primerly i want to transform a keyboard for my future dash board. beacause i wont much more then 8 or 10 buttons witch a joypad has. a few minutes ago i unscrewd my keyboard and....its a bit complicated. i was hoping someone could help me understand the circuitits and maybe create "shortcuts" for keys directly from the circuit board(first and third pic). or buy a new set of keys and break it apart but that foil with the circuits(second pic) is a litle bit 2 big and fragile so.....i will need about 20 buttons. any1 have any pointers? Thx

How exactly should the finished device look like?
Can the size of the keyboard remain as it is or do you want to alter the shape?

If you want to keep the shape:
Design a cover from wood that covers all undesired keys and only leaves open the desired keys. Add some paint and you have a keyboard-shaped dashbox.
If you don't want to keep the shape:
Test the electric contacts on the controler-board to see which contacts cause which keystrokes (you will also have to fiddle with combinations of different keystrokes, like contact 3 and contact 12 equal key "h" or something). After that design your own dashbox with buttons from a store and solder them to the controler-board. You can also cut the keyboard apart and solder your wires to that board. That way the controler-board remains unharmed and it won't be so difficult to not solder one wire to two contacts, as the contacts on the keyboard are wider apart.

Vain

first of all, yes i want to make a box. attaching wiers to the board is not possible without harming the kyeboards...inside there are 2 foils that contains circuits and contacts. in specific places the keys push the foils on to another this is how the contact is done, but that space is vvv small...so if i want to attach wiers to that i fave 2 remove the foils and put the wiers.is a bit tricky.

another thing....is it posible 2 conect 2 keyboards in the same time on a computer? if not i think i can attach the other keyboard to the wiers from the first...think it might work. like u sad with the testing,i think thats the only solution to see witch wier does this and that...but i still need a secondary keyboard for this

future tips are welcome! thx again

Quote from Alex_Tiger :

is it posible 2 conect 2 keyboards in the same time on a computer?

You could do that. BUT, it would not be like a game controller. Both keyboards would enter letters and stuff. For example, if you pressed the "K" key on your keyboard, and you mapped it to shift up with the other keyboard, it would shift up. The computer basically thinks that the two keyboards are one.

You can only install two PS/2 keyboards (that small round connector) on a computer that has several PS/2 connectors. Some have 2 PS/2 connectors. one for mouse, one for keyboard. Might work.

About the connector: The data-transfer is digital, so there's actually just one pin that transfers data. The others are ground, clock, +5 V, and two unused pins. You propably don't want to mess with digital data transfer, so don't solder the keyboard-wires. If you still want to mess with that, read up on the PS/2 connector at wikipedia. But then you're basically building your own keyboard from scratch.

What you will rather want to do (if you have a spare connector) is to solder the wire for buttons to the small green controler-board. The controler-board will handle all digital transfer. But be aware that the controler will do a basic selftest upon starting. So check wether disconnecting most of it's contacts breaks this procedure before soldering.

[Edit] German wikipedia says that modern devices can actually run two devices on one PS/2 board, using a special Y-connector. But the article doesn't go into depth with that.

Vain

I think ripping apart an old game controller is what you should be doing

Quote from wheel4hummer :

You could do that. BUT, it would not be like a game controller. Both keyboards would enter letters and stuff. For example, if you pressed the "K" key on your keyboard, and you mapped it to shift up with the other keyboard, it would shift up. The computer basically thinks that the two keyboards are one.

THAT is exactly what i want
a joypad has only 8-10 buttons..i need more and 2 or 3 joypads doesent work either.

thx 4 the assist...i'll see what i can do. although i will inform u 'bout the procees

Quote from Alex_Tiger :

THAT is exactly what i want
a joypad has only 8-10 buttons..i need more and 2 or 3 joypads doesent work either.

thx 4 the assist...i'll see what i can do. although i will inform u 'bout the procees

How many buttons do you need then, if 10 isn't enough?

Quote from Hyperactive :

How many buttons do you need then, if 10 isn't enough?

20, 22 i'm not sure yet i'll tell you later

You could stick a usb hub in the box and use multiple usb gamepads.

Quote from the_winch :

You could stick a usb hub in the box and use multiple usb gamepads.

sry..all 4 usb ports in use....

Quote from Alex_Tiger :

sry..all 4 usb ports in use....

USB supports 127 devices IIRC. A hub would give you more USB slots to plug into.