deskthority

Someone on Facebook Marketplace was selling a "Vintage Apple Keyboard" for $20.00. It was an AEKII. I had the seller pull a keycaps and lo and behold, salmon switches!

I drove an hour each way, came home and plugged it in. And, it worked. But it was pretty dirty.

I wanted to clean the tops of each keycaps, so I pulled the ADB cable out of the left port and gave the keycaps a quick wipe. Then I went to plug the cable back in, and it won't fit. I look down at the cable, and the port is on the end of the keyboard. I use the right port and that works just fine. I'm typing on it right now.

So, now I assume I need to desolder the existing port and solder a new one on. Is this an easy task?

Here are some pics.



This is going to need a good Retrobrite treatment when I have time.

This is the detached port:

That looks awful. I would scrape off all the corrosion and then clean it well with alcohol. It might work again. Reminds me of battery corrosion.

I might be inclined to replace that cable, too, certainly if it has any corrosion in it. And, if you aren't a purist, put the converter inside and have a "normal" USB connection.

The "port" is actually still inside the the keyboard. This is just the plastic connector. It looks like the plastic cracked and snapped off. If I look inside the port, I still see all the wires.

I was thinking about doing an internal ADB to USB conversion. I'd ideally want to convert it to a USB-C port, so it still has a detachable cable. It would also be nice to convert both sides. so I have a usable USB port also, where I can plug in a wired mouse.

So, adventures in Retr0Briting today. I did the space bar.

Before:



After:



I used the "indoor" method I found on YouTube. Took the space bar. Threw it in a quart freezer bag and added 3% hydrogen peroxide into it. Squeezed the air out. Set up my Sous Vide and got it up to 70°C. I threw in the bag and let it swirl around for 2 hours. I was thrilled with the results.

I'm doing the ADB cable now. It's been in there 90 minutes and I think it's done. Trying to find a way to do the top case now. I'm going to need to find a big enough container that I can clip the sour vide to. I'm pretty impressed this works in 2-3 hours. And with the sous vide circulating the thing around, and I can just set it and forget it. I don't need to move it around to make sure sunlight still gets to it, or flip it over.

Ok, here is the "after pics of the ADB cable.