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Pseudonymous maker “MrNiceThings” is a fan of laptop computer keyboards — to the purpose of salvaging one, constructing a case, and utilizing an STMicro STM32 microcontroller to transform it to be used with a desktop by way of USB.
“Name me loopy, name me a heretic, however I really like laptop computer keyboards,” MrNiceThings explains. “They’re tremendous silent, extremely quick to sort and small… till now I used to be utilizing Cherry Stream 3.0 which is closest to a laptop computer keyboard you may get. I additionally occurred to come up with few outdated laptops so the objective was apparent!”
This practice microcontroller board takes a laptop computer keyboard and makes it USB appropriate – prepared for desktop use. (📷: MrNiceThings)
Laptop computer keyboards, nevertheless, do not usually have a standardized USB port – relying as a substitute on a typically-custom ribbon cable connection to the motherboard. The answer: A conversion board, constructed round an STM32 Blue Tablet, which accepts the keyboard and converts it to USB.
“The scanning is tremendous easy, you needn’t know which pins are rows and that are [columns], it scans via all of them and all the things else is finished within the sketch,” MrNiceThings writes. “Even the CAPS/NUM/SCROLL LEDs, FN [Function] combos and media keys work. [The] solely restrict is the accessible 27 GPIOs [General-Purpose Input/Output pins] of STM32F103C6/C8.”
A 3D-printed chassis makes the naked laptop computer keyboards appropriate to be used on a desk. (📷: MrNiceThings)
Initially, MrNiceThings was concentrating on making the 2 keyboards he needed to hand, each salvaged from older laptops, work with the board – however found that many different keyboards, together with from different laptop computer producers, work nice as long as the use the identical 1mm-pitch connector and have a most of 27 lively pins.
MrNiceThings has promised to add the PCB design recordsdata and the Arduino sketch for the converter board to GitHub within the close to future; for now, extra info is out there on the challenge’s Reddit thread.
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