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[Mod Log] Converting a Terminal Keyboard from the 80's

Intro.

 

Welcome to the build log of my terminal keyboard conversion.

 

Throughout this log I'll be going through the steps I've taken to convert a ADDS 1010 Green Alps mechanical terminal keyboard that was built sometime between 1986-1989.

When I found this keyboard at a garage sale it was still in it's original plastic and looked like it had never been used. 

For only $4 it was an absolute steal!

 

yr1gN02.jpg

ss5XodR.jpg

KjGrhDw.jpg?1

nzYovEh.jpg

KIFobc6.jpg

eNIrrOf.jpg?1

JiO7p90.jpg

iNNpBiI.jpg

 

Here's the link to my full teardown of the unit: http://imgur.com/a/vq9iQ

 

Index.

  1. Reverse Engineering the Matrix
  2. Parts

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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Reverse Engineering the Matrix.

 

First step is to reverse engineer the keyboard matrix, so that I know what shorts where when a key is pressed and to that I can attach the appropriate pinouts to a Teensy controller.

The existing circuitry, while I believe it would still be operational, it's not going to be compatible with anything so I will have to make my own.

 

Using a really awesome Tutorial from sixty over on Deskthority I've been able to successfully map the matrix:

Jpc6BN7.jpg

PYOGz64.png

 

There's only 1 shift listed here because both them are electrically the same in terms of what they short on the Main IC

I think the reason why the shift and control are on a separate column is that it's to prevent ghosting/rollover of the the vital modifier keys.

Number pad keys are denoted by an Octothorpe (#) in front of the characters.

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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Parts.

 

My Teensy++ has been ordered! $35 total, jibbed but what can you do hey?

tpp_main_1.jpg

 

From the Teensy, I'm getting this because it's panel mounted, that way I can attach it to the existing cut out and use a modular cable.

For the cable I'm just going with a simple printer cable that I already own.

gs2NBIs.jpg

 

I'll be sleeving it with some black paracord that I've just ordered.

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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reserved

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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reserved

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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reserved 

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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reserved

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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Them ALPS, how do they feel?

Quote me to get a reply!

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What did you convert it to?

[AMD Athlon 64 Mobile 4000+ Socket 754 | Gigabyte GA-K8NS Pro nForce3 | OCZ 2GB DDR PC3200 | Sapphire HD 3850 512MB AGP | 850 Evo | Seasonic 430W | Win XP/10]

 

 

 

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Them ALPS, how do they feel?

They feel amazing! Smoother than cherry blacks, which they're most commonly compared to.

 

reserved

O. I. SEE. WUT. YOU. DID. THARR!

 

What did you convert it to?

The existing controller and cable aren't really compatible with new systems, or other terminals. So I have to build my own (I'm converting it to a standard USB keyboard)  ;)

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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Be sure to let us (me specifically  :D) know how much trouble the Teensy is. I've been wanting to make a 30 key mechanical pad for macros, and from what I've found it works great for that.

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Be sure to let us (me specifically  :D) know how much trouble the Teensy is. I've been wanting to make a 30 key mechanical pad for macros, and from what I've found it works great for that.

 

I'll be modifying Hasu Keyboard Firmware thanks to a tutorial by matt3o from Deskthority. I do expect to run into some troubles along the way but no where near as many as if I was programming it myself :P

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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I have an Apple Extended Keyboard II in the mail, maybe another Mod Log of an ADB to USB conversion in the not so distant future ;)

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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Teensy is here! Will be working on the soldering and programming tomorrow :D

http://imgur.com/a/BvaBz

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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Awesome! I have an Apple (ADB) Keyboard lying around that I wanted to convert but had no real clue how. I'll be watching this one! :)  

Rig: Lian Li PC-V353 i5 2500K, GA-Z68MA-D2H, EVGA GTX 650, CM Gemiin S524, Corsair TX650M, Crucial M4 128GB, Seagate 1TB Barracuda, Fiio E10

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Awesome! I have an Apple (ADB) Keyboard lying around that I wanted to convert but had no real clue how. I'll be watching this one! :)

Thanks!

I've completed the hardware side of the conversion inc soldering and what not. Images are uploading now :) Will be updating this thread with that in a moment.

Unfortunately I ran out of time to program it today, I will be doing that early next week or over the weekend (mid years soon, pretty hectic)

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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  • 6 months later...

Did you finish this?

I scrapped it. My theory didn't work and I don't know how to program enough to engineer my own solution. I'd asked around some other forums for assistance but no one helped. Alas, failure :(

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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Did you try geekhack? They usually have some very nice people wanting to help out.

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Did you try geekhack? They usually have some very nice people wanting to help out.

 

Yeah I did, don't worry about it.

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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  • 2 months later...

DANG this would've been Amazing...

Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.
                                                                                      :o 

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