A Classic II/LC III laptop/book….

[Trash80toG4]

Nice stuff there, etching my own PCB for custom layout would be the way I'd go.

I've been playing with KBD layout since the early 90's. Most of my KBD hacks are in need of only the controller. I found this one recently and another I can't find ATM. The latter has a matrix scanner available for setting up existing KBDs.

Teensy USB Development Board

www.pjrc.com

Meet the G4 Apple //c

[Welcome, RetroMacCast listeners!] This is my latest Frankintosh project – housing a G4 Mac Mini in the case of an Apple //c. From all outward appearances, a stock Apple IIc or //c with a lit…

mentalhygiene.com

 

[-SE40-]

@Trash80toG4, I like the idea creating a pcb & keycaps,….
but not in need for an extra project.
I have another look at my simple keyboard conversion to check on whats the actual problem.

 

[-SE40-]

Just out of curiousity,
what if you buy the shown PCB,
add these lowprofile switches ,
….then create your own keycaps,
using a 3D resin printer…..

What would then be the needed inner space hight around this keyboard.
(Keyprofile estimated/adapted from previous shown IIgs picture here)

 

[retr01]

Printing the keycaps and alps switches with a 3D printer is possible. I think PETG would be better than PLA filament for those parts. The "spring" parts can be TPU. Here are a few examples:

▷ keycaps alps switch keyboard 3d models 【 STLFinder 】

l➤ keycaps alps switch keyboard 3d models ✅. Switch plates for the Corne (CRKBD) keyboard. This one: https://github.com/foostan/crkbd Only 1.2mm thick (Alps specs) so be careful getting them off the bed. However, the switches snap in nicely. They do bend a bit so you might need to sort that......

www.stlfinder.com

Did someone write a guide on that?

 

[-SE40-]

No, I mean a sla resin printer
Something like this protolabs does.
Or @ home…. Check here. on YouTube Example
Printers. Very impressive on small parts.

 

[-SE40-]

BTW, also I do not think that special keycaps, for what I need, can be downloaded….

 

[-SE40-]

Update!
Sorry, no progress…..

Positive is that ive received apple stuff from the attic of an longtime friend….
More parts to toy with!
It concerns a performa 450 and two LC475, and a box of miscellaneous items. Internal these units are missing parts here and there, but not too serious.
Luckely no battery damage or capacitor leak

Lots of cleaning to do …..

 

[retr01]

Good! Next step, go Satanic and overclock your LC475 by swapping out the PLCC and caps with Panasonic OS-CON caps and installing the Spicy Clock and 60ns SMC VRAM from @Kay K.M.Mods.

 

[-SE40-]

Yes!
Sounds good!
Finally some spare stuff to toy with.

First recap and see to get it working in general….

 

[-SE40-]

Hey Guys, not dead yet…..
Just busy

A while back I did request and did order a 64MB ghostsimm. As Max was not sure about the contacts of the simm in its pcb holder due to the limit in the PCB thickness….
I now can confirm its works great, now toying for a few hours with it.
The plastic sheet underneath the pcb does do the job .
Thanks Max, I love it!

 

[Redsward]

Yay! Now you have your thread that you can post and talk about your progress with this build.

I am interested, too, especially that it can be a "more portable SE/30" once the FPU is added to the Classic II LB.

Yet, Classic II did not have FPU, so a card in the "proprietary" slot is needed to add FPU. Apple never released that add-on. The RAM max out at 10 MB.

Still, it would be fun lugging that around and playing with it at a coffee shop or cafe compared to the SE/30.

View attachment 5817​

Mine does have an FPU but it’s not Apple branded .

 

[ZeFrenchToon]

Hey @-SE40-! Good news! A card can be made to add the 68882 FPU to the Mac Classic II!

​

See that this FPU card is perpendicular to the logic board in a regular Classic II case with a right-angle EuroDIN connector of whatever number of pins? Well, swap out for a straight type, resolve clearance and dimensional challenges with the flat floppy disk drive cable and boom! The card could be installed parallel to the logic board. Then, you have an FPU in Hartmut-inspired Classic II Book!

The one from SiliconInsider is nicer

68882 FPU card for Apple Macintosh Classic II by Siliconinsider on Tindie

Newly made Classic II 68882 FPU coprocessor card for Apple Macintosh computers

www.tindie.com

 

[-SE40-]

Just did popup in my browser….Google realy knows what I like!
Not sure if this would work with the classic II board……but surely interresting!

I've been toying now with various boards, the LC 475 being the fastest, the classic prob more energy efficient and compact (as planned to be used with lipo cells)
With this solution…..I may get closer to my goal ;-)

 

[panman_gr]

Thanks everybody for the inspiration and ideas.

This is my (very preliminary and very sloppy) version of the flat machine so far:

It will be 3D printed in as few pieces as possible on my incoming large-format machine.
The screen will be Pimoroni's PIM431 10-inch 4:3 1024x768 with HDMI input.
The keyboard will be a KBDFans KBD67 USB PCB with Cherry switches and custom low-profile keycaps.
I plan to also mount a trackpad/trackpoint somewhere, probably between screen and handle.

