Making a macro box. Is a Teensy my best option?

[alfa147x]

Making a macro box with a few keys. Is a Teensy my best option? Is it OS dependent or can I make one for home use on OS X and on Windows at work?

Thanks for the help,
Alfa


Edit: Also I'm having trouble finding what exactly a HID Liberation Device does. Thanks again!

[metalliqaz]

HID liberation device replaced the controller board on a Filco.  The benefit is that the HLD is programmable, so you can add custom layouts and functions.

Teensy is a good option for projects because it is cheap and easy to use (works out of the box, no SMD soldering, etc).  It can work on Windows and Mac depending on the software.

[alfa147x]

HID liberation device replaced the controller board on a Filco.  The benefit is that the HLD is programmable, so you can add custom layouts and functions.

Teensy is a good option for projects because it is cheap and easy to use (works out of the box, no SMD soldering, etc).  It can work on Windows and Mac depending on the software.

Thanks for the help.  With the Teensy if I program it correctly can I then use any Macro - key setup software or does it have to be a Teensy app?

[metalliqaz]

The teensy requires embedded software.  It doesn't come preprogrammed.
Once it is setup to act like a keyboard, you can use any macro app you want.
It can even support hardware macros.

[alfa147x]

The teensy requires embedded software.  It doesn't come preprogrammed.
Once it is setup to act like a keyboard, you can use any macro app you want.
It can even support hardware macros.

That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Thanks a lot for the help. Do you by any chance know of any projects that are similar? I'm sure someone must have built something similar but my search skills are failing me.

I'm going to have a friend CNC some fancy wood left over from a guitar to make a 3 or 4 button macro box.

[metalliqaz]

That'll be a good project.  There is a thread somewhere about wiring up switches without a PCB, which should work fine for a 4-button setup.  Also there are a few open source firmwares to be found on these pages.

[Gupgup]

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=42267

Is this similar to what you're thinking of doing?


Gupgup

[Soarer]

It depends what your macros would be like as to what I would recommend. My converter code supports up to 5 keys, and macros by defining them a config file. Or you could set it to output, say, F13 to F16 and then use something like Autohotkey to provide macros. My code isn't open source, if you need/want that there's hasu's extensive TMK keyboard collection. Macros that involve sequences of keys work well done in the Teensy firmware, whereas those that involve sequences of characters are better to do using software on the host. Also, it's easier to change a macro on the host, or implement a record/replay function.

[alfa147x]

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=42267

Is this similar to what you're thinking of doing?


Gupgup

Yup similar. A bit more slim / portable.

It depends what your macros would be like as to what I would recommend. My converter code supports up to 5 keys, and macros by defining them a config file. Or you could set it to output, say, F13 to F16 and then use something like Autohotkey to provide macros. My code isn't open source, if you need/want that there's hasu's extensive TMK keyboard collection. Macros that involve sequences of keys work well done in the Teensy firmware, whereas those that involve sequences of characters are better to do using software on the host. Also, it's easier to change a macro on the host, or implement a record/replay function.

I actually woke up thinking about this project and thought exactly of adding F keys as the macro keys. Thanks for the help. This thread has been a great launching point.

Some forums have a very conceited way of looking at their member which alienate new members. So far my short term here has been great.