Put to use an IR-keyboard

[tobi]

Any ideas on how to connect my perfectly sufficient infraredly communicating keyboard to the N770?

Of course, I would need some IR-hardware on the N770. I thought of an USB-IR-key. Could such a small device be powered by the Nokia? And is there a way to get it working? Some driver that only needs porting? Or would the kernel need some modification, thus making this project impossible?

[tobi]

And by the way... has anyone ever heard of an Bluetooth-to-IrDA-converter/adaptor? I need one! ;)

I'll see, if I can dig up one on the net..

[ks1g]

Speculation, as my N770 order is backorderd like most everyone else's, but I own an IR keyboard for my PDA. A USB-IR dongle would have to be self-powered, as my understanding is the 770 does not provide power to the USB port. The IR keyboard works fine, but requires stable alignment between the PDA and keyboard. A wireless bluetooth keyboard seems better to me, as you have more flexibility in where you hold the keyboard and the 770. A USB keyboard (hacked to be self-powered or with a small poweerd hub) would beat the IR approach on price. Both USB and BT aupport appear to be in the 770 kernel; I doubt Nokia would have included IR support. All speculation until we get more 770s into people's hands and we can start hacking them in interesting ways.

[pierluigi]

If you have another computer with keyboard available, the best way to "connect" a keyboard would be to share the one that's already there. you can do so easily with the open source "synergy" program. It's cross-platform, for Linux, Windows, and Mac. you'd need to port it (or maybe just recompile the source code!) . It even lets you share clipboards between machines!