3 ms·

I was going to recommend the Griffin iMate ADB-to-USB adapter, I have a couple, but apparently they’re hard to find now and expensive [1]? I paid $35 for one b

by donatj 3y ago

I was going to recommend the Griffin iMate ADB-to-USB adapter, I have a couple, but apparently they’re hard to find now and expensive [1]? I paid $35 for one brand new on Amazon just a couple years back. I too used an old Apple keyboard when I first started using a Mac for work because the flat keyboard’s were nightmarish. I moved to a HHKB Lite 2 [2], and through several other keyboards before ultimate landing on a UNIX layout Sun Type 7 as my Mac keyboard of choice. - [1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000067V8L/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000067V8L/ - [2] https://donatstudios.com/UNIX-Keyboards https://donatstudios.com/UNIX-Keyboards

donatj 3y ago
Judging by Griffin’s site having its account suspended… I think they probably went out of business? That’s a shame, they made some neat stuff over the years. https://griffintechnology.com/ https://griffintechnology.com/
- jrmg 3y ago
  The Griffin brand is still around: https://incipio.com/pages/griffintechnology https://incipio.com/pages/griffintechnology Owned by the same company that owns Incase and Survivior. I can’t quite tell if the company and/or brand were bought, or if the company renamed itself. Their products don’t seem nearly as innovative as the old Griffin was though. [Edit: oh, hey, they’re the same company that recently bought the Microsoft accessory designs: https://www.incase.com/pages/incase-designed-by-microsoft https://www.incase.com/pages/incase-designed-by-microsoft]
fffrantz 3y ago
The UNIX layout is also my favorite layout by a mile. The backspace and control keys position is so much more natural, I don't understand why it didn't become the default layout.
- firecall 3y ago
  It really is one of those sub-optimal designs that you dont really think about, until you do think about it, and then it makes no sense! At one point Apple did make one keyboard with the CTRL key in the correct place! The CAPSLOCK key is, for me, the most useless key. Who uses it and why! LOL I should really remap CAPSLOCK be CTRL on my Mac, but I dont use CTRL that often and prefer just to roll with the stock defaults most of the time. EDIT: I quickly Binged the Mac keyboard I was thinking of, and got this result: * https://controlaltbackspace.org/ctrl/ https://controlaltbackspace.org/ctrl/ > There’s a better place to put it, right on a large, easy-to-press key that you rarely use: Caps Lock. A few keyboards throughout the years have gotten this right, like Apple’s Standard Keyboard for the Macintosh II and SE:
- SeanLuke 3y ago
  Revising caps lock makes perfect sense since it's obsolete. The backspace key has been at the location it is (far right of number row) for well over 100 years. Indeed its placement preceeds the existence of the Return key, as prior to the IBM Electric (1935) and similar, typewriters had a manual carriage return bar. That's a century of keyboards and muscle memory that you're trying to undo. As a touch typist, any keyboard that moved the backspace key would be awful. Still better than the ergonomic nightmare that is the ISO european keyboard.
  - samatman 3y ago
    I've been remapping caps lock to backspace for more than a decade now, I have backspace mapped to (forward) delete. This was due to the only repetitive stress injury a keyboard has ever given me, which was strain in the outside of my right wrist from the frequency with which I would go after the backspace key. Also, aesthetically, I like the fact that backspace is to the left and delete to the right, the directions in which the command acts. But mainly, I'm not an especially accurate typist, and I change my mind a lot, a home row backspace is a godsend. This remap leads to some pretty comical results when I find myself using a board which doesn't have them, the first time I make a mistake it STAYS ANd I get something like that, a run of capital letters and then lowercase as I instinctively hit caps lock again to try and delete them.
LeoPanthera 3y ago
If you find an old iMate and it doesn't work - tear it open. There's a "non-replacable" battery inside and if it dies it stops working.
- smilespray 3y ago
  That's interesting. My iMate is flaky — I'll pop it open and check!
- wolfgang42 3y ago
  Somebody just last year finally worked out what that battery is doing and why the adapter doesn’t work after it dies: https://www.projectgus.com/2023/04/griffin-imate/#mystery-battery https://www.projectgus.com/2023/04/griffin-imate/#mystery-ba... (discussed on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35772131 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35772131) (TLDR: compatibility with Apple’s off-USB-spec keyboard power button, but the circuit they used accidentally injects noise which wreaks havoc on the data lines when it’s unpowered and left floating.)

