How do I make my own keypad?

[The Mutha]

I recently acquired a Kinesis keyboard, which, btw, kicks butt Kinesis Corp..

Howerver, this keyboard doesn't have a separate keypad. It works like a laptop in the sense that you have to press a num-lock alike key to be able to use the keypad. I personally hate this, and would like to use a separate keypad on the side.

I've got an old keytronic keyboard with a broken space bar on the side, and I would like to break it up and make my own keypad.

I tried searching in Google but didn't come up with much relevant stuff. After opening my keytronic keyboard, I found that the keyboard controller is tini, and could easily fit inside a recipient the size of the keypad area itself. My problem is figuring out how the hell the input matrix works and interfaces with the keyboard controller. I get the impression that there is some sort of combination-code for every key, and that the controller interprets this and sends the right signal to the PS/2 port.

Does anyone know where I can find out more information on making my own keypad, or info on the input matrix or suchlike?

All help is apreciated!

 

[jamarno]

There's the PC Keyboard FAQ. Each keyboard I've seen use its own layout for the matrix, but all were arranged roughly in order of scan codes.

The easiest keyboards to modify are those with individual mechanical switches soldered to a rigid circuit board.