deskthority

Aight so I'm working on a little project: I got an old typewriter with amazing ALPS SKFF.

I took it apart (Broke 2 Switches in the making ) and am now left with this.

I wanted to know how difficult it would be to convert this keyboard to usb or whatever just to connect it to the PC. (It says on the connector NO3402 and NO3401)

Has anyone succeeded in this or is there a tutorial for me lol :3?

Thx a lot!

It is likely that the ribbon cable connects directly to the rows and columns of the keyboard matrix, with some other lines instead going to the LEDs.

You would have to figure out the matrix, hook up a microcontroller board and then program your own version of firmware for this microcontroller+keyboard combination.
A lot of people have done this before with various keyboards: do check the Workshop subforum! It is a bit of a tedious process though.

From the last picture I would guess that the PCB is one-sided with all traces on the bottom of the keyboard module, with solder holes exposed. That should make it easier to trace the matrix.
A multimeter in continuity mode could be a great help here.

With electronics at this age, the LED circuits are probably made to run at 5V: look for resistors for them! The Teensy++ might be a good choice for microcontroller board: it has 45 GPIO pins, runs at 5V and is supported by the TMK firmware. If the keyboard does not a diodes for each switch then you would have to enable ghost key detection.

Thx a lot!! :3