Shelf lock light dongle? for boards without.

User avatar
Yasu0

20 Dec 2021, 18:01

Is there an off the shelf device like a usb pass thru dongle that has lock lights on it?

User avatar
Yasu0

20 Dec 2021, 18:10

Before I JB weld one of these to the top of my monitor.

https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Keyboa ... B088ZWT5N1

User avatar
Lynx_Carpathica

20 Dec 2021, 18:28

Just get an crap USB keyb for 1$ or something, and gut it out. Use the PCB as indicators.

My best guess so far.

Troll on: Why do you need them? So that your hasekis would throw me even higher? :lol:

User avatar
Muirium
µ

20 Dec 2021, 19:49

It’s a fair enough question. Yasu’s, not yours. ;)

There’s presumably some way to show them on-screen. Which could be an improvement to looking down at where your mouse should really be.

Lanrefni

20 Dec 2021, 21:53

You never notice how useless Caps Lock is until you've spent a couple years using a board that doesn't have one and then use some one else's and you keep hitting the useless damn thing when you go to hit Ctrl.

User avatar
Muirium
µ

20 Dec 2021, 22:32

Been using Shift + Shift to toggle Caps Lock since Soarer told me about it in 2013. Control is left of A, always. And when it isn’t, I make it so.

The other two locks don’t even exist on Mac, so their indicators’ absence is nae bother for me.

User avatar
Yasu0

21 Dec 2021, 00:23

Gut and JB it is.... I guess the on screen thing works too but I like seeing those shiny lock LEDs on the edge of my peripheral view. They make me happy.

What are hasekis?

User avatar
jsheradin

21 Dec 2021, 01:30

Not off the shelf but you can definitely do this with a small patch to the arduino keyboard library. Should be pretty quick to wire up some LEDs to a pro micro.

Another thought, mod/build a tiny macro-pad. Anything running TMK/QMK/Soarer's Controller/etc. can do lock lights. Always handy to have some dedicated keys for music controls.

User avatar
vvp

21 Dec 2021, 14:23

jsheradin wrote:
21 Dec 2021, 01:30
Not off the shelf but you can definitely do this with a small patch to the arduino keyboard library. Should be pretty quick to wire up some LEDs to a pro micro.
I second this. Easier than trying to gut a commercial keyboard PCB.

Gutting a cheap keyboard: It will not be easy to decide what parts fo the PCB can be cut off which must stay. And it will likely end up too big anyway.

User avatar
kbdfr
The Tiproman

21 Dec 2021, 14:43

Lanrefni wrote:
20 Dec 2021, 21:53
You never notice how useless Caps Lock is until you've spent a couple years using a board that doesn't have one and then use some one else's and you keep hitting the useless damn thing when you go to hit Ctrl.
I find ashtrays totally useless, but at least I admit they may be of some use to other people.

User avatar
Muirium
µ

21 Dec 2021, 15:27

Ashtrays are worse than useless: they invite smokers to light up. Unsure if the same is true for Caps Lock indicators, but.

User avatar
raoulduke-esq

21 Dec 2021, 15:54

Muirium wrote:
21 Dec 2021, 15:27
Ashtrays are worse than useless: they invite smokers to light up. Unsure if the same is true for Caps Lock indicators, but.
I DON'T HAVE LIGHT SO I DON'T KNOW IF CAPSLOCK IS ON.

Findecanor

21 Dec 2021, 15:56

I disable Caps Lock, so I know it is always off.

User avatar
Muirium
µ

21 Dec 2021, 17:35

BUT WHERE’S THE ACCIDENTAL JOY IN THAT?

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Lynx_Carpathica

21 Dec 2021, 18:06

raoulduke-esq wrote:
21 Dec 2021, 15:54
Muirium wrote:
21 Dec 2021, 15:27
Ashtrays are worse than useless: they invite smokers to light up. Unsure if the same is true for Caps Lock indicators, but.
I DON'T HAVE LIGHT SO I DON'T KNOW IF CAPSLOCK IS ON.
I am an Apple keyboard user. I don't have caps lights either, but I know if it is on, its down. and vice versa.

User avatar
Muirium
µ

21 Dec 2021, 18:16

Been a while since Apple had latching caps lock. Guessing you’re talking beige? ;)

Latching keys are the best way to indicate modes. But I’m glad my MacBook doesn’t have one there, or its height wouldn’t tell me anything, as a NON CAPSLOCK USER.

User avatar
robo

21 Dec 2021, 23:43

Muirium wrote:
21 Dec 2021, 18:16
Been a while since Apple had latching caps lock. Guessing you’re talking beige? ;)

Latching keys are the best way to indicate modes. But I’m glad my MacBook doesn’t have one there, or its height wouldn’t tell me anything, as a NON CAPSLOCK USER.
The other downside to them is then the key is much harder to remap. I had to physically replace the switch on my AEKII so that I could use the key to the left of A for it's rightful purpose, Ctrl.

User avatar
Muirium
µ

21 Dec 2021, 23:49

Hey, at least it’s swappable. My M0110 has different cap stem height, meaning you’re better to fiddle with the switch than swapping it out.

Part of me really wants to use that latching switch for Bluetooth power. But not there! That would be just asking for accidental actu

User avatar
jsheradin

22 Dec 2021, 00:38

Muirium wrote:
21 Dec 2021, 23:49
Hey, at least it’s swappable. My M0110 has different cap stem height, meaning you’re better to fiddle with the switch than swapping it out.

Part of me really wants to use that latching switch for Bluetooth power. But not there! That would be just asking for accidental actu
Probably tough to find but try to get a cap from an Apple II. A few revisions of it are SKCC compatible, normal stem height for that spot, and your legend would even be correct.
Spoiler:
Apple IIe with Mitsumi standard mechanical
ctrl.PNG
ctrl.PNG (611.68 KiB) Viewed 10749 times

User avatar
raoulduke-esq

22 Dec 2021, 14:41

As one has to desolder a m0110 caps lock to replace the switch anyway, it's easier to remove the follower arm and put the switch back. Presto. Reversible method of obtaining a non-locking switch that works with the original keycap. No harvesting old computers necessary. Now you can map it to Command (or Ctrl if you like Windows).

User avatar
Bjerrk

22 Dec 2021, 15:29

raoulduke-esq wrote:
22 Dec 2021, 14:41
Now you can map it to Command (or Ctrl if you like Windows).
Steuerung, bitte!

User avatar
Muirium
µ

22 Dec 2021, 15:33

The M0110 already has a nice big Command key, right where it should be. (And another disguised as Enter on the right, which I’d use as right Command as well.) So it’s gotta be Control for me. Just as it is on my HHKB and, oh, every other keyboard. :lol:

Windows? Haven’t touched it in ten, going twenty years. Control has other uses aplenty on the Mac for me!

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