I intend to build two versions of it:
- one with a Raspberry Pi and jaromaz's MacintoshPi software on it, i.e. Basilisk and SheepShaver,
- one with a rescued Performa 5200 board (of which I'm missing the video-out pinout) that will need ADB-to-USB and HDMI-to-VGA-to-DB15 video converters.

Plan is to power both via battery, though I highly doubt the Performa 5200 board will give me any considerable battery life.

Oh, and if you want the design to play with, it's made in Fusion360, I'd be happy to share.

 

[-SE40-]

Ive got my wife a new keyboard to fit with her ITX converted Classic II. As it came with a key puller I took one of and comparing it with the apple cap, I thought if it would be possible to reuse the standard old Apple keycaps. And interrestingly these have the same footprint (hight is different - lower)
So creating a new board, with low profile switches makes a more time correct looking keyboard possible.
So I go that way.

@panman_gr , welcome to the forum!
Glad you got stimulated creating your version. Looking forward to your process and how it will look and work in the end.
Please do start your own project topic to prevent mixups.

Chris.

 

[-SE40-]

Hello to all!

The weather is turning, daylight is on the move….time to continuem

Reading back here, …….where got stuck…
the only option to get a time period realistic keyboard is to create one myself.
The idea is as before using the original Apple keycaps combined with a 3D printed adapter on a low profile swtich.
For the switches I need a baseplate layout, siutable to fit the existing keycaps.
So this is where I did start, to get the layout correct.
Measuring out the keyboard-keys, finding the keycenter position:

As soon I get the switches, the connector holes are drawn in.
By then I can cut the baseplate and check.

If there is someone who drawn this or even made a suitable PCB I would love to hear from more ……

 

[panman_gr]

Here is the raw data for above layout on keyboard-layout-editor.com:

[{w:1.25},"±\n§","!\n1","@\n2","#\n3","$\n4","%\n5","^\n6","&\n7","*\n8","(\n9",")\n0","_\n-","+\n=",{w:1.75},"backspace"],
[{w:1.75},"tab","Q","W","E","R","T","Y","U","I","O","P","{\n[","}\n]",{x:0.25,w:1,h:2,w2:1.25,h2:1,x2:-0.25},"enter"],
[{w:2},"caps","A","S","D","F","G","H","J","K","L",":\n;","\"\n'","|\n\\"],
[{w:1.5},"shift","~\n`","Z","X","C","V","B","N","M","<\n,",">\n.","?\n/",{w:1.5},"Shift","↑"],
["ctrl",{w:1.25},"⌥",{w:1.75},"⌘",{w:7},"","esc","←","↓","→"]

Paste that to swillkb.com along with the switch details (I'd recommend MX+ALPS switches) and you'll get a downloadable DXF file of the plate design.

There also exist KiCAD plugins to make the PCB by auto-placing the switch footprints.
Excellent YouTube tutorial here: Part 1, and Part 2.
I'll probably try to make a board later today, with the correct ATmega32U4 for it to have an ADB port as well.

Edit: there is the board, with a place for Adafruit's ItsyBitsy32u4, hot-swappable switches and SMD diodes:
If anybody wants the KiCAD project files, PM me.

 

[-SE40-]

@panman_gr …..
Right, thanks!
I have a look. Certainly interresting!
Does the program kicad support ADB as such?
My idea was to simply connect the dots to the ADB pcb.

 

[panman_gr]

Does the program kicad support ADB as such?
My idea was to simply connect the dots to the ADB pcb.

More detail on the above:

KiCAD is an electronics/PCB design app. It does not care if it's a keyboard or a transformer you design.

The keyboard I've designed, as is pictured above, requires some more things to become fully functional:
1. Have the design sent off to a PCB maker to manufacture. I can refer you to EU (probably Belgian) and Chinese sites for that.
2. Solder all diodes (one per key) and all hot-swap-switch-bases (also one per key) to the board, then install the switches, like the red-stemmed one in your attachment picture. Or, you could do soldered diodes and soldered switches and skip the hot-swap-bases, for less customization (and less money of course).
3. Also solder an Adafruit ItsyBitsy32u4 (p/n 3677) to the provided position.
4. Upload the QMK firmware, customized accordingly.

All those steps will result in a USB keyboard.
There exists an extra ADB-to-USB converter that you can use, but since the ItsyBitsy32u4 uses the exact same controller chip as the ADB-to-USB converter, I'm thinking it's possible to integrate the two functions in the same chip.
I haven't tested anything, but the worst-case scenario will be to have both inside the case somewhere.
Will update on that.

On connecting the dots to the existing PCB, I'm afraid the Apple Keyboard II, AFAIK, is not mechanical, so it has a membrane inside of it, and it's going to be impossible to do that.

Hope I've made it more clear. Don't hesitate to ask anything

 

[-SE40-]

Well, thank you again.
Learned allready some new things!

I did not see any diodes inside this ADB - Apple keyboard.
As its a one off (at least for now) I am not that keen creating a PCB, and I do not need USB.
I can reuse the ADB PCB from the original keyboard.
By that I can keep it simple and do some handwire.
The “dots“ (and lines) shown on the membrane and can guide me to connect the switches is my guess.

On the other hand, a suitable PCB to upgrade all these crappy Apple foil keyboards with decent switches could be a great idea…. But thats another project.