the most cool Mac modification ever

[cb911]

i'm about to attempt the coolest mod that has ever been attempted on a TiBook. i guess your all wondering what i'm going on about, so let me tell you- i was watching The Matrix for about the 30th time the other day and for some reason the keyboard that they use really grabbed my attention. i got a real good look at the keyboard and the different symbol they use on the 'enter' key, and the camera also stayed still long enough for me to see a few of the other symbols they use. then i thought 'whoa, man. thats a really cool keyboard!'
that's when it hit me! i realised that i could get rid of all the letters on my keyboard and replace them with the symbols they use on the Matrix keyboards! this would not be a problem for me, because i can touch type, and it would also stop other from stuffing around on my TiBook.

then i got on the net and had a look to see if i could find any of the symbols or code they use in the Matrix. after a whole morning of looking i didn't find anything, although i did get a font that uses the Matrix code for letters, but i haven't had a look at that yet.

i wanted to ask everyone if they could help me out. i need a nice big photo of a TiBook keyboard, so i can mock up the new keys to see how they will turn out. i would take care of this myself, but i don't have a digital camera yet.
also, any advice on what inks or paint to use on the keys would be apperciated. i was looking at an G3 Powerbook that had been modded, and the guy got a new keyboard, except he got it with absolutely no writing on the keys, completely blank. does anyone know where i could get a TiBook keyboard?

thanks all, i'll keep you updated with the latest.

[AlphaTech]

If you had put this up last week. I had a busted TiBook keyboard at work that I tossed out. I could have taken a rubbing, or just scanned and emailed it to you.

I am searching my resources to see if I can locate an image of one. IF I can, I will let you know (as well as put it up on my homepage for you to pull down). You could print it and enlarge it to as close to real size as you need that way.

[Royal Pineapple]

wouldnt it be more approperate to title this thread "the coolest mac mod ever" or" the greatist mac mod ever" "most coo"l dosent sound right to me. but im no gramariton my self.
the mod sounds cool, hope you are able to do it, yatta, yatta, yatta.
wow im tired

[G4scott]

my mod was cooler...

Check it out. (http://www.macrumors.com/forums/showthread.php3?threadid=5468&highlight=best+mac+mod)

[AlphaTech]

I'm reserving judgment on which is cooler until cb911 actually gets his done. I slid the files to him for the keyboard, which will assist.

[cb911]

Originally posted by Royal Pineapple
"most coo"l dosent sound right to me.

yeah, it looks wrong to me as well. "most coo"l, i can't quite put my finger on it...
lol :D lol
man, you must be tired.
and i'll do it alright! just you wait.:)

thanks for those pics AlphaTech, i never thought of printing them out.

i also need to know if messing around with the keyboard will void or limit the warranty in any way. i know a few of you are from Australia, so you might be able to tell me how much in AU$ a new TiBook keyboard would cost if something was to go wrong.

now that i have a couple of photos of a TiBooks keyboard (thanks again AlphaTech), all i need so that i can start doing a mock-up is some 'genuine' Matrix code. if anyone has any screen shots (of the code) from the movie or knows where i could get some, let me know will ya? or if i can't find any on the net, i'll just have to watch The Matrix on my TiBook and get the screen shots that way...

[cb911]

i just read your whole 'Best Mac Mod.' thread. it looks pretty cool, but i'll have *genuine* matrix code. i also noticed that your little mod voided your warranty, and that is something i definitely don't want to do. especially because i got my TiBook at education pricing and an education warranty - 3 years.

i really need to know if my little keyboard mod will effect the warranty at all.

i was thinking of getting my hands on a blank keyboard and putting it in myself, but i just went through the PowerBook manual again and i'm guessng that average Joe Bloggs can't do this sort of stuff.

[cb911]

i just found the site where a PowerBook G3 owner purchased a blank keyboard from. it's here (http://www.digitalhipps.com/english/english01.htm) digitalhipps.com. you can buy different sets of keys, like just the function keys or the alphabet keys.
i was thinking of getting the alphabet keys and just replacing the ones i have now with the new Matrix keys. i was only going to do this mod to the alphabet keys anyway. but does anyone know if the 'alphabet' set of keys for a G3 PowerBook wil fit a TiBook? it would be really good if they did because i would only have to pay US$29 instead of the US$79 for the whole keyboard.

