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29Jan/210

Apple PowerBook Duo 230

This little beast arrived last week and I've finally cleared the workspace to work on it. I've been on a bit of a buying-frenzy since christmas, so there should be some random things appearing on here in the next few weeks.

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Anyway, it was cheap because it's damaged. It's reported to have a non-responsive keyboard, a broken screen latch and a poor install of System 7.6. The poor install is described as "every app, when double-clicking, just throws error -39".

Keyboard

So, turns out people have fixed these before. That's a cute story.. but I have never thought of using an eraser on any of those goddamn-awful rubber buttons. Does it work?

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Got the required utensil... next...

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Ok, getting the keyboard out was easy enough... just don't follow these instructions. The author says to remove the bottom two screws... this is WRONG!. Remove the top three instead! Actually, I just checked the link... he's responded saying he'll fix it. I left a comment under the image where he points to the screws to remove. Anyway, where were we... Under the keyboard, you'll see how the keys are held in. I initially wanted to remove the backplane, but it's plastic-welded in place via the lugs.

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Above, in the dark holes, you can see that the keys are held with two opposing clips. Turns out that, if from the top-side you just apply gentle pressure to the top-half of each key, it'll gently prise out!

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Once the keys are off, you have direct access to the rubber sheet. This actually has the graphite contact rings under it, so don't be too rough!

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As you can see, each key has a black ring directly under it that is pressed down onto the membranes. There are actually two membranes, but they act different to the regular press-them-together. Usually there's a third sheet in-between the two membranes that keeps them separate... instead we have two membranes that form opposing semi-circles that the rings under the keys connect.

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So, from here, GENTLY rub the areas that receive contact from the rubber rings. There's a caps-lock LED to the left that you need to watch out for... what did I say? Watch out!

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Too late... my eraser was too large, my force too strong. I recommend using a pencil with an eraser on the end... or just anything with a finer tip! I'll fix that LED at a later date. Let's assemble and see the difference.

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Yessss! It works beautifully. Meanwhile, there's weird red dead pixels... but they don't line up with pixels... maybe there's something in the screen layers... fun for when I replace the latch later.

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It's alive! Time to network it. And reformat once the MiniDock arrives.

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