by donatj 3y ago

donatj 3y ago

Judging by Griffin’s site having its account suspended… I think they probably went out of business? That’s a shame, they made some neat stuff over the years. https://griffintechnology.com/ https://griffintechnology.com/

jrmg 3y ago
The Griffin brand is still around: https://incipio.com/pages/griffintechnology https://incipio.com/pages/griffintechnology Owned by the same company that owns Incase and Survivior. I can’t quite tell if the company and/or brand were bought, or if the company renamed itself. Their products don’t seem nearly as innovative as the old Griffin was though. [Edit: oh, hey, they’re the same company that recently bought the Microsoft accessory designs: https://www.incase.com/pages/incase-designed-by-microsoft https://www.incase.com/pages/incase-designed-by-microsoft]

fffrantz 3y ago

The UNIX layout is also my favorite layout by a mile. The backspace and control keys position is so much more natural, I don't understand why it didn't become the default layout.

firecall 3y ago
It really is one of those sub-optimal designs that you dont really think about, until you do think about it, and then it makes no sense! At one point Apple did make one keyboard with the CTRL key in the correct place! The CAPSLOCK key is, for me, the most useless key. Who uses it and why! LOL I should really remap CAPSLOCK be CTRL on my Mac, but I dont use CTRL that often and prefer just to roll with the stock defaults most of the time. EDIT: I quickly Binged the Mac keyboard I was thinking of, and got this result: * https://controlaltbackspace.org/ctrl/ https://controlaltbackspace.org/ctrl/ > There’s a better place to put it, right on a large, easy-to-press key that you rarely use: Caps Lock. A few keyboards throughout the years have gotten this right, like Apple’s Standard Keyboard for the Macintosh II and SE:
SeanLuke 3y ago
Revising caps lock makes perfect sense since it's obsolete. The backspace key has been at the location it is (far right of number row) for well over 100 years. Indeed its placement preceeds the existence of the Return key, as prior to the IBM Electric (1935) and similar, typewriters had a manual carriage return bar. That's a century of keyboards and muscle memory that you're trying to undo. As a touch typist, any keyboard that moved the backspace key would be awful. Still better than the ergonomic nightmare that is the ISO european keyboard.
- samatman 3y ago
  I've been remapping caps lock to backspace for more than a decade now, I have backspace mapped to (forward) delete. This was due to the only repetitive stress injury a keyboard has ever given me, which was strain in the outside of my right wrist from the frequency with which I would go after the backspace key. Also, aesthetically, I like the fact that backspace is to the left and delete to the right, the directions in which the command acts. But mainly, I'm not an especially accurate typist, and I change my mind a lot, a home row backspace is a godsend. This remap leads to some pretty comical results when I find myself using a board which doesn't have them, the first time I make a mistake it STAYS ANd I get something like that, a run of capital letters and then lowercase as I instinctively hit caps lock again to try and delete them.

LeoPanthera 3y ago

If you find an old iMate and it doesn't work - tear it open. There's a "non-replacable" battery inside and if it dies it stops working.

smilespray 3y ago
That's interesting. My iMate is flaky — I'll pop it open and check!
wolfgang42 3y ago
Somebody just last year finally worked out what that battery is doing and why the adapter doesn’t work after it dies: https://www.projectgus.com/2023/04/griffin-imate/#mystery-battery https://www.projectgus.com/2023/04/griffin-imate/#mystery-ba... (discussed on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35772131 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35772131) (TLDR: compatibility with Apple’s off-USB-spec keyboard power button, but the circuit they used accidentally injects noise which wreaks havoc on the data lines when it’s unpowered and left floating.)