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Homebrewed Macro Keyboards?
MightyMaus asks: "So I've been checking out various hardware websites lately, paging through computer retail catalogues, and basically pining for a better-paying job. But one device that's really caught my eye is the Programmable Keypad. Looks pretty cool, but $140? No way. Even the smaller version carries a hefty $90 price tag. Now, it seems like making one of these should be relatively easy; but the almighty Google returns nothing but more places to buy these things. So where do I turn? To Slashdot. Has anyone hacked together one of these before?"
Looks like you could just get a USB keyboard. Somehow set it up as a secondary input device. I assume Linux can do this. Intercept the keypresses on the secondary keyboard, and have them do 'foo'.
Or, quit bitching, and pony up. I guess it could be a fun hack, but if the keyboard has any quality whatsoever, this isn't that expensive.
For more fun, you may want to look at some of the controllers for RTS games. Not as many keys, but drivers might be easier to find. Another possibility is to find a touchpad. Put on an overlay. Map coordinates to your macro.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
My keyboard is like a part of me. I'd kill myself without its sweet tactile feedback.
A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
Focus FK-9200
After my trackmate ( or whatever it was called ) died, my second keybroniq (whatever) keyboard, and I used a keyboard/mickey-rat combo for a couple of months, it nearly crippled me, so I discovered these things, and bought 2, because being made crippled, just because my keyboard died, .. IS NOT ON.
PS/2, but I hope they make a USB version, soon...
Trackball AND macro-keys, AND calculator ( excellent combo ).
To keep the trackball running well, I keep a bottle of isopropyl alcohol ( not "rubbing alcohol with glycerine and lotion" ), and a bunch of cotton-swabs, and clean it a couple of times each day. It's a good reminder that I need to .. drink water, and walk 'round, and such -scratching head bemusedly-...
REALLY search for a good price, because they are sold at drastically different prices by different resellers..
Messages to/for me ( in me journal )
Just when I thought cheating in Unreal Tournament couldn't get any worse, someone makes a keyboard to attach all those cheat scripts to.
I can't understand why you would want to build one yourself to save money.
I really doubt there is any way you can make a device that works entirely in hardware like this, spending much less on materials than the $140 price tag.
And that doesn't even include the hours you spend on building the thing.
I can understand if you want to do it for fun, but if you are doing it to save money, don't bother.
I have two of those keyboards.
They are really nice. I would recommend getting the PS2 version, as the USB version requires a driver.
Brian Meidell
Electrical Engineer
Give me liberty or give me kill -s 9
Elektuur, a Dutch magazine, has published some articles about a keyboard with hotkeys. This is the link but I'm afraid it won't work very well (and there's no google cache). Just search for "Hotkeys-toetsenbord" on elektuur.nl. It has 18 buttons. Only PS/2 though..
History matters..
Gateway used to ship "AnyKey" keyboards with all their systems. You should be able to find one if you look around a little bit. They are basically standard keyboards with a bunch of extra keys that you can program. There's a picture of one here on Google, although it appears the linked site is down. Anyway, they come in both PS/2 and DIN-5 varieties. There should be more information on Google.
Here's what I'm looking for:
Ergonomic (split) keyboard a must
USB preferred (I want to plug and unplug without rebooting)
Nice, springy feel
No wireless keyboards unless they encrypt!
The Microsoft Natural Multimedia keyboard is the closest one I've found so far, but I'd really rather not give my money to MS if I can help it (and besides, while better than those of most cheap keyboards, its keys still didn't feel quite springy enough). Macro buttons would be a plus, and I'd even consider ergonomic designs more radical than the usual one-piece split. Does anyone have suggestions here?
Get one of those numeric keypads designed for laptops with a USB interface. Then you can map the keys sung xmodmap.You could even put stickers on the keys.
- 18 inputs, up to a 9 x 9 matrix for 81 inputs.
- 24 inputs, programmable via keyboard or rs-232 port, up to 12 x 12 matrix for 144 inputs.
- 24 inputs, programmable via keyboard only, up to 12 x 12 matrix for 144 inputs.
- 72 distinct inputs, programmable, trackball support.
- Daisy-chaining two encoders together for more inputs.
They use 'em for interfaceing arcade controls to keybd port.So much to do, so little bandwidth.
--
Try Mozilla
they have often customised keyboard chips for input, also you can just whack one of your old keyboards and take a look inside, do necessary wiring to something(first test out, or trace, the connection matrix) you wish to use for buttons.
also.. you can butcher old keyboards for seperate numpads too(which are available, but cost more than 5$).
also, some mame cabinet projects have made special hw to connect several normal keyboards to one pc so that they still all work.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
You may want to look at one of these things. ... but you could use it for other things.
They're primarily designed for digital video editing stations
They go for around $30 at Amazon.
If you're using it with Windows, they have templates for common applications - but you can make your own.
For other OSes, not sure what you'd need to do.
these arnt cheap, but may be what you are looking for? they have a fairly small keyboard.
You already have everything you need if you run Linux or any other *nix: just remap your current keyboard. For example, you can make a keyboard map of the number pad with whatever macro you want, and then toggle between the regular keypad and the macro keypad with a rarely-used button, like PrintScreen or Scroll Lock.
:Peter
If I had it, I'd program it to be the same as pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del... ;-)
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Now say something about pro-M$ ACs...
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process ?Merchant_Id=&Section_Id=2071&pcount=&Product_Id=1 07727&Section.Section_Path=%2F%2FRoot%2FNostromo%2 E%2E%2EingTools%2F
It could be a fun hack. I've been wanting to do a keyboard hack for awhile now, and this looks like a project that would be challenging and fun, in a geek sort of way.
Also, having a keyboard that'll spit out '#!/usr/bin/perl' or some other random snippet of text that I use all the time would be cool, but not worth much more than $50. $10 of parts and a few hours' labor would be well worth it, and I'd also have a cool toy that I could point to and say "Hey. I made that".
Yes, the women will truly flock to my apartment.
--Jay Maus
--Jay Maus
on a USB Programable video editing interface, Basicly a macro keyboard. http://www.softwareandstuff.com
But, why don't you crack open an El-Cheapo usb keyboard (free is better) and wire it up so when ever you push the letter 'A' it will be recorded as a 'Crtl-Alt-A' (or some combination like that). Then get yourself some macro software to translate your key presses.
Being called a dork on Slashdot must be like being called the retard in special ed.
Well you did want to know if anyone rolled their own.
6 3
If you are looking for PS/2 keyboard or RS232 serial output, check out the MEMkey board.
http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=279
At quantities of 1 they are $40, but as they are programmable this can most likely do anything you need.
It has a 4x5 matrix (20 keys) that you wire to this board. Then you program it to push a value for each key out either the serial or PS/2 lines, you can plug this in directly to the keyboard input if thats what you need, or go the serial route if you want to make your own listener appliaction for it.
PDF datasheets are on their site.
Ive purchased many of these and they are the most handy things ever.
You can also buy keypads and ribbon cables from parallax as well if you dont mind a 4x3 or 4x4 telephone like pad.
Both have 0-9 * and #, and the 4x4 has the letters A-D.
If you make your own, the board can support up to 4x5 grids.
With a few other parts you can easily break out the matrix and wire each of the 20 keys up to pushbuttons to do almost anything.
If you use a serial protocol, and some latch ICs, you can string together 8 or so of these chips into one serial port on the PC.
My application was a MAME joystick that sent PS/2 keycodes that MAME would understand.
(BTW, for real arcade joysticks buttons and whatnot, check out www.happcontrols.com)
Hope this helps
So the item you linked to is made by PI Engineering. If you peruse their website you will find that they sell both USB and PS/2 versions of the boards that live inside their gizmos. But since you sound a bit concerned about price, you probably won't like the fact that they sell them for $60 on their webstore.
I actually have a (USB) version of the X-Keys editor, and it has one particularly nice feature which supposedly all of their models support. Instead of acting just like a keyboard, it sends the data to the USB consumer page (or something like that), which allows you to have a dedicated application that polls the status of the various buttons and jog/shuttle, rather than having them just sent to the current application. This gives you boolean status on all keys. (They provide source and DLL's for windows to do this. I don't believe there's any howto for linux yet.)
I will also say that their gizmos are solidly built and have good tactile feedback. That's very important. Sadly, the USB cord attached to mine was a little on the short side (3 feet?), so I had to get an extender for my setup.
i've been working on a project that is essentially a custom keyboard, but it only has two keys. my client wants to be able to control his powerpoint presentations from WAY across the room and with high reliability (range and reliability do not lead one to RF or IR remotes). my 2-key podium-mounted keyboard implements the PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys on the keyboard and talks to SerialKey in windows over the serial port. works great. find the SerialKey ui in the control panel under accessability options (general tab).
Chck this out:
http://www.racoindustries.com/cg8112100.htm
thumb-print, anyone?