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IR Remotes with Letter Keys?
desau asks: "In the never ending quest to build a better MP3 player for my car, I've decided that I would like to be able to punch in letters via my IR remote. The only problem is that I can't find an IR remote with letters. I'm distinctly trying to stay away from the number pads with letters overloaded (such as phone pads) as they prove to difficult while driving. Also, it needs to work with the IRDA standard and work with LIRC. Anyone out there know where to look?"
wireless remote with letters...hmm...
Ceci n'est pas un post
please save them from the landfill..
These remotes already have too many &*#^*&(! buttons.
A programmable remote such as available at smarthome should work. $$$ -- shop around. I also recall a site that does *nothing* but advanced remotes -- name eludes me -- but they have everything.
Drive carefully...
Wireless keyboard
as they prove to difficult while driving
Are you stupid? Don't you have enough to do while driving between chatting on your cell phone and trying not to let your SUV roll over?
You're the reason my insurance rates are going up.
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
Whatever you end up doing, please don't come anywhere near my house. It's dangerous enough driving with all the people talking on the phone and eating dinner. Rather than working on yet another way to grab yourself a Darwin award, I suggest you look into speech recognition.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
This isn't really the answer to your question, but since so many of us use these annoying small devices called cell phones, what about using your numerical remote control in the cell phone SMS fashion? (77726|666|6633777, | being a pause, for Ramones, for example) If you are ambitious and/or lazy, why not going for T9 support, having your MP3 player guess the choices you make...
May sound a bit uncomfortable, but its still smaller (and if you ask me, even geekier) than a full alphanumeric keyboard thing...
Whats wrong with the format used in mobiles(Celluar Phones?)
They are very popular, and easy to learn format. I can type out complex messages on my mobiles without looking at what numbers I push. All of Europe is capable of this since many, especially the working class and the young'uns, use their phones daily and prefer text-msging people.
Use the phone-layout. Its easy.
David
Reductio Ad Adsurdium David
I have had my HP 48G set up as a remote for my TV for probably 8 years now. It works, although a little clumsy (in the program I use, you can only use 6 buttons at a time, and scroll up and down using the up and down arrows to switch the definitions of the six keys). You can download IR 'profiles' for many devices, and you can teach your calculator on your own if the profile isn't available for your TV... I understand it's pretty hard on the calculator's batteries though. I've only done it for fun, never as the primary remote for the TV. hpcalc.org is a great source.
I don't believe the HP48 is IRDA compatible, and I don't know what LIRC stands for, but given the forum we're in, I'll guess Linux IR C_____. (Consortium? Community?)
Granted, if you don't have a HP calc on hand, it probably won't be worth the bucks to buy one for this, since it probably won't work anyhow. I was looking on Ebay and bids were between $60 and $100.
I was just on the HPCalc site yesterday, and I was reunited with the goodness of minesweeper on the HP48. There went an hour of work!
Good luck with your project. Stay away from my county when you're trying to type in MP3/OGG names while driving, especially if you try to do it using a HP48!
Log the fuck off and drive, please.
If you are really occupying your car enough that you can't either type in ID3's on your home machine and then transfer, or hook up a $3 PS2 keyboard in the trunk or under your seat, I worry for you.
Hey Taco! Looks like you're using the "infinite monkeys and typewriters" scheme to generate Ask Slashdots again...
1. You are sick if you want to type letters to lookup MP3's while you are driving!
2. Just get an Apple iPod and a wireless transmitter! Load the iPod up in the house (20GB with FireWire for transfer - Windows or Mac) and then plugin the wireless transmitter, tune your stereo to right frequency and run through your play lists! Toss the iPod on the seat next to you or in a center console. If you have to switch lists at least the iPod has a touch sensitive jog-wheel navigation that is very simple and easy to do. Bonus: You can take it with you when you exit the vehicle!
