Can you read a standard keyboard...

deno

with a Basic Stamp.

If so, could you please direct me to a knowledge base that would give me some idea on how to proceed.

What I would like to be able to do is type in a word or command and have the stamp interpret the word or command and branch to a certain routine.· I don't know very much about the outputs of a keyboard, but I picked one up at garage sale for 50 cents...brand new Dell.

deno

Newzed

Sounds like you need a PAK6 Keyboard Interface chip.· Go to:

http://www.al-williams.com/awce.htm


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Sid Weaver
Do you have a Stamp Tester yet?
http://hometown.aol.com/newzed/index.html

·

Bruce Bates

Deno -

Here is the direct link to the PAK-6 co-processor, which will permit the use of a PS/2 keyboard as input to a Stamp:
http://www.awce.com/pak6.htm

A co-processor is required due to the very unusual method of communications used between the keyboard and the PC. Neither the speed of the transmission, the clocking, nor the content of the data alone, are the problems. It is a combination of those all those items. Part of it is that the clock timing signals are contained within the data, and the also fact that there is one character generated when the key is depressed and another when it is released that causes the problems. I know of no rational reason why this cofusing protocal was used, but once it became a "PC standard" we all were forced to use it <sigh>.

If you're interested in learning more about the PC keyboard and how it communicates with a PC, here is a FAQ containing much more than you ever wanted to know:
http://www.repairfaq.org/filipg/LINK/PORTS/F_Keyboard_FAQ.html

Regards,

Bruce Bates

Forrest

Multilabs ezKEY PS/2 keyboard interface is another, less expensive option multilabs.net/ezKEY.html

deno

Thanks for the ezKEY'er input...I'll order one today....

deno

Donald Bartley

deno,

On the Multilabs website www.multilabs.net there·is a same program for the ezKEY that is exactly·what you are trying to do.··The sample program, called Command Drawer,·allows the user to type in text commands that are interpreted and then drawn.· This program works with the ezVID serial video card as well but you can look at the BS2 code and see how the text is inputed and interpreted from the ezKEY anyways.

Yanroy

I did a project in school that was designing a PS2 keyboard reader and decoder that output to a 7-segment LED display... we did it using discrete logic gates.· It wasn't very hard.· I see no reason why the basic stamp wouldn't be capable of reading a keyboard directly.· The keyboard will hold the data in it's internal buffer and let you read it at whatever speed you wish, and then it's pretty much just a synchronous serial device.

Manuel

anyone got a better idea than buying the ezKey or anything like that?

Beau Schwabe

You could program an SX and do it with "brute coding" force. The problem with using a BS2 is
that it's just not fast enough by itself, so you need to hang a chip on the side that is fast enough.

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Beau Schwabe

IC Layout Engineer
Parallax, Inc.

allanlane5

Sure -- use an attached PC with keyboard, running Hyperterm, to write to the BS2 through the serial port.

Manuel

yes, that i have alredy done, but i dont like that. it would be very expensive to buy a laptop for every poject that needs to be done.

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Best Regards

Manuel C. Reinhard

southernbob

While not a 'standard' keyboard, the attached code shows how I do it with

a PCJR wireless keyboard and the PCJR IR receiver module.

Also, see the following link for a description of my BS2 system and what I do
with the· keyboard.

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=542268

After I wrote that, I added a X10 function from the keyboard and from a file
stored on the Ext EEPROM.

Bob

Beau Schwabe

You could also try a standard UNIX keyboard. Most of these are 1200 baud (5V) RS232,

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Beau Schwabe

IC Layout Engineer
Parallax, Inc.