IRDA keyboard drivers?

tundrwd · Post by **tundrwd** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 11:21 pm

With the advent of the last couple of IRDA testbed programs, has anyone given consideration to an IRDA keyboard driver? Some of these (for PDAs) are relatively inexpensive (some go for bargain prices since they are for older PDA models), and would certainly be somewhat portable.

I have an older IRDA PDA keyboard, and would certainly be interested in helping someone to beta test a driver/subroutine.

Anyone looking into such a driver/subroutine?[/i]

Vampire · Post by **Vampire** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 12:28 am

http://www.nurs.or.jp/~calcium/wearable/

on 2005/05/14 they used a PKB-800 keyboard to communicate with the psp...

i think it isn't that difficult: just open irda0 and parse the incomming data...

Cool Matty · Post by **Cool Matty** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 12:51 am

The hardest part would be reading upside down, since the IRDA port on the PSP is on top :p :D

tundrwd · Post by **tundrwd** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 1:47 am

Cool Matty wrote:The hardest part would be reading upside down, since the IRDA port on the PSP is on top :p :D

Similar to the PDA problem - but it seems you could get one of the stands for the PSP, then just use a mirror attached to the stand to get the keyboard IR signals to the port.

The keyboard I have had a stand that the PDA sat on, and a "mirror" would pop out to allow use of the keyboard with the PDA standing up.

Shine · Post by **Shine** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 2:06 am

Cool Matty wrote:The hardest part would be reading upside down, since the IRDA port on the PSP is on top :p :D

You have to write the program anyway to parse the data, so you could write the text 180 degree rotated.

_Psycho · Post by **_Psycho** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 2:48 am

Might not be usefull but I remember cwaig (zaurus user group forum) wrote a IR keyboard drivers for the zauruses, but his input was from LIRC, not sure if you could get any usefull part from it. He had a couples of IR keyboards support, pockettop, targus one and a couples of others I forgot.

There the link.
http://angela1.data-uncertain.co.uk/~za ... wnload.php

Squall333 · Post by **Squall333** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 9:05 am

I found a link for a keyboard with the reflector thing i dunno if someone is interested

http://www.mobilelinktech.com/shop/snap ... aptype.php

tundrwd · Post by **tundrwd** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:08 pm

Seems someone has added a Targus Palm keyboard to the Nintendo DS through a serial interface....

http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=4133

Mangus · Post by **Mangus** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 1:38 pm

thats wonderful, perhaps we could do the same through the Remote port (it is convertible to serial standard) near the headphones jack

sexdwarf · Post by **sexdwarf** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 4:35 pm

while not wireless, one could sacrifice a usb keyboard, hardwire a usb to ir adapter (i.e. http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/usb-irda.htm) and wire it in a container that attaches to the top of the psp, using the mount holes on both sides of the mini-b usb slot....the custom container can then safely be secured and extend the ir sending portion directly above the psp ir port... with a little extra creativity you could even add a passthru for the mini-b port that would then be covered...

writing the receiving drivers wouldn't be all that complicated once a viable solution is found for getting a steady interaction going from keyboard to psp...

i guess it's time to dig out my spare ps2 usb keyboard and start testing...

Arwin · Post by **Arwin** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:27 pm

sexdwarf wrote:while not wireless, one could sacrifice a usb keyboard, hardwire a usb to ir adapter (i.e. http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/usb-irda.htm) and wire it in a container that attaches to the top of the psp, using the mount holes on both sides of the mini-b usb slot....the custom container can then safely be secured and extend the ir sending portion directly above the psp ir port... with a little extra creativity you could even add a passthru for the mini-b port that would then be covered...

writing the receiving drivers wouldn't be all that complicated once a viable solution is found for getting a steady interaction going from keyboard to psp...

i guess it's time to dig out my spare ps2 usb keyboard and start testing...

But if you've got a USB keyboard, why not try to develop a USB driver for that instead? I'm thinking with the solid USB connector on top of the psp, that would be a pretty decent way of tapping one in. Or is the whole USB driver part just not present in the OS yet?

Shine · Post by **Shine** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:41 pm

Arwin wrote:But if you've got a USB keyboard, why not try to develop a USB driver for that instead? I'm thinking with the solid USB connector on top of the psp, that would be a pretty decent way of tapping one in. Or is the whole USB driver part just not present in the OS yet?

A USB keyboard is a slave USB device, the same as the PSP. Looks like the PSP USB port has 2 extra connectors (the gold holes besides the USB plug) for powering an external device to act as a master. So probably you can't plug an USB keyboard, but you have to built some special hardware, which acts like a master and transfers the data from the keyboard to the PSP. Should be much easier to built a standard keyboard to serial interface for the remote port of the PSP.

Arwin · Post by **Arwin** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 7:13 pm

Shine wrote:
Arwin wrote:But if you've got a USB keyboard, why not try to develop a USB driver for that instead? I'm thinking with the solid USB connector on top of the psp, that would be a pretty decent way of tapping one in. Or is the whole USB driver part just not present in the OS yet?
A USB keyboard is a slave USB device, the same as the PSP. Looks like the PSP USB port has 2 extra connectors (the gold holes besides the USB plug) for powering an external device to act as a master. So probably you can't plug an USB keyboard, but you have to built some special hardware, which acts like a master and transfers the data from the keyboard to the PSP. Should be much easier to built a standard keyboard to serial interface for the remote port of the PSP.

