Converting a PC-keyboard to an external Amiga-keyboard
I went through my harddrive looking for old Webprojects and I found some pictures I snapped when I tried to convert an Amiga 500 keyboard into an external keyboard.
I never finished the job because I got an A4000 quite soon after beginning the project which came with an original external Amiga keyboard.
Once upon a time PC-keyboard interfaces where rare and hard to come by, but once they appeared in greater numbers they played a major part in popularising Amiga tower conversions. Most Amigas can be hooked up to a proper external Amiga keyboard since the signals are available on the motherboard (instructions are in the Amiga hardware manuals or Aminet IIRC), you just need to wire up a connector. I actually prefer a proper Amiga keyboard when in an Amiga environment because Win95 buttons mess up writing IMHO. It has actually gone as far that I do not use Win95-style keyboards on my PC, I rather use an old school ICL AT-keyboard meant to be used at libraries (the keys are extra silent).
Anyway, check out the pictures, maybe they can inspire you to do something similar!
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- The PC-keyboard before operation. A typical 1993-1994 non Win95 keyboard. Not my favourite one, too sloppy and noisy but I actually have another one as backup.
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- Here is an Amiga 500 keyboard
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- Here is the Amiga 500 donor. Yes, the case was split in some places.
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- There is no going back now!
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- Thanks to the Dremel tool it is quite easy to go through the plastic of the keyboard.
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- A Dremel tool is a must! I have had mine for close to 10 years now and it has been a nice compliment to many computer modifications during the years.
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- The PC-keyboard have just been remodelled, I am after the frame because it is going to hold an Amiga 500 keyboard.
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- This is a cut out piece of an Amiga 500 upper case. It was much easier to cut an A500 case than to create one by scratch.
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- Test fitting, it is quite difficult to get a perfect fit, but not impossible.
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- Tacking a part of the upper case with Plastic Padding.
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- I really miss the Amiga 500 style LED’s on a PC-keyboard when using one on an Amiga.
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- Test fitting the pieces together.
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- Only using Plastic Padding will not be enough for strength so in order to get a more reliable bond between the Amiga- and PC-keyboard case a DVD-case was cut up and used as reinforcements on the inside.
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- One bit from the A500 upper case have been secured.
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- Here is a part from the upper case of the Amiga 500 that have been trimmed to fit inside the PC-keyboard case.
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- We are getting there. You can clearly see the bottom seam.
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- This is how it looks like when Plastic Padding is prepared. Beware to work fast, this magical stuff hardens quite fast.
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- Plastic Padding, the stuff Sweden was built on. In every Swedish home, car or boat you can usually find some of this amusing stuff that has become an even greater legend than the polar bears that wander the streets of Stockholm during the chillier time of the year in Sweden.
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- Upper part have been smoothed out with sandpaper, bottom part have not been smoothed out. Notice small dab of plastic padding in the middle, the plastic split there, old Amiga 500 plastic cases are prone to cracking so beware.
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- This is the Swedish bonding material Plastic Padding – Sweden, the land of the Vikings was built from this stuff. When hardened you can smooth it out with sandpaper to get a very nice finish where the seam between Amiga- and PC-keyboard disappears.
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- The gap between the PC and Amiga keyboard cases needs to be filled with bondo and smoothed out with sandpaper.
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- A bit more progress, the cut out plastic from the Amiga 500 case has been forged/bonded to the PC plastic keyboard case.
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- This is the circuit that is connected to the matrix of the keyboard. Without it the keyboard is only a dumb mechanical part.
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- This is the circuit that is connected to the matrix of the keyboard.