[Mr. Anderson]

I look forward to see what you come up with. And I'd like to see the faces of any apple techs that had to work on it if you sent it in for repairs.....:D

[AlphaTech]

Personally, I wouldn't pull the keys from your TiBook's stock keyboard. If you need to send it in for repair, that could be a major pain to put the original ones back on. It would be far easier to simply change the keyboard.

Which revision of the TiBook do you have?? If you have the latest, they changed the keyboard backing between the previous model and this one.

Spend the few extra $$ and get the full deal made for your laptop. You will be less frustrated with that option. :D

[Royal Pineapple]

changing the keys can be a real problem, there are lots of little plastic parts that have a tendancy to brea, trust me i've gon through 4 keybords for my iBook:D :D :D but apple justs keeps on sending me new ones, so i dont mind.:rolleyes:

[icetraxxg5]

Originally posted by G4scott
my mod was cooler...

Check it out. (http://www.macrumors.com/forums/showthread.php3?threadid=5468&highlight=best+mac+mod)

Yuck! :rolleyes:

Its your iBook but I'll tell ya that I would NEVER do that to my iBook!

[cb911]

would changing the keys be that much of a problem? there are instructons on the digitalhipps website, looks pretty easy. and i only want to take off the alphabet keys, that's simple enough isn't it?

i would buy a full keyboard, but even digitalhipps don't sell the whole thing, they only sell the keys and you have to replace them.
AlphaTech, i've got the latest TiBook. can i even get a Apple keyboard? aren't they too hard to take completely out? it would also be alot cheaper if i just got the alphabet keys.

and i'm getting desprate for the 'code' now. can anyone help?

[AlphaTech]

Difficult to take out??? Hell no dude, it's a snap. :D

Lift the keyboard up like you were going to install some more memory, trace the ribbon on it back to the motherboard. See that little connection?? GENTLY pull up and you have removed your keyboard. Do this with it powered off. You should be able to get either an AASP to sell you one, or call apple and say that yours has a key that fell off, or that the 2 w s x keys are not working any longer... :D Chances are VERY high that they will just ship you a new keyboard (and not ask for yours back). :D

[cb911]

so your saying that if i just rock up to my local Apple reseller, they'll just sell me another keyboard? that sounds too good to be true!! if i was going to buy one do you have any idea how much they would cost? it wouldn't be worth it if it would cost heaps.

[AlphaTech]

Well, since there are no prices listed for it (the PBDVI keyboard), I would say that you just need to talk with them. The old keyboards (PowerBook G3 bronze) list for $70 (US). I can't see the new ones being more then a few dollars more (if at all). The older ones will not work in the new PowerBook, since they changed where it connects to.

I'd suggest calling Apple first, to see if you can fanagle a new/replacement one out of them before you go and try to purchase one.

[cb911]

really? just call Apple and see if they'll send me a new keyboard? for free? could i get in trouble for that?

[AlphaTech]

IF you play your cards right, the chances of it happening are high. They DO list the keyboard as an 'user installable part', which means they send it to you. Of all the powerbook keyboards that I have replaced, not once have they asked for the old one back. Not even for desktop systems, which is cool.

Worse case, you won't be able to do it a second time for free (don't ***** up the original one). I would suggest going with the 'dead keys' scenario. That typically gets a new keyboard sent to you. If they start to say about you needing to send the laptop to them, tell them that you have to have it, cannot live without it... You could tell them that you have to use an external keyboard to use the system until the replacement arrives... :D Apple is not cruel and heartless as most peecee companies. :D

[G4scott]

okay, so my mod was a little easy, and crude :P

This keyboard mod sounds cool. What would be even cooler, is if someone could make a keyboard (Mac laptop or desktop) to light up. I'm pretty sure you could do it with the Pro Keyboard, seeing as that it has plenty of space in it. A laptop keyboard would be a lot harder, and you'd have to take power constraints into consideration... I just hope you mod works!

