Keyboards?

[pieman]

I've been interested in this for a while

[img]http://www.handykey.com/twiddler.gif\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" /]

Handykey Twiddler
not a conventional folder, and I've not tried it, but a usb chording keyboard and trackpoint mouse in one. Slower than querty touch typing, but small, one piece, keyboard and mouse in one, through one usb port, Linux compatible, (it says), and, the usp for me is being totally mobile - one handed operation and free of needing a desktop type surface - you could type walking around.

Anyone got experience of actually using one?

[ceffyl]

Folding USB Keyboard is available from Fellowes.

Haven't tried it, but am curious about it.

What do you use for a cradle to hold the Z while you type?

[nilch]

You had to tell me after I bought my USB keyboard (PSK-3100U) ?  

But $70 for a USB keyboard was too much anyways. My PSK keyboard seems pretty small and while I cant carry in the coat pocket, I can stow it away in my carry bag (where I take my Zaurus too).

I had a previous IR keyboard (the pockettop), so now I use the cradle from that to use to prop up my Z while I use the newer USB keyboard on it. (see my previous post Pic).

Only thing is it can only prop up landscape wise (which is how I want it when typing with an external keyboard usually) and not portrait wise because of the all the wires plugging in at the bottom.

[celtron]

I'm writing now on a Jetion AL-2199 (made in China) keyboard. Most keys on the Debian and Qt are mapped correctly except for a couple of the function keys.

The size of the Jetion keybd is almost the same as the PSK-3100U or just sloghtly smaller once placed on landscape mode for a Z6K (like it was mentioned, the USB port is unfortunately at the bottom).

The Jetion costs me SGD 18 bucks at the Challenger superstore in Funan Center, SG.

Well, without a doubt, the Fellowes foldable keyboard looks really cool. But at USD 70 bucks...hmmm....

[mimsmall]

Has anyone tried this keyboard. It's made for the 6000.

http://www.man-machine.com/FX100%20Zaurus.htm

[Omicron]

Has anyone tried this keyboard. It's made for the 6000.

http://www.man-machine.com/FX100%20Zaurus.htm
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=64424\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

Click to enlargeSharp Zaurus FX100 KeyboardpadThis Flexible, Splashproof Keyboard will work with the Sharp Zaurus Sl-5000/SL-5500 PDA Units. Currently, it does not work with the SL-5600 Series.


(NOT A GOOD SIGN FOR 6000 COMPATIBILITY)

[offroadgeek]

I was bored at work today so I decided to go to Fry's Electronics and I found the BTC Mini USB Keyboard and when I got back to work I plugged it right into my 6000 (with the iriver connector), and it works great right out of the box.

So far, I've only found one key that wasn't mapped correctly (the '/" key).  And I played with the "F" keys, and found that some of them launch specific apps such as the calendar, voice recorder, and a couple others that I forget now.  Also, I think it was F12 that scrolled between the screen tabs (Applications, Settings, Files, etc).

The 6000 seemed to power the keyboard just fine, and I quickly tried to plug in my USB mouse into the keyboard (it comes with one usb downstream port), and the mouse seemed to have power, but didn't work... but I haven't had a chance to find the thread which indicates how to get usb mice to work....

Now I'm going to try and rig up a little stand for the 6000 so that I can use the keyboard (and hopefully a mouse) comfortably.

[range]

I was looking for a keyboard that I could attach to my 6000.
I wanted a regular sized one that I could use at home when
I needed to do some serious typing on my 6000. I saw this
"multimedia" keyboard by iconcepts at Rite-Aid. It was free
(actually $6 with a $6 rebate) so I figured I had nothing to
lose.

I did have to spend some money to get a PS2 to USB converter
but it was fairly cheap.

The keyboard works pretty good, all [a-z][A-Z] work fine. Ctrl
characters and escape works fine as does the backspace key.
Of the 32 special characters only 12 work on face value, while
20 can be generated by hitting other keys. There are 6 characters
I cannot generate at present: [, {, (, _, \ and |

In HancomMobileSheet, the arrow keys work fine, and so do page up,
page down, and home. The tab key works funny. It hops to the right
side of the page.

I started to try out the function keys, but F1 acted as a toggle to
turn off and on the back light, so I stopped with that not wanting
to get into anything crazy at this point.

The keyboard is kind of interesting. It was designed to work with
windows 95/98 and 2000. It has a slew of extra buttons on the
top to do things like put system to sleep, wake system up, control
CD player, etc. Might be interesting to explore.

[dfisher]

Hi,

Have been following these posts; broke down and bought the Belkin folding keyboard.  It's pretty cool.  However, I'm interested in getting some of the basic SL-6000 control keys mapped:
- dropdown menu key
- cancel key
- OK key

Is there a reference document that would show me the hex mappings used for these keys on the built-in SL-6000 keyboard?  

Thanks,
Doug

[mitchrl]

I just want to follow up to my previous post in this thread concerning modifying the usbkbd module to work with my mini usb keyboard and the 6000.

First I enabled non-working keys by modifying usbkbd.c from the 6000 kernel source, compiling the module and copying to the 6000.

Then by using the keyhelper configuration file that RobbH provided earlier in this thread, I have the proper scancode combinations working with the usb keyboard.

Last I was able to set up a script that is called by the hotplugging subsystem whenever the keyboard is plugged in. By using keyhelper, this script enables the keyhelper configuration file when the keyboard is plugged in and it disables keyhelper when the keyboard is unplugged thus returning the normal functionality to the built-in keypad.

I'll be glad to go into more detail if anyone is interested.

Robert

[vputz]

I just want to follow up to my previous post in this thread concerning modifying the usbkbd module to work with my mini usb keyboard and the 6000.

First I enabled non-working keys by modifying usbkbd.c from the 6000 kernel source, compiling the module and copying to the 6000.

Then by using the keyhelper configuration file that RobbH provided earlier in this thread, I have the proper scancode combinations working with the usb keyboard.

Last I was able to set up a script that is called by the hotplugging subsystem whenever the keyboard is plugged in. By using keyhelper, this script enables the keyhelper configuration file when the keyboard is plugged in and it disables keyhelper when the keyboard is unplugged thus returning the normal functionality to the built-in keypad.

I'll be glad to go into more detail if anyone is interested.

Robert
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Well, I'm sure interested.  But if this is fixed in OZ 3.5.3, then there are no worries... but we'll have to wait for that, I suppose.  Still, this is my major issue with OZ on the 6k, so if the imminent release of OZ doesn't fix it, I for one would like a full explanation of what you're doing.

-->VPutz

[mjb]

I just want to follow up to my previous post in this thread concerning modifying the usbkbd module to work with my mini usb keyboard and the 6000.

First I enabled non-working keys by modifying usbkbd.c from the 6000 kernel source, compiling the module and copying to the 6000.

Then by using the keyhelper configuration file that RobbH provided earlier in this thread, I have the proper scancode combinations working with the usb keyboard.

Last I was able to set up a script that is called by the hotplugging subsystem whenever the keyboard is plugged in. By using keyhelper, this script enables the keyhelper configuration file when the keyboard is plugged in and it disables keyhelper when the keyboard is unplugged thus returning the normal functionality to the built-in keypad.

I'll be glad to go into more detail if anyone is interested.

Robert
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I'm very interested. One of the few issues I have with the stock 6000L is the odd key mapping on a usb keyboard. I've made do by remarking the keycaps and occassionaly resorting to the built in keyboard for the keys that aren't mapped, but it would be much nicer to have the proper mapping of all the keys. Would it be practical for you to post an .ipk or just a tar archive of your files? I think the usb key mapping are standard so it shouldn't be necessary to do much, if any modification for different usb keyboards.  

Thanks!

[guylhem]

IMHO, the internal keys should be correctly mapped, which would make this keyhelper stuff unnecessary.  It may be harder, but it would be much better in the long run - you could use both keyboards at the same time without any problem

I'm currently experimenting with a bluetooth keyboard and I'm sure I'll encounter the very same problem

[adf]

while you are tinkering w/ external keyboards, any chance of setting up  low-level ir ( I use a belkin---but maybe targus too)  keyboard support?
it would be nice not to have to rely on a qt based keyboard driver....  I have no idea how much of a problem that would be... is it just basically interpreting serial output?

[mitchrl]

Sorry it's taken so long to respond. Here's a quick summary of what I have done so far:

On my particular usb keyboard (PSK-3100U), the '\|' key and the insert key were non-functioning. I took the 6000 kernel source and modified usbkbd.c to enable the '\|' key and I swapped the insert key with the meta key. I'm not sure what the functionality of the insert key is on the 6000 and it does not seem to be mapped to any key in particular but I still wanted it anyway. Once it's mapped to the meta key, I use keyhelper to remap it to the insert key. Sorry if this does not make any sense. Anyway, I made the usbkbd module and moved it to my 6000. I can provide it if you care to try it but it will probably only work with this particular model of keyboard. Be sure to back up your original usbkbd.o and remember to unload hid.o and usbkbd.o from memory.

I then modified the keyhelper.xml that RobbH provided to add the insert key. I removed the mapping for '\' and '|' since these keys are working with the new usbkbd.o. My keyhelper.xml is attached.

Here's the cool part. Part of the functionality of hotplug is that for a particular module (for example usbkbd), if a script is placed by that name in /etc/hotplug/usb, it will be executed. I figured that I could manipulate keyhelper from this script and change key mapping on the fly whenever the keyboard is plugged or unplugged. To do this I had to install the sudo package. Here is my usbkbd script:

#!/bin/bash
#
# Calls keyhelper when usb keyboard is attached
# Also creates script to disable keyhelper when usb keyboard is removed
#
if [ "${ACTION}" = "add" ]; then
  export PATH=/home/QtPalmtop/bin:/root/bin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin
  export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/home/QtPalmtop/lib
  export QTDIR=/home/QtPalmtop
  export QPEDIR=/home/QtPalmtop
  sudo -u root khctl reload
  echo "#!/bin/bash" > $REMOVER
  chmod 777 $REMOVER
  echo "export PATH=/home/QtPalmtop/bin:/root/bin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin" >> $REMOVER
  echo "export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/home/QtPalmtop/lib" >> $REMOVER
  echo "export QTDIR=/home/QtPalmtop" >> $REMOVER
  echo "export QPEDIR=/home/QtPalmtop" >> $REMOVER
  echo "sudo -u root khctl disable" >> $REMOVER
fi

When the keyboard is attached, this script is called and uses sudo to enable keyhelper. It also creates a script that is called when the keyboard is removed (more hotplug functionality). This particular script disables keyhelper.

I can see the gears in your mind working since this script can be used with almost any kind of usb device to perform a custom action. There are other variables available such as PRODUCT where you can differentiate between devices.

I hope this is of some use.

Robert