IBM Model M BT-USB controller conversion kits

[apastuszak]

So, I have to ask...

Any plans to update this to Bluetooth LE available in Bluetooth 4 and 5 to increase battery life? What's the highest capacity battery you can recommend?

[mind_prepared]

So, I have to ask...

Any plans to update this to Bluetooth LE available in Bluetooth 4 and 5 to increase battery life? What's the highest capacity battery you can recommend?

The BT module already supports BT 4.0 BLE and the firmware has been tweaked to minimize power consumption. A 500 mAh battery should last a week or more of constant typing 8h/day, probably longer in an ordinary usage scenario (nobody's typing that much in real life). I've recently exchanged the BT module used for an improved version of the BT chipset which supposedly consumes even less power (I haven't taken any new measurements yet). It's kinda of ironic that while I tried the utmost to minimize power consumption and hence allow using a smaller battery most guys still go for the biggest battery I offer, which is 2000 mAh. A small battery should already give you plenty of mileage, I don't think a big battery is technically necessary.
Note: Even though I haven been ignoring technology for the most part this summer, I did take the time out to tweak the BT module's firmware and add a feature to set the transmission power. So, in theory, you could do some testing in your environment to find the lowest TX value you can get away with and further reduce power consumption. The only problem is that I haven't come up with a good idea how to use the microcontroller that handles the keyboard related tasks and the USB interfacing as a USB to serial bridge so that the value can be changed via UART. Perhaps I will dig deeper into the BT stack's API and find a way to set TX power directly via the BT interface. Perhaps I can add a 'feature request' to the BT HID report desciptor and use that to change values in the firmware, which is how all non-keyboard related data exchange is handled in USB mode (s.a. uploading a layout file, setting a debounce interval, PWM values etc).

The BT chipset the module is based on supports BT 5.0 as well according to the manufacturer. I would just need to upgrade the BT stack from BT 4.0 to BT 5.0 one of these days, perhaps this fall or winter, whenever I get around to it. I have been pretty much ignoring technology during the summer. On a side note, the so-called 'pandemic' doesn't exactly stoke my enthusiasm for adding new features... I currently still cannot ship DHL international economy shipments to US destinations, and the US orders have been the single most significant factor in keeping the project going... (Note: this is my personal opinion based on the situation in Germany, where there has not been a pandemic in the strict sense of the word, the government just keeps ramping up testing to keep everybody scarred, er, I mean scared).

[mszil]

Hi Jörn,
I was wondering if there was any update on this feature request from elecsys last year - it's also something I'd be very interested in:

I also have a feature request, if you would consider it.
I'm looking for something in the vein of the Logitech MK850, i.e. a keyboard that allows me to switch between multiple devices (by utilizing multiple BT-USB bridges) at the push of a button.

I also have a somewhat poor quality Logitech keyboard with this feature and it's so nice to switch back and forth between devices with just a simple keystroke. If you don't have time but are willing to share the source and basic flashing instructions, I'd be willing to take a look.

Also - I'm based in New Zealand (I emailed you earlier) - I notice DHL now has surface mail to NZ. Are you able to ship mod kits again? Thanks.

[mind_prepared]

Hi Jörn,
I was wondering if there was any update on this feature request

Also - I'm based in New Zealand (I emailed you earlier) - I notice DHL now has surface mail to NZ. Are you able to ship mod kits again? Thanks.

No, not yet, but it's been assigned to a higher slot on my to-do list.

Yes, you're right, I can ship to NZ again, neat!

[mind_prepared]

btw, to those of you who asked for a Model F version of this controller board: I cannot get hold of a Model F/Brand new Model F keyboard for free or a low price, so I have nothing to start development on. Joe aka Ellipse was kind enough to offer buying merely a keyboard assembly instead of an entire board but that would still be many times more than what I've ever paid for a keyboard. Sorry for being so cheap - but I am! =^o

I will announce if I ever happen across a used Brand new Model F, so perhaps there will be a Model F replacement controller board after all one day, who knows! =^p

[mind_prepared]

just letting everybody know, this project is alive and well.

[harmur]

Yup, I can confirm that.

More explanation below.

[harmur]

just letting everybody know, this project is alive and well.