[AmbitiousLemon]

seems like you would have to do more than get a new keyboard to make this a cool mod, what else do you ahve planned for the mod?

the matrix font is just japanese characters backwards, with a few roman alphabet characters thrown in for good measure. there is a thread here about some where just doa search for matrix and i think you will find it. there was a guy who knew more about it.

snapping on and off the keyboard keys is incredibly easy. you can do the whole keyboard in about 10 minutes. unless you are an oaf or something you cant screw anything up (and id assume you are good with your hands with you are planning this).

id suggest doing more than just the keyboard though. i mean all you do is buy it from digital hipps. they put the charatcers on it for you and you just snap them in place. nothing fancy about it. id suggest tweaking things out besides the keyboard if you want to have "the coolest mod ever."

people have always wanted a back lit keyboard. if you had a green glow behind the keyboard that would be cool. and add some highlights to the Ti maybe. something really subtle. not too flashy.

[mmmdreg]

Originally posted by G4scott
okay, so my mod was a little easy, and crude :P

This keyboard mod sounds cool. What would be even cooler, is if someone could make a keyboard (Mac laptop or desktop) to light up.

It's been done...like some G4ice keyboard or something...it was for the desktop..http://kentsalas.com/blueiceg4/keyboard/ and his computer http://www.kentsalas.com/blueiceg4/p5.asp...

[AmbitiousLemon]

hasnt been done on a laptop though. a green glowing keyboard with matrix keys would be interesting. still think it could use a little more but that would be a very good start.

[cb911]

i just had a look at that neon sheeting and neon cable stuff. looks pretty cool, that's given me a few more ideas. i think i might take my keyboard out and have a look at how much room i have to work with.

AmbitiousLemon, thanks for the info about the Matrix thread. i'll have a look for it now...

[cb911]

ok, apparently the Matrix code is made up of katakana reversed and some other letters, reversed of course. i also read in a thread when i was searching that you can use True Type fonts in OS X without doing anything to it. i tried this with a 'matrix code' font that i have and it doesn't show it in Word. the extension is .ttf, should i change it or what?
when i put the font on my Mac i put it in Home>Library>Fonts. is this right?
and does anyone else have a 'matrix code' font that they know works? can i have it?

well i just renamed the font to .dfont and now it has the same icon as the other fonts. i quit word and then restarted it but the matrix font still isn't there. i'm beginning to think that i got a dodgy font...

i'm still looking for something like a matrix code wallpaper, but i haven't had much luck yet. can anyone help me out with that?
forget that last bit.

i'm going to rent The Matrix on dvd tomorrow and watch it on my TiBook, i'll also take some screenshots from the movie.

[AmbitiousLemon]

hm, i dont know much about fonts but ill try to find one for you that works. also even though you technically shouldnt have to maybe you should try converting the font to another type. there are apps on vt that should help with that, in fact now that i think of it there are also apps that should be able to check the font for errors and such. once you find the font i would suggest contacting digitalhipps and asking them if they could make a clear or a gree keyboard with that font, they've done custom jobs in the past and i suspect this idea is good enough that they may want to offer it for general sale so they might do it for you.

[cb911]

it would be good if digitalhipps would do a matrix font keyboard, but i don't know if they have keys for the new PowerBooks yet. in the FAQ it said that the keys only worked for the PowerBook G3s.

i'm also thinking of using some neon cable underneath the keyboard now. i would probably only use 3 volts, but i have no idea of how to make it portable with my TiBook. i could figure something out where i could have it setup on my desk at home, but then i would have to disconnect it whenever i wanted to move my TiBook.

[G4scott]

Originally posted by cb911
i'm also thinking of using some neon cable underneath the keyboard now. i would probably only use 3 volts, but i have no idea of how to make it portable with my TiBook. i could figure something out where i could have it setup on my desk at home, but then i would have to disconnect it whenever i wanted to move my TiBook.

