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IR Remotes with Letter Keys?

Posted by Cliff on from the tired-of-numerics dept.

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?"

8 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. you mean like a keyboard? by quinto2000 · · Score: 3, Funny

    wireless remote with letters...hmm...

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  2. All those old WebTV keyboards on ebay by nesthigh · · Score: 3, Informative

    please save them from the landfill..

  3. moron by molo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

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  4. in your car? by tps12 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

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  5. Because I prefer to survive my commute.... by Jonny+290 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

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  6. Hrmph by GoRK · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    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 /dev/midi.

    Tons o fun.

    ~GoRK

  7. My Nomination for the Darwin Award by TheWanderingHermit · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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....

    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 /. could nominate him for a Darwin award.

    Typing while driving -- IMNSHO, it's just as stupid as not knowing how to submit a simple question like this to Google.

  8. IRDA? WTF! by dacarr · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Rather than futz around with a remote...well, one user suggested voice recognition, several suggested logging off and driving. Both of these are excellent. However, you look like you are trying to kill yourself. Please save others the trouble and drive off of a cliff - I would suggest those by San Onofre, CA. I've had run-ins with people who talk on their cellphones while driving, and having almost been plowed down more times than I care to count (I commute by bicycle), something needs to be done.

    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.

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