jason.green.io
USB Apple Extended Keyboard II
This is my modified Apple Extended Keyboard II. It’s been retrofitted to work as a USB keyboard and provides 4 USB ports via an internal USB hub, 2 ports on both sides.
I removed the springy thingy, height adjuster and rear foot to make room for the components.
I used a Dremel to resize the holes to fit the dual USB ports. Luckily, the original plastic U shape in the base of the bottom case that held the ADB port is perfect to hold the dual USB ports in the correct position.
I got the dual USB ports from AliExpress, plenty of vendors sell this specific part. They have a red LED that turns on when they’re powered. Kinda makes it look like there’s something evil inside that isn’t supposed to be there.
I used some 4 conductor solid core wire I had laying around in the basement to connect everything. Here you can see the left USB ports and the Teensy 2.0. I wired the Teensy directly to the connector, which also is home to the 1k pull up resistor. It acts as a ADB to USB converter, as detailed here. Word of advice: don’t desolder those connectors in order to solder wires directly to the board. The PCB traces are crazy delicate; I ended up destroying 2 pads and chose to reconnect the connector and fix the pads.
Here are the primary (left) and secondary (right) USB hubs from Retrocution. I got the mini USB female connector from AliExpress which connects to the external cable.
I custom ordered the cable from Zap Cables. The cable colors match the Apple logo perfectly!
Here are the right USB ports.
The only thing I did on the top case is Dremel both of the original ADB port stabilizers, just needed a little trim.
Again, there’s perfect alightment for the USB ports.
I enjoyed pushing this piece of technology into the 21st century and couldn’t be happier with the result.