I think that there's a box that the cable hooks up to, and the box requires 12V of power, and it's not the smallest thing in the world... Fitting it into a TiBook is probably impossible.

[AmbitiousLemon]

ok this might be a stupid suggestion but i thought id see if it helps. how about using usb to power the light? there are plenty of usb lights for powerbooks, but i just dont know if there is a way to get that power inside and under the keyboard (thats the part where i think it might be a stupid suggestion.) if you can access usb from inside then you would be set.

[tjwett]

http://www.pbparts.com

they sell the keyboards and even individual keys. i imagine you could get the paint of the keys fairly easily. maybe some paint stripper?
good luck.

[kansaigaijin]

blue might look cool but it is the hardest colour for your eyes to focus on, remember how the big Chevron canopy seems to glow? Very dificult to look at much if you are not a touch typist.
try and find a Japanese keyboard and rub off the roman charcters! That would baffle a lot of people! ‚¹‚ׂɂɂ±‚±‚¾‚«‚å‚Æ

‚͂Ђقւӂ©‚«‚±‚«‚_

‰Í�‡‚Ë‚É‚ç‚ë‚ê‚肳‚¹‚Â

‚©‚í‚¢�@‚Ë�I

Žè‚¥
the previous is mostly gibberish, except for one phrase.

[mmmdreg]

Originally posted by kansaigaijin
‚¹‚ׂɂɂ±‚±‚¾‚«‚å‚Æ

‚͂Ђقւӂ©‚«‚±‚«?

‰Í�‡‚Ë‚É‚ç‚ë‚ê‚肳‚¹‚Â

‚©‚í‚¢�@‚Ë�I

Žè‚¥
the previous is mostly gibberish, except for one phrase.
That's meant to be only readable in the japanese character set right? otherwise it just appears as romanish characters

[cb911]

the bit about the power supply really had me stumped.
AmbitiousLemon, that's a great idea. i'd never thought of that before. i'm going to take my keyboard out sometime this week and have a look at exactly how much room i have. anyone have any idea of how much voltage you can get out of a USB connection? the neon cable only needs 3 volts, but that is the lowest voltage and the dimmest light. i reckon there is definitely a way to get the USB to plug in from the back, getting it powered from the inside will be the hard bit.

now i've got to find out how to get the ink off the keys. i also need to know what type of ink to use to put the new letters onto the keys. any ideas anyone?

and finally, kansaigaijin. did you type all that stuff with a english keyboard? theres some really cool characters in there.
theres a phrase in there that isn't gibberish? i can't understand any of it.

[kansaigaijin]

I have a j issue keyboard, it has extra keys on either side of the space bar to switch between the three japanese (really hiragana and katakana are japanese, kanji are chinese, but the reading, that is pronunciation, is different usually)
47 hira
47 katakana
20,000+ kanji ! or ‚É–œ‚©‚ñ‚¶�@ni-man-kanji
really bad translations maybe.

But it is not the keyboard, you need either a kanji-talk system (J9.x.x) or OSX, you should be able to simply switch your keyboard to J-mapping and type away, hiragana is phonetic, type na you will get ‚È�A‚ñr‚Ë
jhˆãj‚¶‚¤‚Á
‚Ás�@‚«�@er
you get kanji by typing its pronunciation, a list pops up and you select from many that sounds the same.
Keyboards are in the international control panel if you didn&t know
now I have messed up, I can&t get the apostrophe!

[mmmdreg]

I know how to type Japanese..I'm half Japanese and have the language installed on my computer...I was just wondering if you have to change the character set to read it because it doesn't display correctly in the western set in IE..

[cb911]

whoa man!! thanks tjwett, i've been looking for a place where i could buy replacement TiBook cases. now i can get to work on the case after i'm done with the keyboard!:D
and tjwett, one more thing. do you know of any other places where i can get TiBook stuff. i just want to compare prices. thanks.

and a question about the International conrtol panel. you can change the language that the OS uses, right? is it easy to change back? and under the language tab, it has a section for 'script'. what exactly does this do? i want to have a play around with all that stuff, but i'm afraid i won't be able to type apostrophes.....

