This is the info I was told → “We use SquareSpace and have no control over the store’s code. However, in the future, if he would like to do a purchase of a certain item, he can email and we can create a QuickBooks invoice that can be paid via a credit card.”
So you can still do that if you want, I’ll DM you the email someone can place the order that way, then have them pay for it with the credit card?
I don’t know about upgrading a model M, but I’d pay my right arm to see someone mod a PI400 into one.
Let’s try the normal route first, hopefully they will read the ticket. If not I’ll reach out again, and thanks for the flexibility for such a low volume order.
I gotcha, let’s cross our fingers then xD
Update - turns out the M-Star Classic cannot fix a broken keyboard - test the heck out of the one you have before installing M-Star!
(All possibly letters typed on M-Star [5 keys! Rest from my other keyboard] while I clean and install the rest of the keycaps.)
Notes:
Check the heck out of your current model-M to confirm it works first, and fix issues before doing the M-Star conversion (unless it is a dead controller of course …)
View the Wiki page by @Level1_Amber Amber, and checkout all the details on which jumpers and other connections to make: All About Level1Techs M-Star DIY Keyboard Controller Kits
Ribbon cables v. fragile esp. contacts - very gentle wipe w. isopropyl alcohol cleaning only
Cut tiny corner of 3d printed shim to fit over soldered usb jumper on PCB
Add tiny foam block on top of 3d print to prevent rattling
So without keycaps the keys are pressed. Unpredictable things will happen. You can only test with caps installed?
It’s hard to kill an m.
If your membrane is messed up I’ve got some spares I could prolly send. But a conductive pen is also nbd
Hi wendell!
So the M keyboard I tried to mod first was cosmetically sound but I had it on the shelf and may have never used it (I have 3, and use one as a daily driver). So thank you so much for the offer of parts, but I should end up with two modded and one as a keycap/pastics donor.
After approx. 50% of the keys just did not work (in rows and columns) I finally got systematic and verified that several keys were stuck down, and the membrane ribbon connector fingers were very black but worse, missing bits of the fingers and had some holes in the conductive layer (I shined light through them from below to check - might have caused this by not being careful enough!).
I confirmed by doing A/B testing the M-Star classic with another 1993 Model M that had a heat-warped back plastic plate where it performed perfectly.
I am currently building a franken-board and slowly populating the keys and testing one-by-one.
I am interested in the keycaps pressed result you found as that has not happened yet - I am cleaning and testing each key as I go with the QMK Key -Tester built into the QMK toolbox and they work just fine.
Thanks for this great project, I may do a Kicad 7 version of the PCB for the project at some point and contribute it back.
[By the way, the repo website on gitlab is dead - is there any chance of you accepting a PR to fix that?]
What url? I’ll go try to fix
Eric S. Raymond / M-Star · GitLab → bottom of the page links to https://esr.gitlab.io/m-star/
I wonder if gitlab changed their hosting at some point making it private? I have not used gitlab much so far.
Ah, I’m sorry you ran into some trouble with a broken board. I’m glad the article helped and that your controller works well, though!
hmm yeah, it used to be like github pages, web · main · Eric S. Raymond / M-Star · GitLab
so if you look very closely you can see the springs can rock in place without the keycaps. you will almost always get phantom keypresses on the membrane when the spring rocks forward with no keyacp. if you put the keyboard on an incline so all the springs are rocked to the back of the socket then maybe not? but when they are forward as in your pic Im very surprised if your membrane is springy enough to prevent the keypress in that config.
maybe I guess, but… its always been hard for me doing this type of troubleshooting/work.
“generally” the conductive ink pens work okay for membrane repair. I showed amber how to do it.
that type of membrane is somewhat normal that the contacts are blackened… thats conductor helper coating actually… and that you can see through them in spots. that’s also somewhat normal. sadly or interestingly.
Your wiki post was great, the M-Star was great, I just started with a DoA model M, and was fortunate to have spares. I added a note about removing a tiny corner off the 3d printed part btw. to fit flush to the PCB after the USB jumper was closed 
I’ll look into that thank you for letting me know
Since it’s already broken, conductive ink wouldn’t hurt to try. Wendell was able to repair a guy’s model m with it. It was doing the same thing where a whole column would be iffy.
This is probably a last ditch effort, but he also trimmed a teany tiny strip off the bottom so that the ribbon went into the pin header farther.
@wendell and @Level1_Amber thank you for your design, help ordering, and the documentation you provided.
Feedback:
Difficulty: This was an “easy” project from my perspective, although the ribbon cables are fiddly and I am confident with through-hole and most SMT soldering. (You need to have figured out to click the arrows (carets?) to expand the drop down sections in Amber’s Wiki which took me far longer than it should have.)
I might also add to the wiki article the QMK Toolbox binary as when you plug in the Blue Pill to smoke test it you get more feedback that the Blue Pill is flashed with the right QMK firmware and functional:
Also mentioning the LED light sequence on poweron might be helpful for debugging - it was an early indicator that my keyboard was having trouble as only one LED functioned, and that intermittently.
Yeah, thanks and I’ll keep that in mind if I have trouble modding the one at work as I will have to decide which one to repair and/or make a donor…
Good idea thank you
@Level1_Amber , do you happen to have the firmware for the m-classic with LEDs reversed? I was trying to setup the build chain today but ran out of time.
Hmmm. Maybe. I’ll lyk more tomorrow
