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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : USB Keyboard
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bigmik Guru  Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2914 |
Hi, I have been thinking...(now there's trouble) that the existing PS2 keyboard is going to be harder to find in the future (prob not for a while though) and it is definately getting to be more and more difficult (try to get one at office works). Has some `coder' considered writing USB routines to replace the PS2 keyboard? If the user doesnt want to rewire a USB A female in place of the PS2 female on the MM that a standard USB-PS2 adapter can be utilised instead. I see that this could go a further step to being a fully fledged USB and being able to plug other devices (mice USB storage etc) and possibly a USB HUB... of course the latter would probably need a lot more coding effort. I find C code less readable than a Sanskrit/Babylonian phrase book so I wouldnt even know where to start on this.. Feedback? Thanks Fellas Mik Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
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Keith @ Senior Member  Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 167 |
Mik I agree that the future direction should be with USB as it is supposed to support up to 127 devices and in theory a small hub should be taken for granted. The problem with learning C is no different to learning BASIC it is easy to pick up some rudimentary programming skills but to achieve really tight efficient code is the key given. The PIC32 is a wonderful chip but it is not a quad core Intel processor running at +3ghz. Serial ports and ethernet reign supreme in the industrial world which is, in my opinion, the design strength of the PIC32. Keith The more we know, the more we know we don't know ! |
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donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
I have no idea what is inside the PS2 to USB adapters (not much I suspect), but I have only been able to try one USB keyboard, with multiple adapters, and they all work. It just got the better of me. I went into my destructive mode again, and had to smash apart a Dealextreme (yes I got three at once again), and found 4 wires. 
This thing was molded around the four wires, and had to be split apart with a hammer and screw driver, unlike the USB power supplies that broke in your hand. So, as long as they make USB keyboards, I would think that Maximite will have a keyboard. The only problem is that you need an extension cable to be able to plug this adapter into a standard Maximite, as the wider USB part of the connector runs horizontally, and doesn't clear the VGA connector. I'll make sure any future designs will allow for an adapter to be plugged straight in. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| bigmik Guru Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2914 |
Do you enjoy smashing things to bits Old Timer? The problem with the adapter is that many (make that MOST) newer kb dont work on the adapter... I appreciate the HUB idea is probably not going to be viable but it would be nice... My main point of this post is to support a USB k/b (as in Native USB).. especially considering the difficulty of getting NEW PS2 kb's Mik Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Actually, I hit it with a hammer and expected it to shatter, but the hammer bounced like you were hitting a golf ball, so I had to get a sharp instrument to split it. I recently did the rounds of the usual haunts for PS2 keyboards, and found that most shops don't have them. And if what you say is correct young fella, then we may need a USB keyboard interface eventually. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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haiqu Senior Member Joined: 30/07/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 152 |
If you're buying adapters off eBay, check this Guide I wrote before plugging it in: Faulty PS2 adapters Rob unzip, strip, touch, finger, grep, mount, fsck, more, yes, fsck, fsck, fsck, umount, sleep |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Interesting read Rob, thanks. On both products. Makes you wonder how many people buy these things and destroy electronics, or burn houses down. And there is no stopping it, now with on line shopping the way it is. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| haiqu Senior Member Joined: 30/07/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 152 |
Hi Don, At this stage I'm just about over using eBay for electronic items. There's so much faulty crap being dumped onto the Australian market, and eBay themselves don't have any effective policy to stop it. Since the beginning of the year I've had a Bluetooth GPS unit destroyed by a faulty power pack, a very good mouse clobbered by one of those miswired adapters, and bought a USB memory stick that was hacked to look like 256Gb while actually corrupting any data copied to it. The latter was supplied by an Australian seller and I had them drummed out of eBay after noting to support that other users had complained as far back as February. Out of four Bluetooth dongles purchased only two worked, and I'm getting into the habit of buying 2 of everything so I get one that does the job. A Sciphone purchased had Bluetooth range of about 24" until I took it apart and corrected the miswiring (choke to ground and missing cap to the antenna trace!) which is quite a trick with a Weller TC 201 iron and 0402 parts. Finally, an Altera FPGA dev kit hadn't been been shipped after 12 days, and it transpired that the seller had production problems and was "selling" stuff he didn't even have on hand to deliver. But you're right, there's no way of stopping it ... except to buy from reputable sources. You wouldn't happen to know any, would you? ;-) Rob p.s. I also had a 6 month old 1Tb Seagate drive fail this week, thus my grumpy demeanour. Thankfully SMART drive informed me beforehand, otherwise the results could have been catastrophic. unzip, strip, touch, finger, grep, mount, fsck, more, yes, fsck, fsck, fsck, umount, sleep |
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James_From_Canb Senior Member Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 265 |
I agree. I now wait a couple of weeks before I give feedback. There's a simple answer for eBay. Allow buyers to leave feedback about individual products. Overseas sellers seem to be able to ship to Australia quickly, and the packaging is cheap, but mostly good enough. All the feedback ratings boxes relate to the seller, communication and delivery, so they don't get much bad feedback - especially since many sellers fill out the feedback before they even try the product. It's difficult to warn other buyers that, for example, a USB stick has been hacked to show a different size. That's a sore point for me. I spent months making sure some Chinese sellers were black listed. Paypal (and the sellers) wouldn't give me my money back though. And that raises another question. How on earth do they ship their goods so cheaply? My postage costs within Australia are often more expensive than their cost for sending something from China to Australia. It's rarely worth shipping an item back to get a refund. How can Australian sellers compete when they don't even have a postage rate advantage? Well, that venting sure made my spleen feel better. My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention. Hedley Lamarr, Blazing Saddles (1974) |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
I have to hunt and peek around like anyone else, and I have had my share of crap. I often wonder if the Chinese govt subsidizes small business with shipping costs, as the prices marked on the packages simply don't make sense. You can't send $3.50 worth of goods, and spend $2.50 on postage, and make a profit unless the Chinese Government is doing something we don't know about. That's my conspiracy theory for the day. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| James_From_Canb Senior Member Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 265 |
Sorry for yet another posting, but I jinxed myself and had to share it! A couple of months ago I bought a Guangzhou Weide watch from eBay. It was perfect for a 'mature' bloke like me who doesn't like wearing glasses to read the date on a watch. It has an LED display for the date which is hidden until you press the right button, then it's displayed in big red numbers. It's a really good design - much better than those ones with the small window with the rotating date under it. It cost me $13 including shipping from China. And a couple of minutes after posting the message above, the date display failed. I think the Chinese government is monitoring my postings and made my watch fail.  My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention. Hedley Lamarr, Blazing Saddles (1974) |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
I think the Chinese government has a lot to answer for. In 5 years when China owns the world, they won't care. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
Fear the day when they will successfully manufacture and sell microcontrollers all over the world! For their industry everything is high quality. If not, you can pay with your life. In Ceausescu times, we had our Microelectronica fab. for electronic components. The components were sold in stores at a price. But outside the store, there were some guys selling components at half the price or lower - you realizing later that those were defective components or just not in specs, components rejected by Microelectronica. All Microelectronica components were high quality (we had our production of Z80 microcontrollers and the entire family - don't know about legality of that production but it was high quality). I think that some Chinese are enjoying in making money from their garbage. Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
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