>> demik said:

Usually LEDs (most, not all) do have a flat notch on them. It should match the notch on the PCB silkscreen Click to expand...

Yeah, the LEDs were installed backwards.

>> demik said:

My bad, you are right. It's 2mm spaced You are welcome ! I've never seen the 341-0875-A. Where did you find it ? Click to expand...

As for the 341-0875-A, I was mistaken. I had taken it the internal board out of an old Apple Keyboard II (M0487) not the AppleDesign.

I've been trying to find more controllers and unfortunately, I only had a single keyboard with 3 screws, made in Mexico, that had the correct 341-0001 controller.

All my other AppleDesign keyboards are the 8 screw kind, Assembled in Thailand. They have an Apple DoDF 122067-002 controller inside.




It seems like the controllers inside the 4 or 8 screw versions of the keyboard won't work, only the 3 screw versions from Mexico or Czech Republic have the appropriate ALPS controller?

There also seems to be an assembled in China version that has 6 screws that I don't see any reports about.

>> wottle said:

Yeah, the LEDs were installed backwards. Click to expand...

Nice !

>> wottle said:

It seems like the controllers inside the 4 or 8 screw versions of the keyboard won't work, only the 3 screw versions from Mexico or Czech Republic have the appropriate ALPS controller? There also seems to be an assembled in China version that has 6 screws that I don't see any reports about. Click to expand...

Yes, that's what I've found as well (with the community help) 3 screw versions are ALPS ones, 4 or 8 screws are NMB ones

This matches the information on Deskthority here

So, in preparation for me getting my @MacEffects clear case for my SE, I made my own transparent keyboard and mouse. The mouse was simply a 3d printed replica shell with the innards from one of my many ADB mice. The keyboard was using this design.

[Image: IMG_8192.jpeg][Image: IMG_8193.jpeg][Image: IMG_8194.jpeg][Image: IMG_8195.jpeg][Image: IMG_8196.jpeg]


Because the original CIY Tester68 key board didn't have a light translucent case (there is a black version that is slightly translucent, but I wanted to be able to see through it more. I found a similar CIY keyboard called the Novice68. It is much more translucent, and it adds pop out legs to provide a steeper angle. Pictures online looked pretty similar, although the bottom mounting holes looked to be off, I thought I would be able to adjust to handle it. Having gone through it, I'd recommend against it. Here's the challenges:

None of the standoffs match up. Even the top row which are close, do not line up. They are too close to the edge. To resolve this, I used my heat gun to soften the plastic and then pliers to adjust their location. This was challenging to get right. The standoffs need to go into the recessed holes in the PCB in order for the small screws to reach. And even then, the holes in the metal top plate are a bit off, so it is just not great. For all the remaining standoffs I had to cut them off where the bottom of the PCB is to simply support the PCB. I did try to move one of the supports that I cut off to be a middle screw down for the front of the PCB. Unfortunately, while there is a hole in the PCB I could use, the white metal top plate does not have a hole there. I decided to hold off on trying to drill a new hole, as I do not think it will look great and you will see it with the clear key caps.

The silicone gasket is nice, but it does not have holes where the pins for the switches that go into the Design68 board. So I had to use a scalpel to cut out a hole in the silicone for every key cap. Also not great.

Space inside the different shaped case on the bottom cause some problems. Fortunately, the bump out extends enough to accommodate the ALPS controller chip in a socket. However, the ADB port requires grinding away some of the plastic where one of the legs attaches to be able to sit far enough down to allow the pub to be screwed down.

However, despite all that, I'm excited to have a clear keyboard that will be paired with my clear SE/30. I also did the trace cutting and bodge wire modifications to change out the top right keys to ESC and DEL instead of PGUP and PGDN

Here's what I used in case anyone is interested in trying it with the Novice68 (I'd recommend just using the Black Tester68 keyboard, though). The case is barely noticeable and the clear switches and key caps are the important part.

Novice68 keyboard kit ($29)
70pc clear switches ($20)
140pc transparent keycaps ($19)


I used an existing ADB cable I pulled from the Apple Design Keyboard I got the controller from, but I have a transparent sleeve 5 wire cable coming and a DIY S-video port that I plan to switch the wire to. May have to see if I can to the same for the mouse wire.

Ok, I got the wire replaced and I think it turned out pretty good. Definitely like the transparent cable over the stock gray one. [Image: IMG_8443.jpeg][Image: IMG_8446.jpeg]

The cable is a bit thicker than the stock, so I had to enlarge the hole in the battery compartment to accommodate. Now I need to see if I can replace the mouse cable. Will definitely need to order a thinner cable as this one is too bulky.

Awesome work as always :)

Didn't know about the Novice68, thanks for the update

If you remake the keyboard again, would you consider documenting it on video and uploading to YouTube?

Very inspiring build! I really like seeing all the complete builds. I'm used to small mechanical keyboards (leaves more room for the mouse), and I like the idea of building a smaller keyboard for my SE/30.

I'm considering to handwire the switches to the original ADK, but still use the Tester68 as base. So I'm now trying to get an idea how all the switches are wired for which the diagrams on GitHub are amazing. I took the ADK apart, but it has many plastic welds, so actually seeing the traces without breaking the keyboard is going to be annoying. To anyone with experience with the Tester68: how well are the keycaps retained in the plate itself?

Without a PCB I hope the plate keeps it all together and not my wiring.

One of the interesting finds in my KiCAD exploration thus far:

I realized I never posted the cables I ende4d up using. For the mouse, I used thinner wires and only a 4 wire bundle (I assume the lack of the 5th wire is because the mouse can't do daisy chaining?).

But I ordered the cables from here: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256...il_item.5.549af19ckFnGLe&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

4 cores, 28AWG - mouse
5 cores, 26AWG - keryboard

I ordered 2 meters of each so I would have some extra if needed.

For the design68, I switched to using connectors to make swapping cables easier. I think it uses 2.0mm pitch just connectors.

For the mouse, I was able to remove the strain relief from the original mouse cable, then super glue it onto the clear cable (probably not needed because it was a tight fit and difficult to get put onto the new cable. I then soldered the 4 wires directly to the mouse PCB.

For the other ends of the cable, I ordered these 4-pin mini-DIN connectors: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256...t_main.28.98831802sUkTPH&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

kinda nice, thanks. Why 5 cores ? Are you connecting the shield as well ?

>> demik said:

kinda nice, thanks. Why 5 cores ? Are you connecting the shield as well ? Click to expand...

Good point, probably could get away with 4 cores. I think I ordered so match the original cable (or maybe the s-video cable that likely had the shielding connected. I didn't solder that 5th wire to the shielding of the other ADB connector in the keyboard though, because I like having it removable with my JST connector.