my IBM 5155 keyboard with integrated macro deck screen

[M9HM]

Hi guys. It's been a while since I last posted here, but I would like to show you how my project went.

About a year ago, I purchased an IBM 5155 (the portable computer) keyboard. I wanted to make a soarers converter for it and get it to work, but I lacked some info on the pin-out of the connector to the board, so I was afraid of messing it up. I had the Teensy and everything, but I was procrastinating on it for said concerns.

The other day, I said: fuck it, I will do it. I started gathering all the info I could about how to make the converter and how to wire things up. I found the pin-out in the fantastically complete website https://sharktastica.co.uk/topics/kb_connections by Sharktastica.

So I made the converter, which for most of you will seem like a minor detail, but I am fucking proud of myself as I had almost no experience with either arduino or soldering anything smaller than speaker terminals.

Then I designed and 3d printed an enclosure for my macro screen (that is actually an old android phone running MacroDeck, an app that basically turns a phone into a Elgato macro pad) and made it to fit in the whole for the original 5155 cable.

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So now I not only have a functional keyboard but it has a freaking screen with all my macros and shit. I am waiting for a new longer cable to arrive as I am using the last mini USB cable I had which happens to be really short.

I also made a version of the screen enclosure for my model M, but that one is just placed on top of the "pencil tray" and not lock down by anything.

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I hope you like it, I am pretty happy with the results, though I will probably look for a lighter shade of grey so the screen holder mimics the IBM aesthetic a bit better.

[AngryCockroach]

Cool, very nice!

I have a similar setup:

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[M9HM]

Oh, the 122 has the perfect place for the macro deck! pretty cool!!!

[Muirium]

…so I put a keyboard in your keyboard!

It's nice to see it done. Right enough, that exposed cable store would invite me to repurpose the space as well. Glad to hear Soarer's got you covered.

[M9HM]

…so I put a keyboard in your keyboard!

It's nice to see it done. Right enough, that exposed cable store would invite me to repurpose the space as well. Glad to hear Soarer's got you covered.

Thanks!

I think that it looked really good with the coiled cable inside, but once you remove it, it seems a bit empty, so yes, adding some functionality there is the logical thing to do.

The Soarers converter is amazing, super simple to make and works well, the only problem I encountered was that I did not solder the keyboard ground to the teensy (as I read somewhere that it was not necessary) and it went bat shit crazy when I connected it the first time, but I quickly realized that it was a grounding issue, from that moment, no major issues.

I will probably try to modify some of the keys in the layout, but its definitely usable.