hey guys, found this forum just now an man oh man what a great site. there is some SERIOUS talent on here!

i am a huge lost fan, and i am gathering peices right now to build a new computer

what i was hoping to do was gutting an old apple II like this

http://www.thetailsection.com/HatchComputer2.png

an inside putting my own stuff, but what my main objective is to use the apple II keyboard, do any of you think this is at all possible?

I plan on gutting the apple monitor an modding my own little flate screen in there

I was thinking about using another old tower to the side for hard drives an dvd burns an such because i dont think it can all fit inside the little apple

how would i go about searching on how to use the orginal apple keyboard? i really love the old "snapping" sound of the keys

hey guys like i said great site, awesome work. any help would be appreciated!

danny

Very possible, you may want to take a look at my case modding guide in this section of the site to see a list of equipment you may need in the new LCD installation. Though the LCD you are looking at is not a TFT and uses low MS rate X,Y axes line screening, when you gut be sure to take out all of its components and replace with your new monitors own. As far as the keyboard goes it will either be internally connected via AT PS1 or through a wire lane which you may need to strip and research what wire does what as far as voltage rates for power/data transfer. What your planning on doing will require you to familiarize yourself with case modding though, you may want to check out some SLiZone (http://www.slizone.com/page/home.html) modding tutorials by TiTan, or try his company @ Ironmods (www.ironmods.com).

PS. This type of modding is for advanced modders, proceed with a focused mind.

Good Luck!

The last time I peered into the chassis of an Apple ][ I was probably 8.

ElX's mention of having to trace the wiring will likely be the most difficult part of this project. Obtaining an LCD panel is easy and cheap. Installing it will be a delicate process but certianly not out of the scope of this mod.

Hi,

The keyboard will be your worst enemy in this project. The Apple II keyboard uses switches on each key. The PC keyboard is capacitive, not using real switches.

Also the output of the two keyboards is completely different. The Apple II keyboard outputs data in a 14-pin DIP connector with a small flat cable attached providing electrial output thru a matrix-like style, while the PC keyboard provides data in a serial format using a simpler 5-pin DIN/mini-DIN connector.

My opinion is that the easiest way for you to do this mod is to take an old AT/286 keyboard and try to make is fit on the Apple II case, and remove the Apple II plastic caps (the brown plastic cubes with the letters printed on top) and try to place them on the AT keyboard.

That is the simplest idea I have for you to make this adaptation without needing to create any kind of interfacing circuit, which would be very hard to do given the reasons I have already explained.

Another option (easier) is to keep the Apple II keyboard and simply attach a regular PC keyboard on the back (just like a PC), so the Apple II keyboard would be inactive and working just as a piece of decoration.

Cheers,
Gabriel.