What is SpaceFN and why you should give it a try
The SpaceFN concept - setting up your space key as a layer switch when held - is probably one of the most useful tweaks in the keyboard hobby. Let me explain how it works. My SpaceFN article on kbd.news made some rounds recently - quite surprisingly given the age of this concept. This piece you're reading is a condensed version of the full post. If you're left with unanswered questions, you'll most likely find the info you're looking for in the original write-up. On my imaginary top list of the most useful keyboard features, tweaks and hacks, SpaceFN would deserve a podium finish for sure. But what makes it so special? In short: SpaceFN is easy to implement, easy to learn, costs nothing, can be used with any keyboard, and can improve your productivity instantly. I will list its benefits below, but can state right at this point that the SpaceFN concept, setting up your space key as a layer switch when held, is clearly one of the most useful tweaks in the keyboard hobby....
Apr 30, 2024
The power button of a PC is extremely simple. All the complicated logic is on the motherboard. Two wires come out and it goes to a switch on the case. That switch is a momentary on switch (you push the button and it closes the circuit). And that is exactly how a keyboard switch works. For mechanical switches like this, it does not matter which wire goes to which connector.
Note that there may be other wires coming out to the power switch. There may be extra wires for a LED, if your computer's power button has a light. This will be a bit more challenging, in that the wires are different. You will also need to provide a LED as this one doesn't come with a LED. But you do not need to connect the LED for your computer to work.
You could use it as a reset switch for your computer, but I think it might not work as a power switch.
Edit: I think I found the official Intel spec: http://www.formfactors.org/developer/specs/a2928604-005.pdf - check 2.2.2.4
i made a pcb when i was 14. a pcb is only as complicated as the circuit you want to make. (mine was a simple sensing circuit with a transistor to switch a light and buzzer on.) admittedly the pcb etching fluid was there already, as was the FR4 substrate, but you can buy those online, and even make the fluid at home. here's a little guide which follows the same process i did. https://www.sparkfun.com/news/2116
but even better than that, if you need a one off circuit board... you don't need to print anything. (not that hooking up a switch like this to a motherboard is difficult, as many people have already said.) you can use some veroboard