Yup, I can confirm that.

I ordered one and Jörn mailed it mid March (15th?) 2021. To my surprise, the controller board arrived in Indonesia on March 31st, much sooner than I had expected given the pandemic circumstances (I had another international mail that took more than a month to get delivered). What also made me super excited was that Jörn also carefully packed the controller board in a neat and super safe packaging.

As the board doesn't come with a battery due to EU restriction on battery transporting, I have to buy one from the local marketplace. I still have to wait for a couple of days for my battery to arrive.

Today is my typical keyboard-cleaning Sunday and as I was really curious, I went a bit further. I removed the controller from my keyboard (an SSK Terminal), installed the BLUSB (with no problem at all), reassembled the keyboard shells, and connected the keyboard to (my mom's) Windows laptop using a USB printer cable, ... and it works instantly. A quick test using AquaKeytest confirms it, too. Finally, I tried it on my own laptop (Linux), and it also works great. Thank you, Jörn.

I'll update this once the battery arrives. I might also post a story about how I got my SSK Terminal from a metal scrapper.

[mind_prepared]

that's awesome, I'm glad to hear that!

Btw, the reason I cannot ship batteries outside of the EU is that lithium-based batteries are considered potential incendiary devices by airmail carriers. A special permit unavailable to private sellers is necessary to ship batteries by airmail. Shipping within or adjacent to EU countries is not a problem since economy shipments are delivered by ground transportation.

[mind_prepared]

hey just letting everybody know the project ain't dead, I just ran out of PCBs in late spring. I will start working on the next revision of the design shortly and prepare a new order for another batch of PCBs. I hope to be able to process orders again in a couple of months, perhaps December, so drop me a message if you're interested and I will put your name on the list. =^)

[[email protected]]

hey just letting everybody know the project ain't dead, I just ran out of PCBs in late spring. I will start working on the next revision of the design shortly and prepare a new order for another batch of PCBs. I hope to be able to process orders again in a couple of months, perhaps December, so drop me a message if you're interested and I will put your name on the list. =^)

Count me in for the next round please. I only hope I had found this project earlier. Great work sir!

[Dr_Trabotz]

hey just letting everybody know the project ain't dead, I just ran out of PCBs in late spring. I will start working on the next revision of the design shortly and prepare a new order for another batch of PCBs. I hope to be able to process orders again in a couple of months, perhaps December, so drop me a message if you're interested and I will put your name on the list. =^)

Hi there, could you possibly put my name down on the list as well, please?

I'm new to the world of retro keyboards and Model M's. May I ask a couple of Q's about this product? Feel free to explain like I'm five.

• Do all of the wires required come with the kit as standard?

• How do I tell whether my Model M has three (16+8+4 pins) or two (16+12 pins) FFC sockets?

• I use both PC and iMac - Is it easy to map the keys so that I can do apple commands, like brightness up and down with the fn keys but keep them standard for use with a PC?

• Would I be correct to assume that a battery wouldn't make it over the English channel?

Many thanks.

[jabuzzard]

Hi there, could you possibly put my name down on the list as well, please?

I'm new to the world of retro keyboards and Model M's. May I ask a couple of Q's about this product? Feel free to explain like I'm five.

• Do all of the wires required come with the kit as standard?

• How do I tell whether my Model M has three (16+8+4 pins) or two (16+12 pins) FFC sockets?

• I use both PC and iMac - Is it easy to map the keys so that I can do apple commands, like brightness up and down with the fn keys but keep them standard for use with a PC?

• Would I be correct to assume that a battery wouldn't make it over the English channel?

Many thanks.

I can answer some of the questions

You tell what sort of FFC sockets you have by opening up your Model M and taking a look. As far as I am aware there is no other reliable way. You will need a 7/32" or 5.5mm nut spinner to open it up. They are available on eBay for around £5.

Your Model M might have a wire assembly or a bit of membrane to the LED lights. You can, depending on your skill level replace the LED's for low current ones and if it is cabled move the pins about on the cable or just buy a replacement LED board and cable if needed. I went full DIY replaced the LED's myself and moved the pins in the cable header around. For two reasons firstly keeping it as original as possible and second save the planet.