Again, you are crazy if you want to enter text while driving! That's just plain stupid. Ask any German about cup holders and cell phones in a car. They will wonder what you're smokin. Of course Germans take driving seriously which is why so few people get hurt or killed on the AutoBahn.
--honestly, I have no idea *how* to do this, but could you adopt a wireless mouse instead of a keyboard? Scroll or middle button to tracks, forward to play from right button, left button pause or stop? Something like that? That way can keep eyes on road, not even need letters or numbers.
First let me say you are a stupid stupid motherfucker if you try to use this bastard while driving. Plenty of people get in wrecks just trying to change the radio station.
/dev/midi.
Secondly, you are a dumbass for thinking that IRDA has anything to do with remote controls. Remote controls generally adhere to a standard called CIR (Consumer IR) which is much much different. IRDA ports found in devices such as laptops and palm pilots can, to some degree, transmit and receive CIR through much software trickery, but the range is very limited and the results are poor. There is, to my knowledge, only a very small number of manufacturers that have implemented remotes that use IRDA (Pace is one, and lots of people get pissed off because their universal remotes won't talk to IRDA stuff). Anyway, if you'd read a damn thing about LIRC you'd know that you (in most cases) have to build a special receiver to get the CIR signals.
Finally, im going to answer your (lame) question since you can't seem to use google. First, there are IR keyboards. I'm betting that you know this, and they are too large for your application (one handed button pushing while driving like a fuck.) Anyway, for a one button remote with an alphabet on it you could just pick up most any programmable LED sign. I have quite a few signs with IR remotes that contain an entire alphabet, punctuation, and many other great function keys. I'd bet that 99% of these function with CIR equipment, and I know for a fact that the remote that comes with the BetaBrite (a dumbed down version of the other sign products made by Adaptive) uses the same IR carrier and code format of the remotes that come with Creative products such as their computer speakers and sound cards. If you have a LiveDrive IR or an AudigyDrive, you can point the BetaBrite remote at it and get remote data out of
Tons o fun.
~GoRK
Avoid that many buttons while driving. The wireless keybaord is a great idea for passengers to mess with. You need nothing more complicated than an external keypad (actually, less complicated is better... a 10 digit phone pad should do wonders). The best device? Try to interface a trackball. You would be able to adjust speed that you scroll through items with by simply moving the ball less or more, while only needing to grope about on it for a second, keeping your concentration where it belongs -- on the road.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
I can't help you find a remote with letters on it, but I can tell you how I layed the interface out for my in-car MP3 Player.
I use a Kenwood Radio remote (Got it at Mickey Shore for $60, probably overpaid, but I didn't really care, I just wanted a good small remote)
I use most of the remote the same as it would be expected, Forward and back a track work as expected, att mutes the audio mixed, pause, pauses. It has a little * button I use to turn on and off shuffle, The numbers 1-9 are presets. And 0 goes to the beginning of the song.
I don't have a display, Don't need one.
It all works good for me, but YRMV (Your Results May Vary)
I first thought of logitech keyboard and being aware that you probably dont want something so huge didnt stop me from looking to see what they produce as they are prominent and may have created a industry standard protocol *as you may do when youre a leader in a technology*.
h tm l is the first link that google provided when looking for logitech cordless keyboard protocol and the document has alot of keyboards listed. =)
http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/linux/kbd/scancodes.
Pixels keep you awake!
It seems to me that, given you already know the song titles in your collection, then using a system like T9 text entry would work great. (T9)
You'd spell out the name on a telephone-like keypad, with ABC on 2, DEF on 3, etc, and figure out what possible song title that's in your library is the match. For example, to spell out "Madonna", type in "6236662"--one digit per letter. In the rare case of two names matching one particular sequence, press the "0" key to scroll through them.
Best Buy can have you arrested
I wasn't going to post this, because I thought maybe it was just my dark sense of humor coming through and I really didn't want to be accused of trolling....
/. could nominate him for a Darwin award.
