Anyone interested in working on a project with me?

[EssoAir]

Long time no see, everybody!


I've had this idea for a while and I think it could be viable. I'm thinking about doing for profit right now, but that may not be reasonable (or maybe people would think I'm greedy). Anyway, the idea involves creating a relay box for bluetooth keyboards and mice. Basically, it's a small box with a battery, a bluetooth receiver, and a bluetooth transmitter (I'm thinking http://www.adafruit.com/products/1697 ), and a microcontroller. It will process the datastream coming in and then relay the modified data. I'm sorry that I'm being light on the details, but if anyone is interested in learning more I'd love for you to email me! me@cj-johnson.com


If you decide you're not interested, it's all good. I do think though, this would be a good project for Kickstarter so if someone is looking to make a little money on the side, this might be a good opportunity (nothing big tho, this is kind of a niche idea)


Thanks!

 

[Wally]

So are you just going to be a project manager and expect someone else to do everything?

Just curious.

 

[EssoAir]

So are you just going to be a project manager and expect someone else to do everything?


Just curious.

There's two sides to it. One is the hardware side, the other is writting an API for developers on the host computer. I'm not expecting to offload all the work on other people lol but Im not an electrical engineer.

Btw, since Ive been gone, ive learned a whole hell of a lot about programming and computer science concepts. I know my Data Structures and Algorithms and some basic database stuff. Lots about design and efficiency.


I know i used to say a lot of stupid stuff on here but i like to think ive grown out of that

 

[ekianjo]

Btw, since Ive been gone, ive learned a whole hell of a lot about programming and computer science concepts. I know my Data Structures and Algorithms and some basic database stuff. Lots about design and efficiency.

Oh so why dont you do everything yourself then ?  

 

[EssoAir]

Btw, since Ive been gone, ive learned a whole hell of a lot about programming and computer science concepts. I know my Data Structures and Algorithms and some basic database stuff. Lots about design and efficiency.

Oh so why dont you do everything yourself then ?

I wish I could (and I might but that would take a long time) but it requires knowledge about hardware that I simply dont have. I guess I could do it on my own then, but it will take a while. In fact, i think i already know all of the parts I need so why not? Ill give it a shot on my own but I honestly dont have that much confidence in my own ability to handle lowlevel things. I have experience with ASM and low level C, but I suck at it!

 

[spud42]

Long time no see, everybody!


I've had this idea for a while and I think it could be viable. I'm thinking about doing for profit right now, but that may not be reasonable (or maybe people would think I'm greedy). Anyway, the idea involves creating a relay box for bluetooth keyboards and mice. Basically, it's a small box with a battery, a bluetooth receiver, and a bluetooth transmitter (I'm thinking http://www.adafruit.com/products/1697 ), and a microcontroller. It will process the datastream coming in and then relay the modified data. I'm sorry that I'm being light on the details, but if anyone is interested in learning more I'd love for you to email me! me@cj-johnson.com


If you decide you're not interested, it's all good. I do think though, this would be a good project for Kickstarter so if someone is looking to make a little money on the side, this might be a good opportunity (nothing big tho, this is kind of a niche idea)


Thanks!

why do you need to extend the range of a bluetooth keybord/mouse?

class 2 devices have a 10m/30 foot range, how could you control a mouse pointer from further than that? how would you see the keystrokes or mouse at that distance? how big is the display?

you can always go for a class 1 device that has a 100m/300 foot range.  google bluetooth repeater/extender ,there are commercial ones available but expensive.....

otherwise there are many sites thet show you to replace the inbuilt antenna with a 30mm piece of solid copper wire for a 1/4 wave antenna. wavelength in m is C/frequency in Hz where C is the speed of light. divide that by 4 for 1/4 wave........ thats from an instructables from quite a few years ago.  i always thought it should be (0.95 * C)/ freq Hz to compensate for traveling in air and not a vacuum .which is 29mm so not a lot in it for the higher freq....

EDIT:  C is 300,000 M/s close enough for this...

 

[dimag0g]

otherwise there are many sites thet show you to replace the inbuilt antenna with a 30mm piece of solid copper wire for a 1/4 wave antenna. wavelength in m is C/frequency in Hz where C is the speed of light. divide that by 4 for 1/4 wave........ thats from an instructables from quite a few years ago.  i always thought it should be (0.95 * C)/ freq Hz to compensate for traveling in air and not a vacuum .which is 29mm so not a lot in it for the higher freq....

