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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: himynameisbunny on Sat, 28 May 2011, 05:57:26

Title: Android tablets working with mech keyboards?
Post by: himynameisbunny on Sat, 28 May 2011, 05:57:26
Just bought a Viewsonic Viewpad 10s last Wednesday for Uni - the choice was mainly because it had a USB port.

Now, I have read that CyanogenMod 7 has full support for USB keyboards. But has anybody here tested that?

More importantly, would the Fn keys from, say, a KBC Poker work with it?
Title: Android tablets working with mech keyboards?
Post by: gilgam on Sat, 28 May 2011, 16:02:40
i don't know but if you have an answer i would be interested in (as for iPad)
Title: Android tablets working with mech keyboards?
Post by: himynameisbunny on Sat, 28 May 2011, 18:18:14
Read something on xda last night that suggested that a case with an inbuilt usb keyboard had fn switches that worked.

So I'd've assuming it'll be the same for the poker.

I'll soon find out when I get it though, I'll test it with my Noppoo first.

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Title: Android tablets working with mech keyboards?
Post by: daerid on Sun, 29 May 2011, 16:08:52
Quote from: gilgam;352550
i don't know but if you have an answer i would be interested in (as for iPad)

iPad has built in support. Just use the camera connector kit (which provides a usb port). There various videos on youtube confirming/demonstrating this.
Title: Android tablets working with mech keyboards?
Post by: mattdurham on Sun, 29 May 2011, 16:28:19
Yep I have used a unicomp with no problem, it will pop and say device not usable or some such but it lies and you can type with a few caveats, some of the keys don't map that well but I write a decent amount using that setup.
Title: Android tablets working with mech keyboards?
Post by: gilgam on Sun, 29 May 2011, 16:40:42
Nice for Ipad, i went in an Apple store and asked some Apple guy who said in a very psychotic way : It is NOT allowed so it doesn't work...
Title: Android tablets working with mech keyboards?
Post by: DaemonRaccoon on Sun, 29 May 2011, 16:43:11
The Jobs does not approve?
Title: Android tablets working with mech keyboards?
Post by: himynameisbunny on Mon, 30 May 2011, 07:33:42
Tried it when my viewpad arrived today. The noppoo works.

Not sure if the function keys work because all the noppoo has is media keys which aren't standard keys anyway.

Guess the only way to find out if the poker's fn f keys work us to get a poker...on which note, check the classifieds, my noppoo is up :-)

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Title: Android tablets working with mech keyboards?
Post by: gilgam on Mon, 30 May 2011, 08:01:50
Quote from: DaemonRaccoon;352905
The Jobs does not approve?
Yes indeed, it seems to be evil to try to connect a keyboard on an ipad ...
Title: Android tablets working with mech keyboards?
Post by: himynameisbunny on Mon, 30 May 2011, 10:33:42
I don't understand why you would buy an ipad. I just bought the viewpad for $340aud and you can throw cyanogenmod on it. All you would ever need. I do like the wider screen though.

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Title: Android tablets working with mech keyboards?
Post by: drsauced on Mon, 30 May 2011, 10:56:44
Keyboards with iPads suck.  I set one up with an Apple wireless keyboard and it works, sort of.  The cursor keys don't work, so you still need to touch the screen pretty often.  Now the one thing Android tablets are able to do is use a mouse, which I would rather have than touching it.
Title: Android tablets working with mech keyboards?
Post by: drsauced on Mon, 30 May 2011, 11:45:12
I assume you're already familiar with the HTML5 trial:

http://www.youtube.com/html5

I joined the trail!
Title: Android tablets working with mech keyboards?
Post by: himynameisbunny on Mon, 30 May 2011, 11:51:08
Typing this on my Viewpad now. Shouldn't be because i have to work at 9AM. I blame birthday girl (family friend) for keeping me up at the pub for so long. Having two new toys (this and a Galaxy S2) to play with don't help though.

HTML5 will become standard because Flash sucks so, so much.
Title: Android tablets working with mech keyboards?
Post by: noodles256 on Mon, 30 May 2011, 12:33:56
Quote from: kalrykh;353210
How's the S2? We sell the first Galaxy and Playbook at my work and are about to start carrying the Xoom and one other tablet.  The iPad is my fav, but of the ones we carry, the Playbook seems to run the smoothest and have the best UI.  I actually like the features of android and the capabilities, but it always seems they're there's too much emphasis on those and not enough on the UI.  I haven't seen honeycomb yet, but I'm hoping some of the future iterations will have a UI that matches the strength of the other features.

+1

Android is such a good OS.

The UI (past the main screen) is something not so pretty
Title: Android tablets working with mech keyboards?
Post by: mattdurham on Mon, 30 May 2011, 14:02:21
Behold my nightly area for writing (when I don't feel like using the imac), also my arrow keys work fine on either this or the apple bluetooth keyboard. The apple bluetooth keyboard also works well on the Xoom and Galaxy Tab.

(http://www.ppog.org/files/ipadunicomp.jpg)
Title: Android tablets working with mech keyboards?
Post by: keyboardlover on Mon, 30 May 2011, 14:07:10
Looks like Squintsville. Large screens FTW!
Title: Android tablets working with mech keyboards?
Post by: himynameisbunny on Fri, 03 June 2011, 20:08:00
Quote from: kalrykh;353210
How's the S2? We sell the first Galaxy and Playbook at my work and are about to start carrying the Xoom and one other tablet.  The iPad is my fav, but of the ones we carry, the Playbook seems to run the smoothest and have the best UI.  I actually like the features of android and the capabilities, but it always seems they're there's too much emphasis on those and not enough on the UI.  I haven't seen honeycomb yet, but I'm hoping some of the future iterations will have a UI that matches the strength of the other features.

Man it's taken me a while to reply...

The S2 is amazing - the screen is so big you could land a plane on it, it's kettle-chip thin, the glass has this oddly soft texture to it so swype works amazing, and everything just feels...right.

I really thought I'd want to wipe and install an AOSP ROM straight away. This had been the longest I've been with any new tech gadget without modifying it.

Anyway, with the viewpad...tested it with the noppoo and it works. Just need a stand for it and a poker (the length of the noppoo's usb cable ****s me up the wall) and I'll have a good productivity machine for uni.

Might get one of those air con vent stands for it so I can use it as a car pc too.

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