Comments on: Custom Function Key Box

By: dogsrcool2me

dogsrcool2me — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 06:13:18 +0000

I am going to use this for a iTunes song switcher for the shower. I am going to make mine water proof.

By: dfowler

dfowler — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 21:34:29 +0000

Shadyman,

I also use the PS/2 port whenever I can. Why not, It saves a USB connection. Same is true for the mouse.

By: dfowler

dfowler — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 21:32:26 +0000

Kauz,

You cant, as far as I know, make the F9 key on one keyboard do something different on another. You could rig up the external key box to press unused key combinations such as CTL/SHIFT/F9. In my case the keyboard has dual functions for the function keys and I usually leave them active. The F9 key on my keyboard has been remapped as a “Send Email” key and does not return the F9 key code.

By: Shadyman

Shadyman — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 07:36:55 +0000

Hmm, I’ve been thinking about something like this for a while.. I ‘inherited’ a box of old/abused keyboards for free, and managed to grab a bunch of those circuit boards out of them before we were forced to clean house.. (Giant box of keyboards didn’t store or stack very well)

Maybe I’ll pull the boards I salvaged out and see what I can do with them. First thing I can think of is a 3-buttoned Ctrl+Alt+Del for Windows.

One thing that would be nice, though, is to have a supply of PS/2 pass-throughs, so you could hook one of these up inline with your keyboard. (Ok, I’m old-school, I still have a PS/2 keyboard)

One thing to note.. AT and ATX keyboards generally use the same chip, the only thing that differs is the connector.

By: L0rd_D4rk

L0rd_D4rk — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 01:44:39 +0000

Cool mod, it gives me a idea of how to build my own FretsOnFire guitar (GuitarHero clone for linux)

By: ravuya

ravuya — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 01:41:16 +0000

It seems that I could do a similar thing using a serial keyboard (like the Newton) and a Bluetooth serial device.

By: Kauz

Kauz — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 00:59:17 +0000

Great Item! When i get a new keyboard, i’ll hack my old one.
But i wonder how you could program your two keyboard devices with unequal functions. You mentioned virtuaWin, but this only reacts on the settings you make. How can i make the one ‘F9′ doing something different from the other ‘F9′?

By: The Steven

The Steven — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 16:54:03 +0000

Hey, I’ve been working on the same basic idea for a while now…. For me it was a near perfect solution for a MAME control panel… Putting a usb hub, joystick, and keyboard controler in one box has been a W.I.P.

By: beavis

beavis — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 23:27:51 +0000

if more than one key activates is because of ghosting, go to arcadecontrols.com/arcade_input.shtml#KeyboardGhosting for more info. this is a very common way to get arcade joystick and buttons for cabinets, I am planing on building one myself, just need the money

there is some software that allows you to see the keys you are pressing (and it also includes those volume and other special keys) it is on the site.

if you want to have that key do more, then you need autohotkey to put automation on it.

By: Kevinsdfasdfasdfasdf

Kevinsdfasdfasdfasdf — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 14:16:30 +0000

still..