[GTALUG] Hardware Hack - help needed

Mike el.fontanero at gmail.com
Tue Apr 11 12:02:57 EDT 2017


Hi Giles,

Can you trace the device or devices that the keyboard used to trace to on
the motherboard (may it rest more-or-less in peace)?  As Lennart says, it
probably requires GPIO/scanning.  Might be a job for Arduino, unless the Pi
has enough generic inputs and outputs.  Then you would need to figure out
how to either hook in to an existing linux keyboard driver, or perhaps
implement a new one.  Might be worth reviewing Linux to see if there is
already a keyboard driver that does its own GPIO-style scanning.



On Mon, Apr 10, 2017 at 9:41 PM, Giles Orr via talk <talk at gtalug.org> wrote:

> On 10 April 2017 at 15:38,  <phiscock at ee.ryerson.ca> wrote:
> >> I have a deceased Thinkpad 340CSE.  I'd like to use it as a shell for
> >> a Raspberry Pi (the case has a lot of space).  The original keyboard
> >> is a thing of beauty by modern laptop standards, with several
> >> millimetres of movement and a good feel - so I'd like to use it if at
> >> all possible.  Unfortunately, a lot of searching has sent me
> >> repeatedly to a page on how to convert a T60 keyboard to USB -
> >> different keyboard, different connector(s).  There's a full
> >> explanation with photos here:
> >>
> >> https://www.gilesorr.com/blog/thinkpad-retrofit-1.html
> >>
> >> If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know on or off list.
> >> If you think I need to add more information to the web page, same
> >> thing: let me know.  If you know someone who might be able to help,
> >> please forward this to them.  Thanks!
> >>
> > Back in the days of the Commodore PET, I wanted to convert the keyboard
> > into Dvorak layout. Nowadays, I'd find the keyboard translation table,
> > edit that and blow a new ROM.
>
> I'd like to do that, but I think there are a few more steps involved.
> Want to help out?  Can you point me to a detailed HOWTO for doing
> this?  I'm not an electrical engineer, but I can solder, I have basic
> programming skills, and I can probably lay hands on a ROM burner if
> needed.  But it seems translating the output to USB is may also be an
> added challenging step ...  Any help appreciated.
>
> --
> Giles
> https://www.gilesorr.com/
> gilesorr at gmail.com
> ---
> Talk Mailing List
> talk at gtalug.org
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>
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