[kansaigaijin]

go ahead cb and change it, you should have no trouble to change it back, just remember what it looks like, prefs are the third thing down in the Apple menu, International panel is still the UN flag, language the first panel, drag your desired language to the top, keyboards the last pane, and so on, the UI doesn&t change.
log out and in again to change the system, compliant apps will change by quitting and relaunching.

dreg I think you change it,
View, character set, japanese auto detect,

my wife says that is the most reliable

[cb911]

i changed the language and almost everything was displayed differently. but when i went to type in Mail it was still english. do you have to change the language prefrences in Mail to type another language?
and is it possible to type in another language with the english keyboard?

now back onto the subject of the Matrix mod. i've been having a look for details of USB powered lights to see how much voltage they use, i haven't found any exact specifications, but i'm guessing that they don't use much at all.
does anyone know of any sites that have details of USB powered lights or other devices? you must be able to power more than a 3 volt accessory because i can plug my scanner in, and that uses USB power.

[kansaigaijin]

I can type russian with my japanese keyboard.

„�„p„‚„†„…„‚„‚„…„‚„p„†„p„‹„‚„p„p„Š„…„‚

[cb911]

so i can type japanese or other languages with my keyboard...

and i'm still hunting for USB info. need to get the neon cable powered by USB...

[AlphaTech]

Why not use LED's??? They draw less power and don't develop heat as neon will.

[cb911]

i suppose i could use LEDs. there are already USB lights. maybe i could change the LED to green and have about 5 or 6 running off the one USB connection...
:eek:

[AlphaTech]

I'm pretty sure you can get green LED's from Radio Shack... Since they require much less power, you could probably rig them easier.

If you really wanted to get creative, you could include a pressure sensor for each LED (under every key) so that they only flash when you actually type. :D

[cb911]

whoa! hold on a second! a LED under every alphabet key??
that would be really cool, but i don't think they'd all fit in the keyboard. although you could probably get really small LCDs...

i just checked the website (http://www.beingseen.com/sheets.html) where you can buy the neon sheets and cable from. the cable might fit between the keys - it's 2.3mm thick, but the sheet would definitely fit no problems - they're only 0.35mm thick. and i re-read the FAQ again. here's the good bit: EL cable can be spliced with ordinary electrical cable. this means that i could hook up some neon cable with electrical wire and then connect it to a couple of AAA batteries. i could squeeze those batteries into my TiBook!!:D then it would be completely portable, no outside wires!!!!:D :D

i'm not sure about the EL sheets though, i'll have to check that out again...

and all the neon stuff from that website doesn't heat up when it's turned on. how cool is that!!:cool:

[AlphaTech]

Where do you think you will be able to cram in those AAA batteries??? The insides of the TiBook are pretty tightly packed with very little unused space.

[cb911]

i'm going to take out the keyboard now, just to check...

[G4scott]

Originally posted by cb911
i just read your whole 'Best Mac Mod.' thread. it looks pretty cool, but i'll have *genuine* matrix code. i also noticed that your little mod voided your warranty, and that is something i definitely don't want to do.

I'm not sure, but fitting a couple AAA batteries in your TiBook case just might void the warranty :p But that's the fun in mods. It's not fun unless you void the warranty :D (of course, in some cases, some mods turn out to be complete disasters and a waste of thousands of dollars... Don't let it happen to you.)

[cb911]

i just had a look inside my TiBook and there isn't much room in there. i think i'll have to use those really small batteries they use in watches. or it might be easier if i have a USB power connection coming from the ports around the back.

it wouldn't do anything to the warranty if i hid a couple of batteries in there, would it? i would just remember to take them out when it has to go to Apple...

anyway, thats a fair way off yet. for now i've got to figure out what ink to use to put the new letters on the keyboard, and how to get the characters all looking crisp and not blurry. i'm thinking about a stencil, but that would be really hard to cut out all the different shapes.

