L2 & R2 Wiring

[SirisC]

Would it cause problems if I wired the L2 and R2 buttons to a stereo jack with their negatives/grounds going over the same wire? (Is there even enough room to fit an extra stereo jack in the case?)

 

[Vlynndar]

I don't know about wiring things. I just mention in passing that is also has stereo line output through the extension port and cable.

 

[BackAssward]

I don't know about wiring things. I just mention in passing that is also has stereo line output through the extension port and cable.

I believe he means, so he can use the headphone jack as an ext connector and rig up an external L2+R2 on a set of external buttons (not actually use it for audio). In which case they would have to share a singular ground.

To answer the question, I believe the ground is universal across the board, so I doubt it would be a problem. Also, if it were a problem you could try one of those jacks that has 4 connectors instead of three.

Edit: Looking at the ext-connector, it seems to use one ground, so you might be ok with one ground for your connector. As for space, I am pretty sure you can find a spot to drill a hole and screw it to, where it wouldn't interfere with anything else. Those connectors are pretty small. There's also the possibility of using the smaller jacks that cell phones use, they come in 3 or 4 connector versions as well.

 

[mali]

Would it cause problems if I wired the L2 and R2 buttons to a stereo jack with their negatives/grounds going over the same wire? (Is there even enough room to fit an extra stereo jack in the case?)

No problem, ground is ground no matter where you pick it up. Three wires are enough, +L2, +R2 and ground.

 

[JayFoxRox]

If you abuse the microphone port anyway you could just write your own driver so you don't have to mess around with the hardware.
UInput works fine for re-creating Pandora hardware events on PC and beagleboard, so I assume injecting L2 and R2 from somewhere else wouldn't be a problem neither

 

[GizmoTheGreen]

i dont think he was intending to use the already existing connector...

 

[SirisC]

If you abuse the microphone port anyway you could just write your own driver so you don't have to mess around with the hardware.
UInput works fine for re-creating Pandora hardware events on PC and beagleboard, so I assume injecting L2 and R2 from somewhere else wouldn't be a problem neither

but messing around with the hardware is more fun.

 

[Yoyobuae]

If you abuse the microphone port anyway you could just write your own driver so you don't have to mess around with the hardware.
UInput works fine for re-creating Pandora hardware events on PC and beagleboard, so I assume injecting L2 and R2 from somewhere else wouldn't be a problem neither

DTMF tone generator + Mic Jack + software driver = 16 extra buttons for Pandora
:lol:

 

[MWeston]

Would it cause problems if I wired the L2 and R2 buttons to a stereo jack with their negatives/grounds going over the same wire? (Is there even enough room to fit an extra stereo jack in the case?)

No problem doing three wires for the spare shoulder buttons by taking just one ground from the spare pads. I know you aren't suggesting using the already present stereo jack as some people are mentioning here, but I will say that the ground on the headphone connector should not be used for a ground on digital signals such as these spare shoulders as it is an isolated ground around the audio circuitry before joining the main ground.

I'm not sure about finding room for a new jack but maybe you could creatively squeeze in a small 2.5mm jack somewhere. The smaller the better.

 

[Exophase]

"More fun" aside wouldn't using the GPIO pins already on the ext connector be a little more prudent? You get 6 of them, so unless you need to bring out both UARTs and give one hardware flow control you should be as well off using these as the internal pads. No need to use the microphone port or void your warranty by hacking the case. Those shoulder button pads are there for adding buttons externally, not for bringing out a connector to some. Maybe if software is written to only support the shoulder GPIOs, but I doubt that'll happen.

 

[WizardStan]

You can hack something onto the board as soon as we receive our Pandora (warranty voiding aside).
Those of us interested in EXT hacking are still waiting for when we can buy the plugs.

 

[kingoddball]

I'm up for this idea, too! I never thought of using EXT port as a plug for L2/R2.
I was going to try and make a plug. andora2ut4:

 

[Tempel]

No problem, ground is ground no matter where you pick it up. Three wires are enough, +L2, +R2 and ground.

I don't know about that. Sometimes it's more magic.

 

[mali]

^
Those folks should have tested if the wall socket the computer was connected to was properly grounded as the case is connected to the earth wire of the socket. A half-broken ground wire can do funny things

 

[gp32rich]

Are the L2/R2/GPIO buttons already scanned/decoded in the keyboard driver?

 

[Sugar_Kane]

I know it's been designed with hackability in mind, but the last thing on earth I'd want to do to my 1st batch Pandora is cut holes in the case and start soldering things to the board, but then again I'm about as neat as a 7 year old, and my soldering is shat...

 

[gruso]

I've got a half related question actually (paging torpor!). I wonder if we'll be able to do MIDI via UART instead of USB.

 

[JayFoxRox]

Are the L2/R2/GPIO buttons already scanned/decoded in the keyboard driver?

Yes.
Check the kernel interface page on the wiki - its been updated lately and the changes are not in the wiki yet I think, but the interface provided L2 and R2 last time I moved infos from kernel source to the wiki.