I understand. Looking forward to a PSP USB hub then. ;)

sexdwarf · Post by **sexdwarf** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 9:30 pm

Shine wrote:Looks like the PSP USB port has 2 extra connectors (the gold holes besides the USB plug) for powering an external device to act as a master.

i haven't played much with the hardware myself, but have been following the forums silently for a while now...is it confirmed that these holes provide power in addition to allowing something to be mounted securely? i don't recall reading about it...

Shine · Post by **Shine** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 9:37 pm

sexdwarf wrote:i haven't played much with the hardware myself, but have been following the forums silently for a while now...is it confirmed that these holes provide power in addition to allowing something to be mounted securely? i don't recall reading about it...

At least it looks like this on the circuit, see this topic.

tundrwd · Post by **tundrwd** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 11:09 pm

A USB keyboard would be a great idea as well. I'm sure we've all seen the pics of the keyboard that is supposed to be coming out in the latter part of August (a UK company, if memory serves). And it appears to attach to the "voltage" connectors. Question is: how much is this thing going to cost? And from the pics, looks like it isn't a very useful keyboard, more of a "hunt 'n peck".

If something like the keyboard coming out this August doesn't work well, a USB keyboard wouldn't be very portable.

That's why I thought of using the IRDA keyboard. It folds in half and will fit in your pocket, and when folded out, is just about the size of the PSP.

Let's face it, web browsing and email homebrew apps just aren't going to be very useful without a keyboard.

sexdwarf · Post by **sexdwarf** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 11:18 pm

tundrwd wrote:I'm sure we've all seen the pics of the keyboard that is supposed to be coming out in the latter part of August (a UK company, if memory serves).

it should be noted that those pictures are basically "artists conception"'s and should not be viewed as the actual product...

a keyboard is definatly needed; i'm not sure if a homebrew usb method will be feasible at this point in time, but the irda method would have more possiblities... still the only downside to it would be the limited range...

i'm still going to continue the research on modifying a usb keyboard to interact with ir... i'm just glad that the voltage ports are there so i don't need to splice my keyboard to grab power from usb as well ;)

tundrwd · Post by **tundrwd** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 12:21 am

sexdwarf wrote:
it should be noted that those pictures are basically "artists conception"'s and should not be viewed as the actual product...

Yep - I've read the disclaimers. Still waiting to see what it really looks like, and the PRICE. Not too interested if it's $100USD. I've also seen pics of the "Sony" keyboard that was probably a concept keyboard displayed last year. Just stuck on top of the PSP, was clear with white letters. A touch-screen affair. Interesting, but still a "hunt 'n peck". I guess OK if you don't have a table or something to set the PSP and keyboard on.

a keyboard is definatly needed; i'm not sure if a homebrew usb method will be feasible at this point in time, but the irda method would have more possiblities... still the only downside to it would be the limited range...

i'm still going to continue the research on modifying a usb keyboard to interact with ir... i'm just glad that the voltage ports are there so i don't need to splice my keyboard to grab power from usb as well ;)

One thing about your approach is that you could "attach" the IR xmitter/rcvr from the keyboard to the PSP, so range isn't so much of an issue. I guess I'm still envisioning some kind of stand (something like those "collector plate" stands) that sets the PSP at a 30-60 degree angle. You could then attach your xmitter/rcvr to the stand just above the IR port.

If you get something that works - I'd really like to know. I gave up breadboarding projects a LONG time ago, but still have that stuff laying around somewhere.....

sexdwarf · Post by **sexdwarf** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:29 am

tundrwd wrote:I've also seen pics of the "Sony" keyboard that was probably a concept keyboard displayed last year. Just stuck on top of the PSP, was clear with white letters. A touch-screen affair. Interesting, but still a "hunt 'n peck".

hehe, this gives me an interesting idea/tangent - something i wouldn't be able to accomplish - ever - but none the less something that would be cool... if it's a 'hunt 'n peck' sized keyboard, yet is touch screen, what if there was a touchable "slider" area at the bottom of the screen, and moving along that resizes the selected areas keys, using the vector style resizing idea of the mac osx tool bar... just a little tangent :)

I guess I'm still envisioning some kind of stand (something like those "collector plate" stands) that sets the PSP at a 30-60 degree angle.

there area various solutions to this already, some (Stereo Station or PSP Movie Dock) offer more features, but obviously at a higher price, while i prefer (and currently have ti sitting here at my desk) the simple PSP Docking Station that goes for $10 - keep in mind the name is misleading since it's really just a charger and blocks access to your headphone area, but it works and keeps it at a nice angle.

If you get something that works - I'd really like to know. I gave up breadboarding projects a LONG time ago, but still have that stuff laying around somewhere.....

i'll give it a go this weekend and see how it turns out - will definatly post my findings on here...