Which external USB or Bluetooth keyboard will you use?

[javaJake]

I was looking at this one: http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/03/bran ... ia-flavor/

What do you guys think?

-God Ginrai

Woah, that looks nice. Its stylish edging definitely does not match the Pandora, but then again, we aren't going for style anyway.

*after looking at the page again*

Wow. The size is nice. It's got all the keys. It's got a trackball mouse. Looking at it more, I might actually buy....

*after looking at the product page*

Support Window 2000/XP/Vista

Ouch. Not only might it be somewhat incompatible, but the company can't spell. That made me think twice in a hurry.

 

[bakawhite]

frogpad again.

 

[Lennox Rosomer]

how about this? http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/keyboards/keyboard/devices/3289&cl=us,en


:lol:


actually looking at one for a normal laptop...

 

[God Ginrai]

I was looking at this one: http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/03/bran ... ia-flavor/

What do you guys think?

-God Ginrai

Woah, that looks nice. Its stylish edging definitely does not match the Pandora, but then again, we aren't going for style anyway.

*after looking at the page again*

Wow. The size is nice. It's got all the keys. It's got a trackball mouse. Looking at it more, I might actually buy....

*after looking at the product page*

Support Window 2000/XP/Vista

Ouch. Not only might it be somewhat incompatible, but the company can't spell. That made me think twice in a hurry.

No, it has support for Linux and Mac OS, too. The thing is, I don't know if it means it has drivers for it to work with Linux, or if it standardly works with anything and you only need drivers for the custom buttons.

-God Ginrai

 

[timothee]

No, it has support for Linux and Mac OS, too. The thing is, I don't know if it means it has drivers for it to work with Linux, or if it standardly works with anything and you only need drivers for the custom buttons.-God Ginrai

Generally if the keyboard works in linux, working with custom keys doesn't need a special driver but special mapping for said keys. Check xhkeys for a pretty cool tool doing that and more.

 

[Tor]

To those of you looking at this and that keyboard: If it doesn't state up front that it uses the HID profile as interface protocol then I would stay off it.

If it supports HID it should work out of the box, using the built-in HID driver in the Linux kernel.

If it doesn't support HID it may support a serial protocol, for which you will normally have to get someone to write a driver, not necessarily a big deal but still.

Worst of all are those with a proprietary protocol, even if they provide a 'linux' driver it's not necessarily easy to get that working with the Pandora.

In any case, HID is much simpler - that's the only one where you can be pretty certain you can just plug it in and go. Even for the serial driver you may have to go through another step after connecting before you can start typing.

 

[paolo]

why don't simply use the provided pandora keyboard if you're on the move? at home use a normal usb keyboard!
Unless looking foor geekiness of course

 

[Tor]

About the built-in keyboard:
1) It's a thumb keyboard, and those are unusable for many people.
2) As every limited-size hardware keyboard it's presumably relatively OK for English. Other languages have more letters, and with small keyboards you have to choose between pest and cholera as to what characters you want to throw away from easy access when you add your national letters.
Speaking for myself, I'm simply going to ignore the built-in hw keyboard altogether, except for the special keys (dpad, nubs). Just as I do with other such gadgets I own.

 

[javaJake]

No, it has support for Linux and Mac OS, too. The thing is, I don't know if it means it has drivers for it to work with Linux, or if it standardly works with anything and you only need drivers for the custom buttons.

-God Ginrai

Well, that does it. Since I've already mapped out my Pandora budget to more "important" items, I'm officially putting this on my wish list.

why don't simply use the provided pandora keyboard if you're on the move?

I will, but there are times where you're on the move and you have a little extra space to pack things in, and a little extra time to work with. A keyboard like the one above would be perfect in that situation.

 

[Catch23]

Serial/ext port questions, TTL/RS232, connector, pinout, pow

This bluetooth one looks great.

I saw all these nice keyboards, and if I were to buy one the one above is certainly what I'd get. But it is _identical_ to my Palm IIIe keyboard, except the Palm one has to be plugged in, and I don't feel like wasting the cash when I already have a keyboard, just for the sake of not plugging the thing in. So I guessed that my keyboard is a serial one, and after a bit of googling, I found the protocol here http://www.splorp.com/newton/stowaway/protocol/ and a linux driver here http://lwn.net/Articles/194313/, plus lots of links about connecting it physically here http://www.splorp.com/newton/stowaway/

My only questions now are:

What connector does the ext port use and where can I get one?

What is the pinout of the ext port?

Does the ext port provide power (e.g. +5V)?

Is the serial line on the ext port TTL or RS232?

Any ideas anyone?

Oh, and if/when I succeed I'll be happy to post a guide

 

[Tor]

Hey, thanks a lot for those links! I know a few people "stuck" with old serial stowaway keyboards, and we've been discussing how to use them for newer equipment.

 

[Chance1234]

I use the Freedom universal Keyboard with my blackberry, following tors comment, it does have a HID mode , so hoping it should work out the box with the pandora