My custom M0110

matt3o · 14 May 2013, 10:50

I've always been fascinated by the Apple M0110 keyboard. It's a HHKB precursor if you want. I took two at a very reasonable price and started the customization process. Of course lowpoly's famouse M0110 project has been of great inspiration, but mine has some notably differences (the controller daughter board mainly).

This is how it looked:

Step 1: desolder, open switches, clean, lube

Step 2: wiring

Step 3: wiring done!

Step 4: controller, on the right you can see I've placed a sort of daughter board with the controller. I used a dremel'd piece of the original PCB on the left as a standoff

This is how the controller looks from above

The USB connector

This is how it looks now, retr0brighted of course:

Mission accomplished! Level up!

ne0phyte · 14 May 2013, 10:59

Nice. I saw a few of them on eBay and it looks awesome but they are way too expensive (mostly $200+) :/

How much did you pay for yours?

matt3o · 14 May 2013, 11:00

ne0phyte wrote:Nice. I saw a few of them on eBay and it looks awesome but they are way too expensive (mostly $200+) :/

How much did you pay for yours?

I paid $50 for 2! They were in very bad shape, but I didn't care.

ne0phyte · 14 May 2013, 11:01

Awesome deal! *jealous*
I just checked eBay again... 150-300 EURO starting price >_<

matt3o · 14 May 2013, 11:05

ne0phyte wrote:Awesome deal! *jealous*
I just checked eBay again... 150-300 EURO starting price >_<

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Apple-K ... 56561a07f0

Ask if he ships to DE and make an offer. Mine was listed at twice the price I paid (I made an offer for less than the half of the listed value and we met half way). Also I bet someone here can proxy you.

ne0phyte · 14 May 2013, 11:13

Hmm not bad. I wonder why eBay didn't show me that. I searched for exactly that title ("vintage apple keyboard m0110").
But I already spent too much on keyboards lately and have to restrain myself for now

matt3o · 14 May 2013, 11:16

ne0phyte wrote:But I already spent too much on keyboards lately and have to restrain myself for now

I know what it means! In facts I'm going to sell some keyboards.

kbdfr · 14 May 2013, 12:05

ne0phyte wrote:[…] I wonder why eBay didn't show me that. I searched for exactly that title ("vintage apple keyboard m0110"). […]

It's because the seller hasn't cared to include internatioal shipping.
If you want to include such sales, select Advanced Search/Erweiterte Suche and then:

: Search2.jpg (79.69 KiB) Viewed 9908 times

Well hidden, isn't it?

Good luck!

Muirium · 14 May 2013, 13:12

I'm guessing that either one of the duplicated Command or Option keys is the gateway to your function layer, and that cursory goodness lies in there, where Steve could never nix it. Then Caps Lock is Control?

Besides the missing Fn key at the right end of right shift, there's really an enormous similarity between this and the HHKB. Eiiti Wada must have liked what he saw. It's a great little design, now and then.

matt3o · 14 May 2013, 13:45

yes, you guess it right. Left option is FN. Capslock is control.

Arrows are on WASD and IJKL.

Muirium · 14 May 2013, 14:00

Caps Lock is latching on later old-school Apple keyboards, which would have been fiddly.

matt3o · 14 May 2013, 14:04

Muirium wrote:Caps Lock is latching on later old-school Apple keyboards, which would have been fiddly.

I removed the lock on the capslock key and dremell'd the key mount a little. It now behaves like a normal key.

Muirium · 14 May 2013, 14:20

Aha!

(I've never handled one of these original Mac keyboards. Only later ADBs.)

I think I'd get confused pretty quickly with the WASD / IJKL asymmetry combined with homerow nubs being on D and K instead of F and J. Nothing worse than hitting the wrong arrows while your fingers debate whether they're talking WASD or ESDF!

tipo33 · 15 May 2013, 19:21

This is very impressive, Which ALPS switches does it have? I thought the M0110 used a precursor to the ALPS "bigfoot".

matt3o · 15 May 2013, 19:44

they are not alps, at least they don't look like.

they are stiff linear with a very nice sound and feel overall.

Halvar · 15 May 2013, 20:01

That's really a board that's worth it, the design of the original board is just impeccable. Like all 60%s, a little bit too much form over function for my personal needs as a programmer, but I imagine this form factor to be perfect for a writer.

And a flawlessly done mod, love the wiring and the controller board! I guess I'd prefer that board to a phantom or hhkb every day, just for the looks alone.

Thanks for posting!

tipo33 · 15 May 2013, 20:25

matt3o wrote:they are not alps, at least they don't look like.

they are stiff linear with a very nice sound and feel overall.

hmm.. do you still have the second one?

matt3o · 15 May 2013, 20:31

tipo33 wrote:
matt3o wrote:they are not alps, at least they don't look like.

they are stiff linear with a very nice sound and feel overall.
hmm.. do you still have the second one?

I made one working out of two. I have lots of spare key caps and switches, the case and the plate, but not enough for a full keyboard.

Actually MX switches fit the M0110 plate... but you need very high profile caps such as SA which I don't have.

Daniel Beardsmore · 17 May 2013, 00:03

tipo33 wrote:This is very impressive, Which ALPS switches does it have? I thought the M0110 used a precursor to the ALPS "bigfoot".

I called them "vintage tee mount" — the [wiki]switchplate[/wiki] assembly appears to be identical to those in complicated Alps "CM" switches, and they even appear to be pin-compatible. Alps Electric made a lot of different types of switches, but the vintage tee mount appears to be the actual predecessor to the "CM", AKA "bigfoot", unlike all their other completely unrelated switches.

See Category:Alps switches for an incomplete list of Alps switches.