I'm no EMC engineer, but I can confirm that a piece of copper works much better in my pandora than the default PCB-printed antenna. There are no miracles, but I got several extra meters of coverage for very little fuss, and the solution is lean (meaning that nothing sticks out of the back of the pandora). If all you need is a few extra meters of coverage, getting the antenna right is much better than having an extra box with batteries and bugs =)

 

[EssoAir]

Long time no see, everybody!


I've had this idea for a while and I think it could be viable. I'm thinking about doing for profit right now, but that may not be reasonable (or maybe people would think I'm greedy). Anyway, the idea involves creating a relay box for bluetooth keyboards and mice. Basically, it's a small box with a battery, a bluetooth receiver, and a bluetooth transmitter (I'm thinking http://www.adafruit.com/products/1697 ), and a microcontroller. It will process the datastream coming in and then relay the modified data. I'm sorry that I'm being light on the details, but if anyone is interested in learning more I'd love for you to email me! me@cj-johnson.com


If you decide you're not interested, it's all good. I do think though, this would be a good project for Kickstarter so if someone is looking to make a little money on the side, this might be a good opportunity (nothing big tho, this is kind of a niche idea)


Thanks!

why do you need to extend the range of a bluetooth keybord/mouse?
class 2 devices have a 10m/30 foot range, how could you control a mouse pointer from further than that? how would you see the keystrokes or mouse at that distance? how big is the display?


you can always go for a class 1 device that has a 100m/300 foot range.  google bluetooth repeater/extender ,there are commercial ones available but expensive.....


otherwise there are many sites thet show you to replace the inbuilt antenna with a 30mm piece of solid copper wire for a 1/4 wave antenna. wavelength in m is C/frequency in Hz where C is the speed of light. divide that by 4 for 1/4 wave........ thats from an instructables from quite a few years ago.  i always thought it should be (0.95 * C)/ freq Hz to compensate for traveling in air and not a vacuum .which is 29mm so not a lot in it for the higher freq....


EDIT:  C is 300,000 M/s close enough for this...

This isnt about range extension. It is a relay, but that isnt the purpose.

 

[DaMummy]

otherwise there are many sites thet show you to replace the inbuilt antenna with a 30mm piece of solid copper wire for a 1/4 wave antenna. wavelength in m is C/frequency in Hz where C is the speed of light. divide that by 4 for 1/4 wave........ thats from an instructables from quite a few years ago.  i always thought it should be (0.95 * C)/ freq Hz to compensate for traveling in air and not a vacuum .which is 29mm so not a lot in it for the higher freq....

I'm no EMC engineer, but I can confirm that a piece of copper works much better in my pandora than the default PCB-printed antenna. There are no miracles, but I got several extra meters of coverage for very little fuss, and the solution is lean (meaning that nothing sticks out of the back of the pandora). If all you need is a few extra meters of coverage, getting the antenna right is much better than having an extra box with batteries and bugs =)

You should post a guide on the forum. There's a much needed influx of posts like this.

 

[edgex004]

I could understand where a device like this would perhaps come in handy. Say you have a number of different devices that you would like to have your bluetooth HIDs switch between. Some bluetooth HIDs can't remember pairing with more than one device. If you have a variety of bluetooth HIDs, I can see it being a pain to switch each of them being connected between a computer, phone, or dev board. Having one box to unify everything and quickly switch devices seems mildly attractive to me, but really more of a first world problem.

 

[dimag0g]

I'm no EMC engineer, but I can confirm that a piece of copper works much better in my pandora than the default PCB-printed antenna. There are no miracles, but I got several extra meters of coverage for very little fuss, and the solution is lean (meaning that nothing sticks out of the back of the pandora). If all you need is a few extra meters of coverage, getting the antenna right is much better than having an extra box with batteries and bugs =)

You should post a guide on the forum. There's a much needed influx of posts like this.

There's nothing to post aside from the photo (don't mind the red frame, it was meant for another topic).

I took a ready-made antenna from an old laptop, there is an option to make one yourself from scratch.

The end result depends on your DIY and soldering skills which aren't really improved by reading guides.