u/_MrFlowers

Like the title says, I’ve successfully made a Celint C6, an Italian office landline from the 80’s, into a usb device. Desoldered the original membrane tail connectors from the original board to new wires, wrote the firmware for it, mapped the keys for functional use with any device. It works great on Android, but I’m worried I did this wrong, and I need help with key recognition from usb keyboards in my Android emulator for Nintendo games (for now just DS, but eventually I want to see how much this can handle.)

I’m using MelonDS right now because it has the clearest mapping settings I’ve found to choose which keys should be the buttons (dpad, abxy, LR, start, select), but when I go into any DS game the arrows work for menu navigation but not the rest. The mappings are clear, and Android itself recognizes the keystrokes without issue. My questions are mainly what am I doing wrong, and has anyone else run into this? I’m sure I could figure out how to add to the .py mapping file to account for this but I’m not the best with any of this so I thought I’d start here, since this may be known.

Thanks for any help! I’m still in prototyping phase so there’s a lot of cardboard and tape, but I’m pretty proud of it so far!

Hi all. No clue what I’m doing. I apologize for traumatizing you with jiggling it, I just wanted to see if it was solid or ripply

Forgive the rough sketch. The plastic on this is 40+ years old. It’s an enthusiast project, perfect practicality is not the goal, just usability. I’ve emptied it of all parts, there’s a removable plate in the center for weight balance as well.

Should I gut another controller and put its internals inside? Should I find a kit to make life easier? I can either melt or dremel the plastic (melting would also require a little dremel work), but after that I have no idea what I’m doing for this.

I mapped the keys from this 1980’s Italian business phone and wrote a small bit of python for the raspberry pi pico it’s now wired to. It works! Now I can plug this into anything with USB and it should function. The hardest part was desoldering these old connectors from the original board, as you can see I am not a master solderer, so I’m absolutely amazed this worked.

Out of all the advice I was given, I wish I hadn’t bothered with a multimeter. The membrane tails are so flimsy it couldn’t reliably pick up anything. Much easier to wire it up then press each key in Thonny to get the mapping.

Next? I need to get a BIG battery, assess connectivity for all the components (ports and power mostly) to make sure nothing is wrong, then put everything in place. Might use tape just to do a trial run. Once everything is running and powered with just a single USB-C, the last (and hardest) part will be the coolest thing I’ve ever done: I’m going to turn the original phone handset into a controller for gaming.

The final steps will involve a dremel, sanding and sawing bits, and adding straps so I can carry or store it in an aesthetically pleasing way.

I’m making an old bank phone into a game emulation system and I’m trying to figure out what the best way to have a controller is. The easy way is to dremel the cradle to seat a traditional controller… but I don’t want that. What I want is essentially what’s in the drawing I’m sharing here.

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I want the original phone to function as a controller. It has no buttons, is a solid 2-piece shell with a central weight inside for balance, and I’m curious whether there’s one or two “ideal” ways to tackle this project. Any recommendations? Is this the right group? Thank you 🙏

This is going to sound nuts but without wasting time on unnecessary details, what do I need to have ALL the same buttons as an Xbox controller and modify this phone handset to be a USB-C controller? It feels good in hand and I think my idea is clear enough. In a perfect world I’d just gut an existing controller and dremel the plastic on this for the button holes, but I’ve opened controllers before and I know they’re usually more rigid internally and that won’t work.

STRETCH goals: playable over USB-c, wireless Bluetooth, rechargeable. I’d be happy with just getting it to work though.

I know it’s a custom job and I’m in the deep end of a project that I have no experience with but I’m determined to figure this out. Thank you 🙏

Hi I’m new to this and need help? I’m looking for 2 specific breakout boards with the right connections to plug these membrane tails into my pico h.

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I’ve been trying to make this 80’s keyboard work. I know I need to trace the contacts from the membrane tails with a multimeter to figure out what does what.
What I can’t figure out: *what connectors do I need?*

I think I might know what I need, but I can’t confirm it: I think i need a FFC ZIF connection on a breakout board. I think it’s 2.54mm pitch (look at the ruler: 2.54cm/10pins=2.54mm) but I can’t help but think that’s wrong. Either way I can’t find it for purchase!!

I’m looking for both 8 pin and 10 pin ones. I’d prefer soldered male pins because I already have f2f DuPont wires but happy to find it at all and I can just get new wires if needed.

Where can I find these connectors?

I need to get replacement connectors to solder to a new board. I believe these are membrane filaments, i need to map them with a multimeter still but im struggling to find the parts. I started to desolder these original ones from the old board (the blue things in the first picture) but the plastic is brittle (they’re at least 40 years old)

What would I be looking for? Knowing very little about these old connections: i need to source two of these that are 8 points (pins?), and 10 for another.

I need to buy at least two of each so I’m looking for the name and the purchase source, and if you’re feeling generous, your opinion on how you’d approach this.

It’s to convert an old keyboard to usb, thank you all

I’m new to this and I’m missing something!

I am trying to convert this to a USB keyboard. I thinkI could do it with what I have but might just need wire if I wanted to try to desolder the original connectors. I have a raspberry pi pico h, f2f cables, and it’s a membrane keyboard with each filament routed to each of the three key areas of the keyboard (2 filaments with 8 contacts, 1 with 10.)

What do I need to do with either approach to make this work, physically?

1. desolder and attach the old connectors to the pico h somehow, or

2. get new connectors, same question

I’ll deal with firmware and stuff after but I feel like this is technically complex for someone with low skill.

THANK YOU