Leonardo R3 Pro - Same chip as Teensy, more than twice cheaper.



Notice the wire slots instead of pins/soldering pads.

Download Soarer's hex file (Soarer_at2usb_v1.12_atmega32u4.hex) from https://geekhack.org/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=17458.0;attach=25397 and CodeBlocks for Arduino from http://arduinodev.com/codeblocks/#download

Connect the board to your computer and run ArduinoBuilder.exe.
In "Board Type", select Arduino Leonardo. The program should autodetect the board and let you specify the file to load.



To connect the board to your keyboard, follow this pin list (mentioned in one of Soarer's posts, thanks again):

Code: Select all

Conn.     Leonardo
GND -------- GND
Vcc/+5V ---- 5V
Data ------- D3 (Digital 3)
Clock ------ D2
Reset ------ D11 (optional)

Check Soarer's original guide https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=17458.0 for connector diagrams, and beware! Don't (mentally) let the connector point TO you when assigning pins, the diagrams are drawn with connectors pointing AWAY from you. I'm glad I made this mistake on a terminal keyboard, if it's AT or PS/2 I might have had my 5V and ground swapped and fried the Leonardo.

All's left is to plug wires into their wire slots. You can either cut the connector off the original keyboard wire to expose the pin wires, or use a port to hook up some wires, like I did:



Enjoy.

Great little guide! Perfect for those who can't or don't want to solder.
But shouldn't this be in workshop section? Because you don't sell these right?
Anyway I leave that to the mods.
Btw it would be great if you found a "shield"(or cable) with DIN, PS2 and rj45 connectors that goes to the associated pinholes. So you don't have to solder that aswell.

Very nice. Yes I believe workshop would be the correct category for this. That Leonardo board seems to be readily available too.

>:/

Great guide! I will be picking up one of these shortly. Hope my terminal M isn't fried.

Nice tip. I would move the thread to Workshop if I knew how to in the admin UI:


The sheer teensiness of Teensies really appeals to me, but for this price your solution is well worth a shot. I'll start suggesting these to people looking to make their first Soarer's Converter.

Thanks guys. I found out about the workshop section after posting this and was like, oh well, at least Marketplace is a lot more populous A mod is welcome to move it though.

In all honesty if you don't like dissecting the keyboard cable for wires, the connectors for XT/AT/Terminal can even be wired out using electrical tape and wires. Give the damned RJ45 connector the dissecting treatment >: )

That's a heck of a lot less work that my kludge.

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=58941.msg1348717#msg1348717

Doesn't look to kludgey to me. All you missed out was the vintage knob!



There's a place for these new clip and play boards, but I'd never be able to squeeze all that in there with the huge rotary switch already taking up so much space.

So I'll just take a bigger housing, mine just needs to be functional. That switch of yours is old school cool Mu! <_<

Muirium wrote:
Doesn't look to kludgey to me. All you missed out was the vintage knob!

I'd never be able to squeeze all that in there with the huge rotary switch already taking up so much space.

The knob is bad-ass, as is the bare metal box.

I wired everything hot in parallel and assumed that I would not have more than one item plugged in at a time.

Is there a guide on the metal box with the vintage knob?

Come on Mu, we're waiting!

scottc wrote:Come on Mu, we're waiting!

Yeah really I'd like to see a 72 page highly detailed guide with interactive graphics and videos by 22:00 tonight!
I can do the editing if you like!

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-st ... eg./1.html

http://www.circuitspecialists.com/die-c ... 1590l.html


This might be useful to some people although I am not sure if the size of the box is right.

You'll have nothing, and like it!

I took pictures a while ago. My whole library needs an overhaul, though. (Got my eye on Apple's big update due in a month or so, which will give me much needed excuse to unify my disparate drives and cards where I've stashed everything for too long.) It's hairy in there. A good howto probably involves me making a second, which I kinda am looking into.

Now where's that bloody pillar drill?

Muirium wrote:You'll have nothing, and like it!

I took pictures a while ago. My whole library needs an overhaul, though. (Got my eye on Apple's big update due in a month or so, which will give me much needed excuse to unify my disparate drives and cards where I've stashed everything for too long.) It's hairy in there. A good howto probably involves me making a second, which I kinda am looking into.

Now where's that bloody pillar drill?

I was really looking forward to seeing how to make the metal box adapter but oh well maybe another time.

On a side note, does anyone know where to find a black ibm square logo to replace my silver one on my 122 key? I am going to paint it a black or grey color and make the keys a dark grey.

The controller seems a bit larger than the Teensy 2.0 and I can't see where the pins are soldered to.

7bit wrote:The controller seems a bit larger than the Teensy 2.0 and I can't see where the pins are soldered to.

Yes it's bigger than the Teensy, but you're paying less for it and it's a solder-less design.

I think you can buy a pro micro clone for about the same price; it has the advantage of being around the same size as a teensy (I think) and being compatible with the firmware (same controller).

scottc did a guide on doing it:
workshop-f7/how-to-use-a-pro-micro-as-a-cheap-controller-converter-like-soarer-s-t8448.html

But that does require soldering, so this is a great alternative for someone not wanting to solder one for themselves

Stabilized wrote:I think you can buy a pro micro clone for about the same price; it has the advantage of being around the same size as a teensy (I think) and being compatible with the firmware (same controller).

scottc did a guide on doing it:
workshop-f7/how-to-use-a-pro-micro-as-a-cheap-controller-converter-like-soarer-s-t8448.html

But that does require soldering, so this is a great alternative for someone not wanting to solder one for themselves

I can confirm they work very well. My XT is up and running on one.

I could not get the programming working in windows tho. Linux however did not fail me .

Not even Pro Micros need soldering. Since it has pins included, you can use female-female jumper wires to connect it with keyboard pins :D

A Pro Micro is about $5 on Aliexpress now.

The Pro Micro comes with pins, but in most cases they're not soldered to the board, you have to do that yourself (unlike with Teensies).

Yup, the Pro Micro I got was naked so soldering was definitely required. Teensies can be ordered with pre-soldered pins, though they usually come without.

I think if you cannot solder a pin header , you should not be trusted to use a complicated device like a keyboard without adult supervision

If you have a soldering iron and can solder a pin header, you can also solder 4 wires to a Teensy or Pro Micro and you don't need this whole friggin' thread ...

Some people really like a closed box solution. I point those people here:

http://stores.ebay.com/barcodemaverick? ... nkw=Soarer

Soldering is just one part of the bother of fitting an internal converter. You need to mount the thing right, and do something nice with the new cable, too. My goodness!

Speaking of which: I need to find a better way to mount my Pro Micro in the AT. It's acting up. While my Soarer box is still fine after thousands of hours of solid use. Sometimes I manage to unlearn!

This is great to know for those of us who "need" like a dozen of these! Thanks!

I don't mind soldering - kind of enjoy it in fact - so I opted for:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/171715861393



5.77 USD each. I just got ten. There are other house projects I want to implement so these won't all run Soarer's Converter or TMK.

I enjoy soldering too. But I always move my head away after each solder, I feel like the fumes are going to give me cancer.

Yeah. Fortunately I can sit next to an open window with a fan when I do my work. I try to use RoHS unleaded solder when I can. That helps a little bit.