[AlphaTech]

If there are any sign shops in your area, see if they will make you a spray mask of the characters. If they do, see if they will make you a few, just in case you ***** up some of the letters as you either put them down, or paint them.

[cb911]

exellent idea!! a professional mask!!:D actually, i know a friend who might be able to do that... i'll see what he says.

any recomendations as to what ink/inks i should use?

[AlphaTech]

No idea on the inks... but you could try to use some model paint, since it is made to go onto plastic. You might want to airbrush it on, so that you get even coverage.

I was just thinking, you could make a power plug come out of the lockdown slot. Then just make something to connect it to the USB port, or connect it to batteries after that. You could probably snake the wires fairly easily to the port... and not have to make too many extra holes... Another reason to get a spare keyboard, so that you don't have to worry if you need to drill the one with the mod.

[G4scott]

Actually, If it were to look like it was really from the matrix, you could have wires running all over the outside, since all of the computers in the matrix were pretty messy and tangled up...

Of course, that takes away from the Apple style... How about glow in the dark paint, or a glow in the dark sheet behind the keyboard? sure, it would only work for a while, and it wouldn't be noticeable when the computer was on, but still... then again, nah... stick with neon if at all possible :p

[cb911]

yeah, i'll try the model paint. i've got a heap of that stuff i'm not using...
i'll order a few keys from pbparts.com, or whatever that site is, just to practice on and in case i mess anything up.

[mmmdreg]

so what else are you going to do to make this uber-mod of yours?

[cb911]

well mmmdreg, so far the main thing i want to get done is the 'matrix code' on the keys instead of the regular letter. i only want to do this to the alphabet keys. once i get that done i might think seriously about putting some neon under the keys. i checked yesterday to see if i could get smaller batteries than AAA and there are lithium ion batteries that are about 18mm diameter and about 2mm thick, and they're 3 volt. i could stick two of them under the keyboard- thats 6 volts, the neon should be fairly bright with that.

the plug coming out of the locking slot is a good idea, i'll keep that in mind.

if i do manage to put the batteries inside the TiBook, does anyone know if they will cause any interference, or if they will affect anything if they touch something. should i put the batteries in some kind of insulation to protect the rest of the components?

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by cb911
if i do manage to put the batteries inside the TiBook, does anyone know if they will cause any interference, or if they will affect anything if they touch something. should i put the batteries in some kind of insulation to protect the rest of the components?

I would suggest making some kind of insulated housing for the batteries. That way, you could also wire them together and allow you to use only one set of connections to the neon, or whatever you end up using for illumination.

[cb911]

you reckon a plastic housing should do the trick?

i got The Matrix on DVD yesterday (i just rented it) and thought i'd watch it on my TiBook and take a few screen shots of the 'code'. so i took a heap of screenshots, about 170MB all up. then i went to look at one. there was nothing there!!:eek:

i opened the file and all i got was a black space where the picture was supposed to be!! should've known the DVD would have some sort of protection.
anyone know a way around that? any programs that let you take screen shots from DVDs? if i can't get the pics i will just have to buy it on DVD...

[cb911]

street fighter is cool!!:cool: :cool:

[cb911]

i'm not having any luck getting screenshots of the 'code' so i've got to leave the DVD viewer open while i look for katakana sites on the net. i've got to hurry up and get all the character because i only rented The Matrix and it has to go back on Tuesday.

so, does anyone know some good katakana sites? or any sites that have clear pictures of the matrix 'code'?

[cb911]

after a whole day of trying to figure out all the DVD ripping stuff i've finally got the screenshots i need. now i can do a mock up picture of the new keys on the keyboard!!:D
sorry about the quality of the pic, i had to do that so it was small enough to post. i'll put all the other full quality pics up on my iDisk, if anyones interested...:cool:
oh yeah, here's one of the screenshots i've got:

[cb911]

i've started to do a mock up of the keyboard with the new keys. i can't find a Katakana font that is chunky enough to just print out and use as a stencil, and the katakana in The Matrix is different from what i can find on the net anyway, so i'll probably end up tracing the Matrix katakana to use for a stencil.

anyway, here's the semi-completed mock up: