Psion As External Ir Keyboard For Z

[suruaZ]

Anyone tried to use Psion as IR keyboard for Z?

It seems realistic for me:
- from Psion side, translate every key press into a IR signal and sending it out;
- from Z side, received IR signals from Psion, translate it back to character and echo to the terminal.

suruaZ

[danr]

Anyone tried to use Psion as IR keyboard for Z?

Yes, I managed to do just this when I used to use my SL-5500.

I wrote a simple program for the Psion which converts the key presses into IR signals.  The Zaurus picks these up and converts them into keyboard buffer entries.  This was taken from Craig's Zaurus web site and slightly modified.

Since I now use an SL-C860, I don't use this method anymore, and it's been some time since I played with this, so I won't be supporting it.  However, if you don't mind getting your hands dirty, irkb.tar.gz contains the Zaurus driver, and irkb_psion.tar.gz contains a .sis file to be installed on the Psion.  I can't remember whether I had to cat /dev/ircomm > somewhere or other in order to get it to work.

Hope this is of some use,

Dan

[suruaZ]

Thanks Dan, I'll try to make it working with my hardware - SL-5500 and Psion Mako.

suruaZ

[QJimbo]

Interesting, I once tried sending a file from my Zaurus to a friends Psion Revo, interestingly the Psion revo picked it up and said it wasn't compatible with the other PDA ^^
But yeah, I did see an old ZR clamshell zaurus, was tempted to buy it, rip it apart, and somehow develop a "clamshell keyboard addon" that would snap on to my SL5500 effectivly turning it into a clamshell pda... it'd have to be 14cm wide though which is a bit limiting, I'll probably just end up buying a Stowaway keyboard instead. I've yet to see any IR keyboards that are close to the width of the zaurus, taking another old PDA and modding it would probably be the only way.

[suruaZ]

Dan,

Could you please explain more about irkb.tar.gz - how to install and run this? As it appears from the Makefile install is just copy of irkbdsim.o to the /usr/local/bin ?
What is keysym2scancode.c for? There are a few headers missed. Do I need it too?

I once tried sending a file from my Zaurus to a friends Psion Revo, interestingly the Psion revo picked it up and said it wasn't compatible with the other PDA ^^

I beleive you was need to install additional software on Psion, to enable IROBEX compatibility.

suruaZ

[mikew]

Dan,

Could you please explain more about irkb.tar.gz - how to install and run this? As it appears from the Makefile install is just copy of irkbdsim.o to the /usr/local/bin ?
What is keysym2scancode.c for? There are a few headers missed. Do I need it too?

I once tried sending a file from my Zaurus to a friends Psion Revo, interestingly the Psion revo picked it up and said it wasn't compatible with the other PDA ^^

I beleive you was need to install additional software on Psion, to enable IROBEX compatibility.

suruaZ
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=82349\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

You should not have any problem getting the Psion to use standard IrOBEX, just use the plBeam software, help file states

'plBeam is an application enabling exchange of data through infrared port with other palmtops, PCs and a wide range of machines using the IrOBEX standard. EPOC system in ER5 version (Psion Series 5mx and later models) enables transmission using the IrOBEX standard. However, it is limited to exchange of single contacts and entries in Agenda only. plBeam breaks this barrier and allows for sending and receiving the whole data files and not only single records.

Thanks to plBeam you do not have to install PsiWin software on your PC nor do you need a serial link cable anymore to be able to exchange data.'

Mike

[danr]

Dan,

Could you please explain more about irkb.tar.gz - how to install and run this? As it appears from the Makefile install is just copy of irkbdsim.o to the /usr/local/bin ?
What is keysym2scancode.c for? There are a few headers missed. Do I need it too?

I based this either on Craig's work or the Pocketop driver - see here for the sort of thing required (note the reference to kbdsim.o - I think my file is a replacement for this).  So I think it's all related to the way in which vncserver works.

Sorry I can't be of more use.  I did this for my own use some time ago and never produced a usable version - and now I can't remember many of the details  

Dan

[suruaZ]

Thank you Dan!

Finally I was able to run this  
May be this will be useful for someone else. To prepare:

Code: [Select]

mknod /dev/irkbdsim c 61 0
insmod -f /path-to/irkbdsim.o
Next to start IR keyboard Psion:

Code: [Select]

cat /dev/ttyS2 > /dev/irkbdsim
Start "irkb" program on Psion, point IR reciver/transmiter one another and...
you have quite comfortable IR keyboard - just don't forget to rotate the Z screen 90 degrees CW for full experience.

suruaZ

[danr]

Cool, glad you got it working  

I thought it was something to do with the whole vncserver setup, and yes, it's the mknod stuff.

Hope you find it useful.

Cheers,

Dan