Soarer's Converter: Pre-made or Home-made

[y11971alex]

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/NEW-XT-AT-to-USB-Soarers-Converter-Remapping-Macros-NKRO-Support-IBM-Model-F-/281476427201?hash=item41894d6dc1:g:U4cAAOSwDN1USZL-

I'll be needing one of these in the near future.  This item as it stands is about CAD$60 shipped, but if I made the converter according to the guidelines on this forum, all the materials plus shipping combined would also come up about $60. 

Which should I go with?

[fohat.digs]

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/NEW-XT-AT-to-USB-Soarers-Converter-Remapping-Macros-NKRO-Support-IBM-Model-F-/281476427201?hash=item41894d6dc1:g:U4cAAOSwDN1USZL-

I'll be needing one of these in the near future.  This item as it stands is about CAD$60 shipped, but if I made the converter according to the guidelines on this forum, all the materials plus shipping combined would also come up about $60. 

Which should I go with?

Huh? A Teensy is about $22 delivered to my door in Atlanta, $17 if I buy it at Micro Center. And a mini-USB cable is about $2. I know Canadian shipping is expensive, but not that.

Are you talking about buying a soldering iron and all the basic supplies?

[y11971alex]

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/NEW-XT-AT-to-USB-Soarers-Converter-Remapping-Macros-NKRO-Support-IBM-Model-F-/281476427201?hash=item41894d6dc1:g:U4cAAOSwDN1USZL-

I'll be needing one of these in the near future.  This item as it stands is about CAD$60 shipped, but if I made the converter according to the guidelines on this forum, all the materials plus shipping combined would also come up about $60. 

Which should I go with?

Huh? A Teensy is about $22 delivered to my door in Atlanta, and a mini-USB cable is about $2. I know Canadian shipping is expensive, but not that.

Are you talking about buying a soldering iron and all the basic supplies?

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Teensy-2-0-with-Pins-/321646889182?hash=item4ae3a608de:g:LGMAAOSw1vlUvlWh
A Teensy is CAD$35 + $12 shipping, and it seems I still need the breadboard and a female 5-pin DIN to get the wiring through from the original cable.

[fohat.digs]

A breadboard is entirely optional. I buy Teensies direct from pjrc https://www.pjrc.com/store/teensy.html

I would mount the Teensy internal and forget all the messy cable connections, but then I can do it the other way, too:

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=58941.msg1348717#msg1348717

Finding the female receptacle for the DIN plug is a pain, I have spares of both kinds (face-mount and cable-end) but it would probably cost $10 to ship it to you from the US.

[y11971alex]

A breadboard is entirely optional. I buy Teensies direct from pjrc https://www.pjrc.com/store/teensy.html

I would mount the Teensy internal and forget all the messy cable connections, but then I can do it the other way, too:

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=58941.msg1348717#msg1348717

Finding the female receptacle for the DIN plug is a pain, I have spares of both kinds (face-mount and cable-end) but it would probably cost $10 to ship it to you from the US.

I'm not entirely comfortable with working with soldering irons, which is why I want to do it on a breadboard with pins.  It would be nice if someone could invent metallic superglue!

[fohat.digs]

It would be nice if someone could invent metallic superglue!

Solder is wonderful because you can re-melt it and take it apart with no damage to anything - if you are careful and/or lucky.