Converting Macbook keyboard/touch pad into USB keyboard/touch pad

For those finding the title not overly helpful, this post is about adding a USB cable to a Macbook keyboard/touch pad for use with other computers.

The inspiration for this came about as I scoured the house for any trace of a USB keyboard, which led me to the Macbook featured in my previous post, creating a mini DVI to VGA adapter. A quick Google search led me to Cryozap, who had already done the heavy lifting with this project by finding the pinouts of the connector used by the keyboard, as seen in the post MacBook Core Duo Logic Board Keyboard Connector Pinout. Here is how I managed to attach a USB cable!

Homemade Macbook mini-DVI to VGA adapter

With Apple's need to make things as far away from normal as possible, I found myself with two Macbook's with smashed screens. To fix those would have cost $200+, so that was out of the question. I could have also brought an adapter for them, but that takes all the fun out of it!

Here's how I made the mini DVI to VGA adapter using some old ribbon cables used for connecting PCB's together (not IDE type ribbon cable), and an even older mini VGA adapter for the VGA port, and don't forget the 10K resistor!

Holiday projects

With the holidays drawing to a close, I thought it'd be a good idea to summarise what I've done and what I have planned left to do.