Custom Keyboards

	Alternative keyboards
© 01-Oct-2000 13:07 Dr. Spiff	Alternative keyboards

Did you ever wonder about the keyboard you use as an input device to your computer? With an adaptor, you can connect 2 or more keyboards to your CPU and use the second keyboard as a custom input device. A computer keyboard is nothing more than a bunch of single-pole single-throw (SPST) switches with an encoder thrown into a plastic case. If you remove the guts from a keyboard, and connect new switches to it, it becomes a magical box.

Why magical? Because you can arrange your new switches in any pattern you like. Below is a picture of the controller I built to fly "LHX" and old DOS helicopter simulator.

As you can see it is just a "bunch of switches" in a box, but the "real" magic is the encoder. If you take apart a PC keyboard, you will find a keyboard encoder that is just waiting to be used for a project that is limited only by your imagination. What else can you do? You can use all kinds of things as switches, since ANYTHING that makes a contact closure is a switch. So a thermostat, a Hall-effect switch, and a magnetic reed switch are examples of switches that can be actuated by outside events. But I'm sure you can think of many more possibilities.

Want to use that old XT as the basis for a home alarm system?
Create a children's learning game?
Build a custom control board for CNC machining?
Have a computer controlled model railroad layout?

All possible using the guts out of a $5 keyboard.