building my first keyboard, the Practice 60 (thanks, Cannonkeys!), and have really enjoyed the process of soldering and putting it all together, and now I'm itching for my next build.

I'm wondering about next steps for the beginner electronics tinkerer. I really enjoy going into theory and understanding why things work the way they do, and my end goal with keyboards is totally rebuilding an old Kaypro II keyboard I found at a garage sale (like, everything except the case and the caps) so I'll have to figure out PCB design or how to wire up the keys into a matrix or something (??).

Can anyone suggest some good resources (books? websites? youtube videos?) to learn some electronics basics + theory, and some specific keyboard basics about how all the wiring and stuff works + why. Any suggestions about where to go from here are also welcome (like should I build a theramin next? or what??)

thx y'all!
Title: Re: Resources for a beginner keyboard builder (and on electronics in general)?
Post by: Tactile on Fri, 06 March 2020, 11:25:41
Here's a place with a metric ****-ton of goodies, gadgets, things to build with instructions, videos, etc..

 https://www.adafruit.com/
Title: Re: Resources for a beginner keyboard builder (and on electronics in general)?
Post by: trashpanda on Fri, 06 March 2020, 12:24:27
yes, thx! i was given an old raspberry pi to play with and some components for it, but I'm more interested in how to learn like, the BASIC basics about analog electronics. I have some books on hold at the library but other than that I'm too green to know what to learn to get me where I want to go.

what steps will work me up to PBC design or wiring keys together? I'll need to make a keyboard to fit an old case that no modern PCB or plate will fit in.
Title: Re: Resources for a beginner keyboard builder (and on electronics in general)?
Post by: trashpanda on Fri, 06 March 2020, 13:09:54
holy moly just stumbled on Matt3o's amazing guide. this is EXACTLY what i'm looking for!!

https://matt3o.com/hand-wiring-a-custom-keyboard/
Title: Re: Resources for a beginner keyboard builder (and on electronics in general)?
Post by: abstractkb on Tue, 28 April 2020, 15:30:18
Also check out here: https://wiki.ai03.me/books/pcb-design/page/pcb-guide-part-1---preparations

It is all about how the keyboard PCBs work, and how you can design your own if you like.