Mod the keyboard for Miix 2 8

There is almost no accessories for Windows tablets while tons for iPad Mini such as a clap-on keyboard found on eBay and Amazon for only $20.

Above is not the only one, there are similar ones, such as this HYPE branded:

You should not get the HYPE and its kind, because the width of the slot is fixed - cannot be adjusted. Because Miix 2 is about 0.7 mm thicker than iPad Mini and Dell Venue Pro is even thicker than Miix, so the fit is not ideal especially for Dell. That said, there are two nice things about the HYPE: 1) The maximum open angle is 180 degree, i.e., the screen can be totally flat with the keyboard. This is very good for using it in bed. 2) The bottom cover is aluminum, looks nice while balancing the tablet. The other ones are all plastic with a piece of iron inside for balance (a better engineering, see the photo below).

Now back to today's subject. We need to do two simple mods to make the keyboard to work well with our Miix.

Open up the angle

The maximum opening angle is only 95 degree or so as you see in the first photo above. This is simply not acceptable, even though I understand the reason. Lift up the four rubber feet and screw off the screws (6 in total), then you can open up the case.

Remove the joints and replace the notched washer (left) with something (right) you can find (update - you don't have to find a new washer, just swap it with the other one that's not notched):

 

That's it, put everything back in the original order. It might be a good idea to add some grease to reduce wear.

Make the slot wider

Miix is 0.7 mm thicker than iPad Mini, so when you insert it into this keyboard, it is a tad too tight. The little rings (beads) you see in above photos happen to be 0.7 mm thick, perfect! So I added them to the claps:

That's it! Now we have the perfect keyboard for our Miix - fully adjustable angle and not too tight:

Increase the gap

The gap between the keyboard and screen is too small, so the keyboard will make some prints on the screen. To avoid this, I added a small piece of silicon with strong double-side tape on both sides:

You may have realized that we did not do any physical damage to the keyboard, in case you need to put everything back to factory status. All we did was added, or replaced with, some washers. This is my philosophy: when do mods, I try my very best to make them reversible.

The left clap blocks the Start button, not a problem though, not at all. There is a WIN key on this keyboard - the cmd, left to the space bar. If you really love to touch, you may touch the soft Win button at the right edge of the screen.

Remap some keys

This keyboard does not have a "Del" key: the "delete" key at the right side is actually a "back space" key. So I added this into registry to map the capslock to delete:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]

"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
02,00,00,00,\
53,00,3a,00,\
00,00,00,00

If you don't know what a fuss is this, simply download it here, double click on it and reboot your Miix.

"Esc" is another missing key. I use AHK to remap the WWW-Home key (at upper left corner) to "Esc":

;WWW_Home -> Esc
SC132::ESCAPE
;Ctrl+Shift+Esc (Task Manager)
^+SC132::^+ESCAPE
;Browser_Search -> F3
SC165::F3
;Ctrl+Alt+W -> Prt Sc
^!w::PrintScreen

As you see, I also remapped some other keys, to F3 and Prt Sc, respectively. You may remap more keys, such as PgUp, PgDn, Home and End with right shift and arrow keys.

RShift & Up::Send {PgUp}
RShift & Down::Send {PgDn}
RShift & Left::Send {Home}
RShift & Right::Send {End}

Now, we have a truly productive little computer, finally. The last time we had something like this is the UMID M1 (5", 5 years ago) and Toshiba Libretto 100 (7", 20 years ago).

This keyboard has extremely good battery life. I have used it for more than a week now, heavily everyday, and I have not charged it yet since I received it in the mail! Do switch it off to save Miix's battery and update the UART driver if you experience unwanted disconnects.

Although this keyboard provides a good protection to the screen, you'd better still apply a screen protector, because I've seen some prints (lines) on the screen made by the keyboard edges.

[update 03/23/2014] Windows has a bug with Bluetooth keyboards: sometimes a key repeats itself forever, such as ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ...... . Then you must hit Esc key to stop it. So, it's better to remap the capslock to Esc instead of Del:

Change above this line:

53,00,3a,00,\

to

01,00,3a,00,\

Change above these lines:

;WWW_Home -> Esc
SC132::ESCAPE
;Ctrl+Shift+Esc (Task Manager)
^+SC132::^+ESCAPE

to
 
;WWW_Home ->Del
SC132::DELETE

If you need F4 - F10, add these:

#4::Send {F4}
#5::Send {F5}
#6::Send {F6}
#7::Send {F7}
#8::Send {F8}
#9::Send {F9}
#0::Send {F10}

Then WIN (cmd) + 4-0 become F4-10.

[update 03/27/2014] Battery life is extraordinary. I had been heavily using it daily since I received it without initial charging. Yesterday morning, its blue LED started flashing but still worked until evening when the LED became steady blue. I plugged in a charger, the LED turned into red. After about 1 hour or 2, the LED turned into blue and it was fully charged.

Another nice thing is: it can still be used while being charged and you can use any charger including portable power banks. You may also use your Miix to charge it while using it, simply connect its micro USB port to that of Miix. So, you never need to worry about its battery running out at an unexpected moment, peace of mind.

Now I have a further mod.

Local Walmart stores are now carrying such a keyboard for $19.88.