Fancy An Old-Fashioned Typewriter Keyboard for Your iPad?

[Maura]

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Don’t you just love the way in which as soon as the iPad came out all these ingenious and really clever people started coming up with all manner of modifications and inventions? They seem to be popping up almost daily. Engadget has another one today, a USB typewriter that you can connect to your iPad, designed by Jack Zylkin at Hive 76 in Center City, Philadelphia, which is a group of “hackers/DIY/Makers that tear things apart, and put them back together in new waysâ€, according to their website.

The USB Typewriter comprises a sensor board and a USB interface board that controls the sensor board, relaying the keystrokes via USB. The software is based on the Arduino platform.

“Pre-Fab†DIY kits are available for $150 here, whereas a pre-assembled unit will set you back between $400 and $500, and Zylkin will also convert your own manual typewriter into a USB Typewriter if you ship it to him.

Source: Engadget, CNET, Hive 76

 

[Maura]

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[rowan]

This is priceless. There must be a hell of a lot of sensors or relays to map the physical keys to the software. I can see why a completed kit would cost nearly five hundred dollars. That's a whole lot of kit.

 

[Ghuda]

Is this the first "SteamPunked" IPad? I have been away from the site for a little while.

 

[Gabi]

Interesting