PPC as a keyboard

I know this is an odd question.

Often people want to use a conventional keyboard to enter data into
their PPC. I want to do the opposite. There are several good
alternative keyboards available for the PPC. I'd like to find a way to
feed the keystrokes from these tools into my pc (preferably via usb
cable to avoid any isues with aiming etc).

The motivation for this that my daughter is having wrist and hand pain
from using a conventional keyboard. I have MessagEase on my ppc
(www.messagease.com) which is a very nice input alternative. It can
be expanded large enough to allow entry with your finger, which seems
ideal for my daughter's situation.

This should be very do-able with the right software. It seems to me
that the software should be very easy to write (just a small program
on each side) but I don't have experience with this kind of
programming.

Has someone already done something like this? Any pointers /
suggestions / code :) would be appreciated!

Thanks!
Alan

Chris
Tue Nov 25 13:17:51 CST 2003

I've gone the reverse direction where keys on the PC are sent serially from
HyperTerminal to the device, which runs them as key strokes. It should work
well inreverse - just send the keys as serial or socket data that is
received and translated at the PC.

--
Chris Tacke, eMVP
Co-Founder and Advisory Board Member
www.OpenNETCF.org
---
Windows CE Product Manager
Applied Data Systems
www.applieddata.net


"Alan" <a__l__a__n@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:e155108f.0311251004.4b0162d1@posting.google.com...
> I know this is an odd question.
>
> Often people want to use a conventional keyboard to enter data into
> their PPC. I want to do the opposite. There are several good
> alternative keyboards available for the PPC. I'd like to find a way to
> feed the keystrokes from these tools into my pc (preferably via usb
> cable to avoid any isues with aiming etc).
>
> The motivation for this that my daughter is having wrist and hand pain
> from using a conventional keyboard. I have MessagEase on my ppc
> (www.messagease.com) which is a very nice input alternative. It can
> be expanded large enough to allow entry with your finger, which seems
> ideal for my daughter's situation.
>
> This should be very do-able with the right software. It seems to me
> that the software should be very easy to write (just a small program
> on each side) but I don't have experience with this kind of
> programming.
>
> Has someone already done something like this? Any pointers /
> suggestions / code :) would be appreciated!
>
> Thanks!
> Alan

r_z_aret
Wed Nov 26 12:13:28 CST 2003

On 25 Nov 2003 10:04:22 -0800, a__l__a__n@hotmail.com (Alan) wrote:

>I know this is an odd question.
>
>Often people want to use a conventional keyboard to enter data into
>their PPC. I want to do the opposite. There are several good
>alternative keyboards available for the PPC. I'd like to find a way to
>feed the keystrokes from these tools into my pc (preferably via usb
>cable to avoid any isues with aiming etc).
>
>The motivation for this that my daughter is having wrist and hand pain
>from using a conventional keyboard. I have MessagEase on my ppc
>(www.messagease.com) which is a very nice input alternative. It can
>be expanded large enough to allow entry with your finger, which seems
>ideal for my daughter's situation.

I think several companies (e.g. WaCom) make digitizers for PCs. They
are aimed primarily at folks doing lots of graphic input. Perhaps you
could use one of them as an input device. One advantage/disadvantage
would be larger size. I think they cost around $100 in the US. Not a
huge amount, but more than you will need to pay to use a device you
already have.


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Robert E. Zaret
PenFact, Inc.
500 Harrison Ave., Suite 3R
Boston, MA 02118
www.penfact.com