Grumble Grumble...

[tmasman]

I was bored, so I figured I hack one of my 20 Keyboards sitting in the closet...
Started getting things underway...
Had about 12 (out of 104) positions left in the matrix...
Crossed the wire over a couple of "unknowns" & the PC immediately shut down...
No damage to anything, just lost the entire Matrix...

Next Time I'll learn to write it down instead of filling it in to Excel as I go.

Oh well... Nothing lost but about 30 minutes of time... I'll start again tomorrow night.

By the way...
Anyone in need/desire of a Keyboard hack? (matrix & optimized usage suggestions)
How does $15 + shipping sound?

Ug...

[Gunstar Hero]

(puts down the meat/bait)




 

[SirPeale]

Why aren't you doing the cross reference on the mylar sheet with a multimeter?  It's quicker, no risk of shorting your PC, and you wouldn't have lost it when your PC died.

[tmasman]

Why aren't you doing the cross reference on the mylar sheet with a multimeter?  It's quicker, no risk of shorting your PC, and you wouldn't have lost it when your PC died.

I know...
it was late & I wasn't tired (when I started)...
I was just looking for something to do & my main keyboard is USB, so I could map the other's matrix with "KeyHook.exe" while the KB was plugged in.  I just needed to rant after I lost it.

I've done a couple of them this way, but I've always written down the results on a piece of paper... I tried to skip that step this time & got burnt (just lost a littel time).

I'll probably give your method a go when I sit back down to recapture the matrix.
How do you use the miltimeter with the mylar? touch a letter & run down the contact points until you find it's point on the PCB?  I'm not sure that it would be faster since I'd have to touch multiple points per key...  When it's plugged in you just attach a wire to 1 point & then to another... The you know what keypress that combination is. write it down in the matrix & touch the next point.
eh... Like I said, I'll give it a try & see if it seems worth it.

Thanks for the feedback.
I'll try not to rant so much in the future.
  yeah right...

[SirPeale]

Since the matrix is a XxN thing, the easiest thing to do is write down what inputs you want to use, instead of trying to do the entire keyboard.

 Take the first 1/2 of the mylar, and put a lead on one of the keys.  Take the other lead and run it along the strips at the top.  When the multimeter beeps, you have the corresponding letter/number.  Write it down.  Move to the next one.  When you finish with that sheet, swap and continue.  You should be able to do a whole matrix in a matter of minutes.