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geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => Topic started by: YoungMichael88 on Thu, 11 October 2012, 15:26:32

Title: Bluetooth mechanical keyboard
Post by: YoungMichael88 on Thu, 11 October 2012, 15:26:32
Does anyone know if its at all possible to convert something like a Poker into a Bluetooth Poker?  I would love to one day be able to use a small mechanical keyboard on my couch when my MacBook is connected to my TV. It's completely unnecessary but I think it would be cool.  Any thoughts? 
Title: Re: Bluetooth mechanical keyboard
Post by: Cindori on Thu, 11 October 2012, 17:03:17
I recently looked into exactly this. It was a bit tricky to find information about.

Of course, in order to aquire such knowledge of Keyboard Science I had to turn to a real Keyboard Scientist.

http://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/113l08/when_a_kbdmania_member_wants_a_wireless/

basically you buy a bluetooth keyboard, slaughter it for bluetooth board, reverse engineer your keyboard matrix, convert it for the bluetooth keyboard, wire it up, and tada!

You lose all the Fn-layer functionality though!

http://www.kbdmania.net/xe/index.php?mid=best_article&document_srl=4883590

Will take a year to load the pictures. Have patience.
Title: Bluetooth mechanical keyboard
Post by: YoungMichael88 on Thu, 11 October 2012, 17:28:15
Thanks for the information! Worth looking into. One wonders if KBT or any other companies will offer a Bluetooth option in the future.
Title: Re: Bluetooth mechanical keyboard
Post by: Cindori on Thu, 11 October 2012, 17:48:51


http://kbtalkingusa.com/

Title: Re: Bluetooth mechanical keyboard
Post by: Input Nirvana on Fri, 12 October 2012, 00:38:29
Obviously quite a few of us have been yapping about this for a few years....I think this is the most info I've seen...other than one guy that used a Siig Mini Touch as a source.

Good work. I'd like to see this get followed up. My initial question is can we not lose the Fkey layer?
Title: Bluetooth mechanical keyboard
Post by: YoungMichael88 on Fri, 12 October 2012, 01:25:36
I'm happy to see there is a Bluetooth board in the works but for me the reason I would want one would be for portability etc. to me a full size board is quite big and something that you would want to have on a desk anyway. At that point it may as well be wired right?  Oh well its a step in the right direction. As they say beggars can't be choosers.
Title: Re: Bluetooth mechanical keyboard
Post by: moonprismpwr on Fri, 12 October 2012, 01:55:41
i'd love this as well because i really hate the clutter of cables around my current set up. i love my choc mini though so unless it could be modded id be sad to have to replace it with another board
Title: Re: Bluetooth mechanical keyboard
Post by: Cindori on Fri, 12 October 2012, 02:53:49
Obviously quite a few of us have been yapping about this for a few years....I think this is the most info I've seen...other than one guy that used a Siig Mini Touch as a source.

Good work. I'd like to see this get followed up. My initial question is can we not lose the Fkey layer?

No, since you are using a controller for another board, say Logitech 220 or something, your keyboard will use that firmware, and appear as a Logitech in the operative system.

Dont be fooled to think this is an easy mod. I am on my third year of studying Master in Computer Engineering and I think this mod is hard :p  I originally wanted some plug and play battery driven dongle for the USB socket :/


The KBtalking Pro is not "in the works", it is released.
I have heard rumors that Kbtalking are working on a tkless bluetooth board atm.
Title: Re: Bluetooth mechanical keyboard
Post by: Input Nirvana on Mon, 15 October 2012, 01:11:23
I figured it's no easy mod, since many talented people have expressed an interest, and nothing has happened in over 3 years I've been on GH.

1-Webwit in Deskthority has a bluetooth dongle setup with a small car battery under his chair
2-A guy here on GH wired a mini-touch 'into' another physical board...so it shows up with the features of the mini-touch but with the other keyboard as the physical interface.
3-Guy on Keyboardmods.com was wiring up his own collection of parts...dunno whatever happened with him.

That's is. Have not seen anything else.
Title: Bluetooth mechanical keyboard
Post by: YoungMichael88 on Mon, 15 October 2012, 02:05:36
Thanks for the "input" Nirvana (couldn't resist). At least some people are getting creative with it!  It's beyond my capabilities. I'm not too tech savvy.
Title: Re: Bluetooth mechanical keyboard
Post by: WhiteFireDragon on Mon, 15 October 2012, 06:04:44
i'd love this as well because i really hate the clutter of cables around my current set up. i love my choc mini though so unless it could be modded id be sad to have to replace it with another board

Won't be easy. You'll need a controller that supports bluetooth. I believe the choc mini has an integrated controller on the PCB. It's not a daughterboard you can just pull off and replace like filco and CM quickfire.
Title: Re: Bluetooth mechanical keyboard
Post by: TheQsanity on Wed, 14 November 2012, 10:33:43
Anyone have any insight on how much easier or harder it will be to just mod a little dongle?
Title: Re: Bluetooth mechanical keyboard
Post by: pentype on Mon, 03 December 2012, 03:52:02
This looks pretty good:
http://handheldsci.com/kb
You could open its casing and try and integrate it and its battery in with the keyboard. I was thinking of how convenient it would be if my g84-4100 for tablet use etc.
Title: Re: Bluetooth mechanical keyboard
Post by: WhiteFireDragon on Mon, 03 December 2012, 03:58:26
So every time you run out of batteries, you have to disassemble your keyboard just to change the battery?

Welcome to GH btw.