exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

Nobody makes any kind of wireless keyboard adapter, USB or Bluetooth?

I want something tiny that would let me disconnect and replace the main keyboard when working with the computer open. I do a lot of work like that, and I find that in such cases the main keyboard still connected doesn't help accessing the motherboard (which is the main reason I have the computer open in the first place). I guess I could use a keyboard cable extension to put the keyboard far from the computer. But I was thinking that some kind of tiny adapter and a wireless keyboard would be ideal.

At one point I fancied to use ESP32 microcontrollers to make a bluetooth host plugged to the ikbd port of the motherboard, and a bluetooth device plugged to the ikbd port of the keyboard, in order to :

• Use IKBD device as combined Bluetooth HID keyboard + mouse + game controllers
• Use any bluetooth HID devices (mouses, keyboards, game controllers) with the ST

Obviously, I have tons of other projects that took priorities.

I'm using ImpoSTer at the moment with a usb-dongle and wireless keyboard. It's not small though. It has a lot of ports on it. But not much components in it so it could be made much smaller. But the project is not open.

sporniket wrote: 17 May 2024 08:31 At one point I fancied to use ESP32 microcontrollers to make a bluetooth host plugged to the ikbd port of the motherboard, and a bluetooth device plugged to the ikbd port of the keyboard, in order to :

I would love to have something like that :)

Obviously, I have tons of other projects that took priorities.

The story of my life as well :)

There was a Bluetooth adapter for Atari ST / Falcon that plugs in-line to the keyboard connector inside. Supported Bluetooth keyboard, mouse and Joypad. The built in keyboard still worked as did the normal mouse and joystick ports. I'll see if I can find the GitHub for it when I'm home tomorrow. It was never available assembled on direct sale but the firmware and PCB was there to make your own.

The CosmosEx can also do this with the right keyboard injector.

Ijor are you wanting this for a PC or an Atari?

Surely a simpler solution would be to have an IKBD extender, maybe over CAT5 cable?
(Just realised that I've not published my PCB on Github. I'll have to do that when I get home.)

alexh wrote: 18 May 2024 11:05 There was a Bluetooth adapter for Atari ST / Falcon that plugs in-line to the keyboard connector inside. Supported Bluetooth keyboard, mouse and Joypad.

Thanks. I found a couple of github repositories. This seems to be the most relevant one:
https://github.com/fieldofcows/atari-st-rpikb

Steve wrote: 18 May 2024 11:42Ijor are you wanting this for a PC or an Atari?

For an Atari ST.

stephen_usher wrote: 18 May 2024 17:49 Surely a simpler solution would be to have an IKBD extender, maybe over CAT5 cable?
(Just realised that I've not published my PCB on Github. I'll have to do that when I get home.)

Yeah, that would certainly be simpler. Although a wireless adapter would be even better :)

I use an ImpoSTer like @DoG and it works great with my Logitech wireless keyboard & trackpad. Very convenient.