How-to guide details PS/2 keyboard-to-iPhone mod, just for you
By Darren Murph 
posted Oct 15th 2009 10:50AM
posted Oct 15th 2009 10:50AM
[Via MAKE]
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When MacGyver gets frustrated with electronics, he uses the arduino he found to make something... anything!!!
Would it really be so difficult to design an iPhone/Touch dock built into a keyboard that allows you to type on your mobile device. I thought that connector was so great you could do anything with it.
"The official SDK doesn’t allow access to the serial port... so the jailbreak is required."
This idiotic policy explains why the App Store is full of fart players and games, instead of useful apps (which would need to sync data to a computer).
Allegedly the new SDK allows dock-port access, but nothing has been said about a syncing API or file access.
This is just another way in which the iPhone does not even have parity with decade-old Palm OS devices, for which several keyboards (including the cool folding Targus one) were available.
I can appreciate the work done and the skill to make it happen... but... WHY? Are there actually people out there dying to use some old keyboard with their iPhone?
No.
It's just a small minority who feel that somehow the iPhone isn't complete without some sort of hardware keyboard. They have to have that tactile feedback via keyboard.
It's not happening, so get over it. Virtual keyboard is here to stay.
That old keyboard is still light years ahead of any virtual keyboard on a touchscreen. Makes perfect sense to me, if you're in your room without a PC and want to type lots of stuff...
Why?
Because typing on a smudgy screen sucks. And precisely the reason Palm, Blackberry etc. include a proper keyboard that you can actually type fast on with their phones.
I am kinda with you except why did he make this mess instead of a neat little box I can plug a USB keyboard into. LOL
I'm not sure why Engadget goes gaga over iPhone mods, when many mods could be done without iPhone, for example remote controlled car, etc
Excuse to dump another iPhone story when there isn't any real news regarding it.
Seriously, how do these guys who insult the writers not get banned?
Im sure we do... but we just get new accounts and continue on.
Besides, it's kind of a shit move to ban someone for stating the truth.
It's surprising that fanbois like Detox with pictures of a crippled moron dont get banned. Pull your head outa Engadgets ass, you wont win any prizes.
@Detox
Because the writers can actually take some criticism and not react like fascists?
@Agent .25i
Uh, you just suggested that one of the writers was too stupid to get out of bed and that's what you consider valid criticism? Saying a writer has grammatical errors or logical fallacies in their argument are valid criticisms. Saying a writer is too stupid to get out of bed should be an automatic ban.
But hey, maybe Engadget is very tolerant.
Now all we need is a guide for how to hook up a bluetooth keyboard.
dear god yes. There's been a guy who's done it too, but he doesn't give any useful information whatsoever about how to actually do it.
Sad that after more than three years, the iPhone must still be "hacked" to provide basic functionality that's readily supported by its hardware.
Ummm. Is he trying to be retro, or is he just an idiot? I'm typing this into my iphone *right now* from my Apple BT k/b and a little b/t software hack on the 3GS... works fine, but I did that as a joke, and in ten minutes. This guy's got waaaay too much free time, and insufficient brains to do anything with that time. Oh, yeah-wait: *I'm* the guy writing to Engadget about my iPhone BT hack. . The real reason I bought an iPhone wasn't to waste time with a two-pound iPhone peripheral, even if it's fun to try it out. I find very little to recommend in carrying a keyboard around in yer pocket...
Not everyone feels like doing software hacks. If Apple was smart, they'd just at Bluetooth profiles for keyboards into the device. Until then, this is a nice alternative. All he's got to do now is build a case for it to make it look like it fits in with Apple's design aesthetic.
Yes, doing things for the fun of doing it is just silly. What type of a moron decides to spend time how he pleases doing something he finds interesting and fun. I think we should outlaw all non-productive work. Chewing gum? You better have a damn good reason!
Which hack is that? Can u tell me where to find it and do I need to jailbreak my 3gs to use it?
Would it really kill Apple to add the Bluetooth profile for their own wireless keyboard to the iPhone OS? A few lines of code, and they'd have a load of happy Apple fanboys/girls out there!
Fanbois. It's unisex. Like Steve wants.
We all know Apple is capable, but that would eat into their profit from the next sub-par release that adds a feature that is standard for every other device. Apple fans will wait in line hours to get it first, then realize another key feature is missing. The cycle repeats.
It's business not stupidity, and Apple is not the only one doing it.
this is...uhhhh....useful?
