Handwiring a Kinesis Advantage keyboard #1
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Let there be comments. |
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Wow, dude. That's intense. I just rewired my kinesis (no write up) and had the same problem as you: https://25.wf/images/rip.jpg. The solution isn't: throw away the circuit boards!! Just ignore it for the moment and when you're done, get a wire and solder between the two terminals of the broken lead. Just like what you did, but only fix the broken ones, not EVERY SINGLE CONNECTION! Anyway, you're a brave soul, and the fact that you have a working keyboard now is a marvelous achievement! Great work! The next problem I'm seeking to overcome is that I type with my hands under my desk: I converted my center drawer to a keyboard tray by removing the front of the drawer. As you mention, Kinesis Advantage is big. There is no room in the drawer for a mouse, so my mouse is on top of my desk. I don't use my mouse much, but it really is a pain to have to remove my hand from the keyboard and reach on top of the desk for the mouse. I have lived with this for a couple years, but I recently found a solution!: http://xahlee.info/kbd/iergo/kinesis_keyboard_trackball_by_hweller_2014-11-07-s1241x652.jpg I've already ordered https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002OOWB3O/, and plan to dissect it and transplant it into my keyboard :-D . I'll try to remember to come back and let you know how it goes. Rock on! |
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Oh yeah, I meant to say a couple other things. When I contacted Kinesis about getting new printed circuit boards, he said that he's all out of the legacy ones. Also, I tried to find it a couple times in your article, but why did you remove the logic chip and replace it with your own? That seems unnecessary...also, did you get the indicator LEDs working? Cheers, mate! |
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Thanks for the kind words !
Haha yeah someone else mentioned that on reddit... I should have thought about that, but to be honest I've ripped more than a few.... As for the mouse, I'm using Apple's Magic Touchpad on the center, it works very well for me, see the attached picture: I've just sticked two little rubber pads (see bottom of the picture) on the bottom of the touchpad to stabilize it on the kinesis' curved surface, it's pretty steady. I've seen the trackballs mods and would love to try that too! Please do share your experience when you get a chance to work on that.
I wanted to install QMK on the kinesis, it's far superior that the original kinesis software.
Nope, did not try I don't really have a use for them. Good luck with your mod! |
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I haven't heard about QMK; interesting! I'll be sure to keep that bookmarked. Regarding ripped leads, I think I had four or five. I was pretty careful pulling off the switches. I think I only had one ripped lead on the first hand well (I didn't know about it until I was done soldering the switches back on, then checked everything with a multimeter), but apparently got hasty on the second one, so I ripped several there. I didn't glue the new switches into place. I think you said they're "friction fitted", but I'm pretty sure it's better than that. I think they have small clips, but I didn't look carefully. They seem pretty well in place, and now that they're soldered to these boards in the back, I can't imagine them coming loose at all. Cheers! |
Sure, you can take a look at my keymap for the kinesis if you feel like it. |
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Hello Pyrho, |
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Salut! Oui c’est possible avec de la patience ! pas possible de handwire la switch directement au controller si c’est ce que tu avais en tête. Au besoin tu peux prendre une photo de la partie endommagée et la mettre ici. |
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Le souci c'est que comme tout est ressoudé, je n'ai accès qu'à l'arrière du PCB et on ne peut rien y voir. Je mets une photo pour illustrer :
Ce que je me disais c'est qu'éventuellement il serait possible de ne créer les connexions de la matrice que pour cet élément. Le problème c'est que je ne comprends pas totalement la logique du handwiring à part que l'on connecte le deux axes et que chaque terminaisons est branchées au contrôleur… Donc techniquement je dois avoir deux connexions à faire mais je me demande bien lesquelles? |
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Ok je vois, oui c'est carrément faisable, dans l'idée il faut relié cette touche (et sa diode) a la touche qui est avant/après dans le circuit que forme toutes les touches (je pense). Un truc du genre (c'est peut-être entièrement faux, a prendre avec des pincettes 😅) Mais c'est étonnant que ce soit le problème, car le PCB a l'air en parfait état 🤔 |
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Effectivement le PCB n'a pas l'air touché. J'ai fait d'autres aperçus de la face avant (j'ai laissé la diode). On peut voir que le circuit est en bon état et les cercles de connections aussi. Mais il y a peut-être un souci sur celui de la diode (cercle de droite) mais je ne saurais trop comment tester au multimètre, tu sais si c'est le même protocole que pour tester si la diode marche correctement avant la soudure? En dernier recours je vais appliquer ton diagramme, l'idée d'avoir un clavier un peu rafistolé me plait bien! |
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Erratum sur mon image plus haut, le trait rouge de droite doit se connecter (je pense) sur la patte gauche (et non droite) de la diode).
Oui, il s'agit juste de vérifier que les bons trucs sont connectés, donc le mode diode de ton multimètre est suffisant. Attention, le courant ne circule que dans un sens sur la diode.
Je pense que je ne t'ai pas raconté de bêtises, mais ce n'est pas du 100% sûr :P ... |
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Ola!
Je te remercie énormément (nous aurions peut-être du échanger en anglais vu qu'il n'y aucune ressource sur ce problème particulier sur le web…) |
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Super ! Content d'avoir pu t'aider ! Pas 100% sûr de ton branchement, ça marche surement, mais il se peut que ça te provoque des problèmes bizarres.
Les diodes assurent que le courant ne circule que dans un sens (comme une sorte de valve). |
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bien reçu, je vais essayer de checker ça dès que possible! |
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