21st Century Utility, 19th Century Swagger - DIY USB Typewriter
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2017-05-06
·
1,596 words · ~7 min read
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there are all sorts of keyboards on the market today from elaborate gaming
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platforms to Sleek utilitarian designs
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but what about a keyboard for the Discerning gentleman the kind of
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keyboard that says my other car is a
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semi- rigid dirigible well don't pop a monacle but a
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while back a tech Enthusiast by the name of Jack zilin created an open-source
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project detailing how you can convert one of the several antique typewriters
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you no doubt have cluttering up your budoir into a perfectly functional USB
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keyboard and we're going to show you just how to do it old
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Bean tunnel bear is the simple VPN app
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that makes it easy to browse privately and enjoy a more open internet to try
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tunnel bear for free check out the link in the video description
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to start with let's do a brief primer on how a typewriter operates every key
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press you'll notice they're extremely deep results in a mechanical action
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involving Springs and levers that causes the ARM corresponding to the struck
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letter to make contact with an ink ribbon and stamp the letter onto the
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page as you type in theory the contact
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point for each letter is identical and it's the page itself that moves back and
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forth more on this later so this should
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be pretty simple then thanks to the enduring querty standard there's a
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convenient backwards compatibility of sorts so we could just take the existing
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letter stamps put contacts where they strike and add some kind of digital
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interface and boom it's Off to the Races right well no back to the point before
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about all the arms hitting the same spot every key on the keyboard would hit the
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same same spot typing the same letter over and over so you only look like a
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badass until someone started reading your screenplay over your shoulder in
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the local Starbucks so the way to get around this while preserving the
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original aesthetic and as much of the original feel as possible is with this
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the sensor bar it consists of a series of flexible metal contacts laid out like
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piano keys across a circuit board that intercept the put directly under the
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keys themselves so each actuation drops
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a corresponding bar in this row which
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strikes a contact and alerts the microcontroller to a key press cool
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right let's show you how to do it before
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we can install the sensor bar we need to displace the space bar for Access and
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then remove the crossbar now ideally the
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way you're supposed to do this is by unscrewing the two stops on the space
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bar and loosening the screw so the space bar can swing out of your way
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unfortunately thanks to Mr rust our screws are all stuck fast you can try to
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solve this by applying a liberal dose of hydrogen peroxide and a few firm Taps to
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let the liquid seep into the threads which worked for one of the screws we
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needed but even after more Taps than Fred aer's second best pair of shoes the
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screws on the space bar stops and the ones holding the crossbar in place
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remained firmly jamed so naturally we gave up I'm just kidding
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fortunately we have the skills and tools appropriate for this sort of delicate
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operation success with unimpeded access
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our next step is to remove the layer of paint on the bottom of the keys to
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expose the electrically conductive metal underneath a lot of people would
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recommend using a coar grit sandpaper to strip that away but what am I a monkey
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banging rocks together that would take way too long I'm going to use a machine
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now we're supposed to move the crossbar at this point so we can repurpose it
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into a holder for the sensor bar but with the amount of corrosion and rust on
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this thing it's not going anywhere time
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for more improvization this chunk of metal we
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procured has three qualities that are crucial to us one it's a flat surface
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two it's rigid enough to be used as a support and three and perhaps most
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importantly it was Within thin arms reaching our recycling pile so we sliced
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a thin strip out of it to hold our sensor board now though we're going to
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need some way to prop it up beneath the undercarriage ha Glory Be these two
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empty threaded holes on either side of the typewriter frame are exactly where
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we need them to be and currently woefully underutilized so we liberated
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these two eyebolts from some large clanking machine near our electrical box
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I'm about 80% certain they were structurally Superfluous and they fit
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perfectly in these slots so all we need to do then is Twist them through to the
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right depth a voila super firm with
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barely any give like a fashionable whalebone coret now it's crucial at this
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point to visually check the alignment of the dots on the back of the sensor board
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with each metal bar then once we were sure it was perfectly positioned we
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glued the sensor board onto our makeshift supports better use a little
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more just to be sure maybe a touch more we don't want this going anywhere and
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perfect we'll put the control panel here on the side where it's close enough to
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the sensor bar for an easy connection and where we can easily reach it and
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we're almost ready to flip it back over but there are just a few housekeeping
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items to take care of these eyebolts extend way past where we need them and
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the Scuttle butt is they made some disparaging remarks about the queen so
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I'm afraid it's off with their heads it'd be a shame if we cut the cord to
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our control panel though so we're going to make sure that that's tucked nicely
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out of the way and move our space bar back in position we also need to attach
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the control panel directly to the electrically conductive metal of the
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frame with a grounding wire the best and
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by best I mean the only one not so thoroughly rusted that we can actually
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remove It screw for this job looks to be this one in the back now a modern
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keyboard has keys that you won't find on any typewriter control alt and command
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being among them you can just press the control box but the cooler way is to use
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magnetic switches on the four auxiliary inputs that it allows so we set ours up
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on the spacebar shift and carriage return which means that when we press
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enter we get the satisfaction of slamming this lever every single time
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and as any early 20th century typist will tell you that never gets old the
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wires are a little all over the place at this point but after a quick round of
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cable management we are pretty much done everything looks as tight and rigid as
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late Victorian gender norms and the end result is a piece of Hardware that is
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more than just another disposable peripheral but rather an interesting
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Alchemy of antique and Modern Machinery
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not to mention a beautiful centerpiece for a desk An Elegant keyboard the blue
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screen of death if you type too fast but
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it's great if you're interested in a tactile typing experience that even the
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best mechanical keyboards can't match if you enjoy technology with a unique
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aesthetic or if you just want to show up all the wannabe hipsters at your next
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poetry slam we're teaming up with rocket to
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give away three of their Skelter keyboards their membrane keyboards that
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you can use seamlessly with both your phone and your PC at the same time so
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you type directly to your phone sltt and
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then switch back to your PC with the touch of a button you can utilize rocket
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swarm app to enhance your gaming experience with a secondary screen/
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control system using your phone as well you can play games in full screen while
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watching a stream or a video on your phone you can answer incoming text messages well that's a phone but don't
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worry too much about that without having to minimize your game or look away for
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too long and you can even accept phone calls see now see how I turn that around
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there with your headset and switch audio between your phone and your PC so enter
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at the link below for a chance to
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win so thanks for watching guys if this video sucked you know what to do but if
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it was awesome get subscribed hit that like button or check out the link to
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where to buy the stuff we featured usually at Amazon but it's somewhere else this time cuz it's not available on
8:46
Amazon in the video description also linked in the description is our merch
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store which has cool shirts like this one and our community Forum which you
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should totally join now that you're done doing all that stuff you're probably
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wondering what to watch next so check out that little little button in the top
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right corner to so check out click that little button whatever check out our
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latest video over on Channel Super Fun