[NTLK] how i sacreligiously silenced my newton keyboard...

From: Eric Engle (engleerica_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Dec 06 2003 - 11:39:46 PST


Silencing the Newton Keyboard...

A lot of people might think this is sacreligious... but... here goes...

People complain that the newton keyboard is loud. That is not my personal
experience. However I have effectively "silenced" my keyboard and here is how:

I The Keys
1) The key themselves are easy to pry off. I used a pencil because something
sharp might damage the plastic leaving an ugly mar on your nice keyboard, The
keys are just little plastic tabs.

2) Once you have a key off, you will see a white rubber cap. This is what gives
the key its bounce. At first I tried flipping them over to get less bounce.
That does no good. It actually makes it just about impossible to get a keypress
to register. Then I tried removing them entirely, which works. Surprisingly it
does not seem to affect typing much at all! Though if anyone knows of a source
for or has an idea of a way to use different thing underneath the keys let me
know. I thought about maybe rubber bands (to much like work...)

If anyone knows of a replacement for the white rubber caps underneatht he
keyboards that would be maybe 2 milimeters (1/16 of an inch) smaller that would
eb another alternative. I'm sure not going to cut them up!

II The Housing

Remember music class? You know why a drum works? Because it has a hollow area!
Just like the space un your newton keyboard.

1) The keyboard is held together by 6 screws, phillips head (cross). Unscrew
them one by one and keep them someplace safe! The keyboard is not glued or
snapped together the screws are all that holds it together.

Inside the keyboard is an IC board. It's screwed into place. It is not snapped
or glued down. The screws are also phillips head (cross). You can remove it
easily enough. Don't. You don't need to and this is the only way you could
screw your newton up here. Mind you, people talking about membrane keyboards
should take inspiration and hack away...

2) Well, now that we have the case open what do we do? All that empty has to
get filled by something to absorb sound. At first I thought toilet paper would
be a good one. But then I settled on styrofoam. I believe both are insulators
and don't think either are a risk factor for static electricity - though I'm
just a hack so feel free to correct me.

That's it. I think you will notice that it is quieter. I also thought maybe of
figuring out a way to replace the bottom half of the keyboard which could be a
lot thinner but haven't come up with any good ideas how to do so. The only
possible difficulty you could have in reassembly is the cable connecting the
newton and the keyboard, there's only one hole though so its hard to screw up.

=====
What I love about spam is realizing how profitable emotional insecurity can be for those who think they're somehow sexually inadequate. I get spam all the time offering to enlarge my breasts and lengthen my penis. And all I can ask is: which first? At least I know once I decide I will have a profitable future as a TV model...

"To create a new standard takes something that's not just a little bit different. It takes something that's really new and captures people's imaginations. Macintosh meets that standard." -Bill Gates

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Franklin.
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/6007732.htm

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