As for the battery, mine made it over the English channel back in March of this year so I don't think they are Brexit effected. Or at least where not back in March. They are shipped "economy" so they come surface rather than air. It's shipping by air that's the problem as I understand it.

I have only used it in testing as it's part of a present for my brother but it seemed really simple to connect to my desktop and just "worked". Personally I am more than happy using a wired Model M.

[headphone_jack]

Will this controller support the FSSK and FEXT projects? And will it be open source so that we can order our own? Does it also have support for a solenoid/beeper? With the price it's hard to justify this over nice!nano combined with a TH controller.

[Muirium]

Thanks for pointing me to the nice!nano. What's a TH controller then? “Through hole” maybe?

[mind_prepared]

Will this controller support the FSSK and FEXT projects? And will it be open source so that we can order our own? Does it also have support for a solenoid/beeper? With the price it's hard to justify this over nice!nano combined with a TH controller.

I don't know what you are talking about, sorry. Please provide a little background before making references to other projects.

You're absolutely right it does not make sense to buy a controller board from me if you have the time and the skills to build your own and that's what I have been telling everybody from day one. You did not need to wait for a nice!nano to build your own keyboard controller board. If you're an EE student or if you work in the industry or something like that then brew your own! Heck, this is what this community is all about! =^p But even veteran EEs sometimes have better things to do than designing a keyboard controller board, other times people just do not want to install something in their beloved M series keyboard that looks all hacked together (which is essentially what you will end up with if you combine a nice!nano and some perfboard to mount the rest of the components, my first prototype looked exactly like that).

This will stay a one-man project (well, mostly). I will not release the firmware source because otherwise I would run the risk of losing control. This is not my attitude it is simply impossible to support a device that can be altered by anyone. Remember that the price of a controller board does not merely account for the bare components and assembly - on a side note, the nice!nano is not exactly a bargain at $24 + shipping - it also accounts for the time I am (happily) spending reading and writing (lengthy) emails to help people figure out what they want/need or figure out some other issue. Sometimes I even spend time trying to talk people out of buying and converting an M series keyboard altogether when it's clear that it will not work for them (s.a. playing games). All of these side-tasks are negligeable when you're only making a single unit for yourself. But if you look at it from my perspective there is a list of tasks that you have to perform everytime again and again and again. So there is time out of my schedule getting spent repeatedly on the same tasks hence I need to account for it I cannot just ignore it. It is not simply 'fun' or 'leisure', unless your idea of having a good time is sitting at a desk and mounting components on 25 PCBs in a row. I need to drop in at DT and GH sometimes, too, to check how the thread is doing. So that is time spent on the project as well. I am the first to admit that I intially underestimated the amount of time that is spent on performing tasks that do not seem to qualify for remuneration at first.

[mind_prepared]

ah, just an update: I have not started work on the next revision of the controller board yet. The government of this country - Germany - has been threatening the imposition of a general vaccine mandate. I strongly believe in science and vaccination, but I am not a guinea pig and I have not and I never will get an injection with mRNA or an adeno vector to 'protect' me from what is proven to be an ordinary respiratory virus. If the government will not relent I will be going to jail for violating the vaccine mandate. Laugh all you want, this is the type of propaganda that state officials and media outlets have been spewing for months: there will be a general mandate and if you do not abide you will be fined and eventually jailed. So this is how I (and 20 million others) live now, in constant fear of the State. I am bracing for the worst and I hope you guys will understand that my creative spirits are pretty low right now. I hope the evil empire will not prevail but historically German governments have had pretty poor human rights records, mildly put, so I will not get my hopes too far up. =^(

Oh, and just if anyone is wondering: I am currently not legally allowed to ride the bus or tram or go anywhere except for a walk. Even if I wanted to I could not leave the country because you have to be vaccinated to enter the airport and board a plane. And this is after almost two years of sheltering at home (sometimes mandated, sometimes volutantarily). The longest trip I have gone on lately was to the mailbox. This is the worst time of my life, I am starting to feel like a political prisoner or something and my home has become jail. =^(

[Muirium]

Speaking as someone who’s had their third dose now, like most Scots.

