Converting Macbook keyboard/touch pad into USB keyboard/touch pad

For those finding the title not overly helpful, this post is about adding a USB cable to a Macbook keyboard/touch pad for use with other computers.

The inspiration for this came about as I scoured the house for any trace of a USB keyboard, which led me to the Macbook featured in my previous post, creating a mini DVI to VGA adapter. A quick Google search led me to Cryozap, who had already done the heavy lifting with this project by finding the pinouts of the connector used by the keyboard, as seen in the post MacBook Core Duo Logic Board Keyboard Connector Pinout. Here is how I managed to attach a USB cable!

First thing you want to do is peel the sticker off the back of the touchpad.

Here's a closeup of the touchpad. The four pins we are going to be using are the three closest to the top right header, and one of the grounds on the centre far left.

For stress relief, you probably want to hold the cable onto the keyboard somehow. As I didn't intend on putting this back into the laptop I just used a bit of wire and "crimped" the USB cable to one of the places for a screw.

Here's the fun part. Solder down the wires, trying to minimise how much of the actual conductor is exposed. The ground (black) goes to any of the three vacant pads on the far left. Positive (red) is the rightmost pad, with data positive (green) the centre of the three, and data negative (white) the left of the three. See the picture below for clarification.

And there you have it, a cheap and dirty USB keyboard from a Macbook!

Hope this was helpful. Once again, credit for the pinout goes to Cryozap. Constructive criticism or general comments are welcomed below.