When I first saw this, I thought, "Doesn't this person know enough to use Google?" Then I realized, just after a report comes out that links 6% of all traffic accidents in the US to cell phone usage while driving, here we have someone asking how to set things up so he can type in text while driving.
Anyone stupid enough to want to do that is not smart enough to use the complex interface Google provides. And, after this person is killed because he was typing and not driving, all of us on
Typing while driving -- IMNSHO, it's just as stupid as not knowing how to submit a simple question like this to Google.
and just drive for fucks sake.
Fuck me.
Ask Slashdot is pure crap now.
I bet you can get an old Psion Revo (aka Diamond Mako) on ebay cheaply enough (surf surf - about $50 average).
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
However, in the event you are actually trying to nav your MP3 tree in your car, might I suggest implementing a palmOS based solution and mounting your palm on some conspicuous spot in your car that you can look at without endangering other drivers (IE, just above the dashboard) that you can easily read? IMO this would be a more optimal solution than fucking around with a wireless remote.
This sig no verb.
Yeah, I fall into the "keep your hands on the fucking steering weel" camp, myself.
I've worked on a similar project (which didn't stay connected too long because of battery charging issues + having $1200 worth of gear in my car plus the girlfriend was having second thoughts about my sanity).
iBook + clip-on Mic with creative wire splicing (to fool the Mac into thinking it's capable on a normal mic) + 10.2 + Plaintalk + iTunes + PHP/Perl/Applescript worked marginally well, although getting recognition working over 50% of the time would require a MUCH quieter car than I have.
Plusses: A kludge to brag about. You can not only choose songs and have query results read back to you, but you can also play Apple/GNUchess against the computer at the same time with voice recognition, seeing as how you've obviously got a much greater attention span than most.
Minuses: $1k worth of gear in your car, one hell of a kludge, battery requirements.
Why don'tca just get an iPod? 1-finger browsing, it's small, and it'll charge from your lighter adapter.
Or a small touch screen monitor, maybe?
I can't even dream of recommending something that would take more than a single finger to operate.
For the record, I've gone with the iPod. I'm just waiting for 802.11 or Bluetooth to be added to a new iPod model -- then I won't even have to take it out of the car to load music.
What about a USB bluetooth adaptor and a bluetooth headset? Ebay them for under $120, ViaVoice and a little bit of perl, and there you are. AE
It's probably been patented already, though. Since you're looking to buy one, I doubt you'll want to develop your own remote.
;-)
But I would build a remote that used a jog wheel, kind of like a mouse scroller. My mouse has 24 click positions, so a larger (1.5"-2") wheel could handle 36 clicks (26 letters and 10 numerals). Rotate the wheel to the desired character, click the wheel. An 8-bit microcontroller takes the encoded wheel position and outputs an IR code.
Not too fast for text entry, but perfect for navigating an MP3 title tree.
I'd make mine pretty compact, and clip it on the steering wheel at the 2 o'clock position, where it's easily adjusted and seen. And of course, the wheel would be made of clear acrylic, painted black, with the characters engraved around the edge, so it can be lighted with a blue LED.
...
If you have a way to make a consumer remote talk to an IrDA port, try an older Sony MiniDisc remote. I have a MiniDisc recorder model MDS-JE310 (about 3-4 years old) which came with an alphanumeric remote for entering track names. You could probably find one cheaply, as this recorder was produced before the latest generation ATRAC, before MD-LP, etc.
And please watch the road when you're driving.
I thought the philips pronto remotes have software frontends which can programmed to have letters.....
Radioshack sells a IR keyboard for use with a Palm or PocketPC, its very small, but almost feels like a full size. $99.99...
It's too dangerous to type while you drive.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
I assume you have a built-in PC in your car? If so, why not use voice recognition? Just say the song you want, and play! Today's software filters most of background noise, so recognition isn't going to be the hard part. Much safer and easier method to choose your tracks, I think.
Interfacing your steering wheel as an input to a Palm's Graffiti recognizer?
I'm sure the end effect of driving all over the road while entering text won't differ much from your original idea.