PS2 Keyboard to Serial - Possible?

M

matt.green

New Member
Hi guys,

I have an EPOS keyboard which - unfortunatly - doesnt have programmable keys. What I want to do is to be able to read the key pressed using a PICAXE and send the data back to a VB program using the USB Download cable.

I dont really mind what is sent over serial, as long as its different for each key. I guess the easy option would be just to send a character followed by the key code? (e.g. "s34")

Also the keyboard has a key switch in it, which when the keys are turned outputs two ascii characters are sent (e.g. "t1", "t2" etc). Would it be possible for the chip to work out when a key is turned and send the two together? Otherwise it would send "s" followed by key code for t then another "s" followed by the key code for 1. I want it to just send "st1".

I think it is easy to do, im just not sure how!


Thanks in advance and I appologise for the poor description!


Thanks,

Matt
 
P

profmason

Member
Stans writeup is great! I added the ability to use capital letters and a few other tweaks to stan's original code:
http://profmason.com/?p=362

PS2 keyboards use an identical protocol to the old AT keyboards, so these projects should work with the appropriate connector.

I wanted to build a PSP keyboard adapter and spent quite a bit of time trying different approaches. I adapted a palm serial keyboard:
http://profmason.com/?p=358

And finally came up with a working PSP keyboard solution using an IR keyboard:
http://profmason.com/?p=366
 
P

papaof2

Senior Member
The zips are now OK. palmkey.txt still asks for a password.

Dontcha just love it when there's a "minor" change in software you use regularly?

John
 
M

matt.green

New Member
Thats excellent! Thanks guys!

Dont suppose you have any good ideas to how I could work out when a double key is pressed (e.g. "k1") but the first character stil work (e.g. "k")?

Appart from that what you have provided is great.

Thanks again!
 
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