Damn, you guys astound me. It its a wonderful hardware hack regardless of the device it connects to.
Looks complicated and a complete waste of time
This is obviously a dirty hack, but this really is where we're headed. The next generation of smartphones with Snapdragon/Tegra chipsets are running at 1GHz+ with 512MB of memory and up to 64GB of storage space. This is basically the computer that I was using in 2001 with Windows XP. Just add in support for HDMI-out, and I could see a time where the phone runs Google Android or Chrome, you get a phone interface on the phone screen, and when you hook up the HDMI-out to a computer display, you get a full(er) desktop. Just add a bluetooth mouse/keyboard and you've basically got a netbook in your pocket. For the vast majority of computer users, this will be more than enough computer for them (web browsing, music, videos, light gaming, word processing, etc).
Exactly my thought. I would love a physical keyboard for my iPhone to type longer texts. I've waited for the 3.1 update, but realized it's not going to happen. I bought a Samsung 10-inch netbook last week for writing when traveling. I'm sure my iPhone could have done the trick, but not with a virtual keyboard. Virtual keyboards are just okay for a few lines of SMS. Maybe the Nokia N900 will take a USB keyboard? Still love my iPhone, though. But it's a content 'consuming' machine, not a content 'producing' machine. Unfortunately.
I want a keyboard that controls a robotic hand that pecks at the iPhone display to enter the letters.
This the best comment on the post. A steam punk solution.
Reminds me of the solenoid-based devices that would sit on an electric typewriter and interface with a computer over RS-232 to create a letter-quality printer by pressing the keys down. It's one of those few things that seem to have largely slipped through the cracks of knowledge preserved on the Web. I could find only one substantial reference to them, which is this clip of a guy who recalled them and built his own:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_WfQoKRlxE
I seem to be in a minority thinking that this is a beautiful hack, precisely because it is such a tangle of wires.
Jeez, a 9V battery. I havent seen that in ages...
Hmmm... Maybe I should check my fire alarms when I get home.
LOLOLOLOL
You know, some of us (Engadget readers) happen to like to tinker with our gadgets. This is newsworthy because [shocker] there are people that might otherwise not have seen this that will be interested in it... if for no other reason than curiousity. In fact, this post is not just about the iPhone, but also about Arduino and tinkering with our gadgets in general. But now many of you have written scathing comments to Engadget, basically outlining that you are not interested in gadgets and tinkering--which is, insofar as I can tell, exactly what this rag is all about. It's quite simple, really: If you don't want to read articles about gadgets and tinkering with the same, then read a different mag.
I think this looks like a lot of fun to try out. I find this article interesting and informative and I'm glad that Engadget brought this to my attention. Thanks guys!
If you like to tinker with stuff, why no read the Makezine blog or Hack-a-Day or some other DIY/tinkerer blog along with Engadget?
Why bother with PS/2 and not just make it USB? There are ways of connecting USB to an Arduino board like this guy used. It would be far more practical.
Because USB is way more complex, let's say you will need a driver to install a USB device.
Finally.
I would love for phones to support regular PC keyboards.
Why? Because you might not have the PC available to you all the time. But you do have your phone. And so if you want to write your diary or something, you could do this on a phone with the comfort of a 'real' keyboard, that only costs $10. You could even write a school essay and then later edit it properly in a text editor on the PC.
It doesn't look too difficult. Phones would just need to be USB host, like a computer. So you could connect such peripherals and external USB storage. How cool would that be?
AFAIK the Nokia N800 is one of the few (if not the only one?) that can act as a USB host...
i did this with an n810 in school
I'm too busy using my PS/2 keyboard (the first keyboard I ever owned, still going strong) to do this.
Oh yeah? Well I'm still hacking on my AT keyboard. Wish I had a windows key though.
This looks portable... :P
Revolutionary.
I love seemingly unnecessary mods like this.
My Packard Bell keyboard is still going strong!! Man I love this thing, especially the clicking sounds when I type!!!
*Yawn*
Seven years ago I made a PS/2 to Ti-89 converter so I could use the mouse on the Ti-89. I made a match game - 4x 3 grid of cards, you needed to click on two cards to turn them over - goal was to match all pairs in the shortest amount of time.
This was done as a project for a Microcontrollers class. The main requirement was a project that exercised most of what we'd learned of some complexity that ran on a 68k processor and rather than use the dev board we were assigned for the class, I went with something a bit more interesting.
*Yawn*
I can't wait to build this. When I do, it will be EPIC.