Restoring an OG HHKB Lite (It's done!)

[streetwizzur]

Okay so I bought this nasty ass  HHKB lite from ebay for 50 US smackers.



It looks like someone tried to eat it or something




Here are the guts

Pretty hefty domes


PCB/plate and daughterboard


Those jerks over at PFU put a screw under the dip switch table.


SO I started by tearing it down. Then I wet sanded all the mangled edges and scrubbed all the stickers off. I also cleaned all the caps.

Now it looks like this.





Since I had to mess up a sticker, I made a new one in illustrator, with a couple personal touches. (Aka a logo and a character that I put on stickers)



What I need help with is converting it to usb with hasu's converter (or something similar.)

Here is whats goin on inside this thing, the pin connector on the right is for ground, power (v?), clock and data


and here's what I made with a teensy pulled from a failed project

The pins are connected to what hasu said to use in this this thread: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=14618.0

Do I need to connect the plate to the teensy in some way to get it to work? Unless I have the firmware wrong. I don't really know much of anything when it comes to tmk.

AKA what do i need to do to make a usb cord come out of this thing

[streetwizzur]

Also, from the ebay listing

[livingspeedbump]

Also, from the ebay listing

Show Image

Haha love the pic  :thumb:

So to make sure I'm up to speed where you are, did you cut the original cable to attach to the teensy or did you get another clip? and have you flashed the controller yet or not?

The MAIN point is not to swap up the cables, you definitely dont wanna mix up the power cable, and it looks like you are good in that regard.

[streetwizzur]

Also, from the ebay listing

Show Image

Haha love the pic  :thumb:

So to make sure I'm up to speed where you are, did you cut the original cable to attach to the teensy or did you get another clip? and have you flashed the controller yet or not?

The MAIN point is not to swap up the cables, you definitely dont wanna mix up the power cable, and it looks like you are good in that regard.

I didn't cut anything. I made a new clip with a 4 pin connector from an old power supply and wired the G,V,C and D to the pins on the teensy that hasu said too

I did flash the default ps2_usb firmware to the teensy. Do I need to ground the plate to the teensy? My intention is to have the teensy replace the cable and then put it inside the hhkb.

[livingspeedbump]

Gotcha, that's good. Always a good idea not to cut original cables 

So you have flashed his firmware and nothing is happening when you plug it in?

[streetwizzur]

It's being read as a keyboard in device manager, but yeah nothing works.

[streetwizzur]

Okay so I just used soarers firmware and it worked fine, I just gotta clean it up now!

EDIT:
yeeeeeee

[funderburker]

Damn, boi! You did a wonderful job on this one. Since the "In the mail" thread started looking for OG Lite but they're hard to find. How is it in the "feels" department?

[livingspeedbump]

i wake up and you have it working, excellent!!!

I'll say I enjoyed the Lite I had like yours more than the OG HHKB. It actually is a pretty decent little keyboard 

[streetwizzur]

It feels like a nice rubber dome, it's pretty loud though. Very snappy up-stroke. I was about to drop a 100 bux on an og hhkb but then I found this, I'm glad I did.

[jwaz]

It feels like a nice rubber dome, it's pretty loud though. Very snappy up-stroke. I was about to drop a 100 bux on an og hhkb but then I found this, I'm glad I did.

Nice job, the old rubber dome hhkbs are cool but by no means should warrant a $100 price tag. Now get a pro 😎

ps your avatar is triggering me

[streetwizzur]

I have a pro 2 (I like the usb hub  )

edups