I wish we had a vaccine mandate here in Scotland. (It’s a reserved power for Westminster, which means Boris Johnson chooses for us. So that’s never going to happen…) Most of us are sensible enough to wear masks in public and maintain distance, but you only need a minority to spread omicron, as even we are seeing.

By all means refuse the vaccine. Just be sure not to leave your home until the pandemic is over. You’re risking the immuno-compromised and everyone else who truly can’t take a vaccine. Not their choice: yours. So embrace the responsibility that comes with your decision.

[inozenz]

after 2 years of avoiding covid through social distancing, i cought covid. sadly i now have to live with the long term effect. but im sure ill get better even if it takes a year or more. I think its important that we keep our free will intact, as much as humanly possible in todays technologically advanced world. im no pro nor contra covid vac, but the thread sadly isnt as low as a cold or a flu. to my person(not vaccinated) I have always been a very healthy young man, never smoked, always good at sports, especially running, so my lungs have always been strong. Now i cant even run 400 meters or carry 50 keyboards without running out of breath. I hope the best for everyone here and wish that the pandemy ends soon.

[Muirium]

Long covid is all too real. Normal flu doesn’t attack your lungs and leave them like that even once it’s gone. But normal flu wasn’t engineered! This coronavirus isn’t like anything we’ve faced before. There’s every sign it came out of that laboratory in Wuhan, where (like in many nations, not just China) it was being enhanced to be as virulent as possible. The viruses we are used to weren’t artificially augmented by scientists. This one likely was. Don’t fuck around with it!

[kbdfr]

[…] I am starting to feel like a political prisoner […]

Oh, c'mon, don't play the victim.
Refusing vaccination is your own choice, but it is not my choice if as an old man with preconditions I happen to meet you somewhere and you infect me, as even being boosted I then risk a severe or even deadly course. So simply stay home and stop whining, will you?
Confinement rules are not there to punish you or restrict your freedom, but to protect me. That's as simple as that.

By the way, I am in almost total confinement myself because I do fear all the idiots who, thinking they are oppressed, decide to simply disregard the rules (as you thankfully obviously do not).
I hope such people feel equally oppressed when they decide to disregard a red traffic light when driving - and meet a truck.

[Sheepless]

Kinda wish this could be one site where we could avoid COVID controversy. Don't we all get enough of that elsewhere?

[kbdfr]

Kinda wish this could be one site where we could avoid COVID controversy. […]

Would habe been nice if you had posted this as an answer to the poor "political prisoner" instead of to my rant
Other than that, I agree.

[mind_prepared]

I thought I was going to get these kind of robotic replies. I will stick to my convictions too bad for you guys if you still have not learned anything about the mechanisms of infection. It is outright silly to claim that the non-vaccinated will infect the vaccinated, what a bunch of nonsense.

@moderator: Please delete the Covid-related posts I agree this is not a suitable venue for serious debate on the subject.

[kbdfr]

[…] silly to claim that the non-vaccinated will infect the vaccinated, what a bunch of nonsense.[…]

Well, of course the whole medical community is just fake news, you are the one who knows better, and the Earth is flat.

[…]serious debate on the subject.

Oh, by the way, another one who knew better:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... Covid.html

[Muirium]

@moderator:

This place is as unmoderated as unvaccinated lungs. Sadly. Could really use some sanity in itself!

[mind_prepared]

Please, guys, what is the matter? Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I understand if someone believes the hogwash in the mainstream media about 'the science' behind Covid. Public discourse has become so toxic it has become nearly impossible for dissenting experts to argue their point so the layman public is hardly ever exposed to anything but the official narrative. I will not go all in here and start running down the facts. This is a forum for keyboard enthusiasts my apologies for bringing this up. It is of course totally insane and beyond the pale of me to refuse having an experimental drug injected into my body. X^(

[zrrion]

>spouts conspiracy bullshit in a thread about bluetooth model Ms
>people don't like conspiracy bullshit
>try using a lot of buzzwords to make my argument seem legit
>still sound like a child who doesn't want medicine because it's icky
how could this have happened?

this is a keyboard forum but boy should some people just quit typing

[mind_prepared]

oh my what a big strong man you are! I bet it makes you feel all fuzzy inside to squash dissent on an online forum when you can be sure that 99% of the others will back you up! Good for you, sir!

[inozenz]

I like trains