Comments on: Finally, a keyboard for the iPhone

By: Facebook Developer

Facebook Developer — Sat, 15 May 2010 17:48:15 +0000

Now iphone users can also use the keyboard. But i wanna know that is this keyboard is portable?

By: yonsje

yonsje — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:20:36 +0000

Hi,
I’ve been trying to get TouchClient.c to compile on my ipod but so far no succes, when i type “gcc -static-libgcc -o TouchClient TouchClient.c -lvncclient ”
I get:
“ld: library not found for -lSystem
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status”
Does anyone know how to fix this?

By: Facebook App Developers

Facebook App Developers — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:16:57 +0000

It’s amazing. Now iphone users can also use the keyboard. But i wanna know that is this keyboard is portable?

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:38:03 +0000

Seems like a lot of hard work went into this project. I hacked together a keyboard using the same VNC method last year, but the wiring was much simpler.

By: reboots

reboots — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:47:28 +0000

Have a look at Atmel’s appnote AVR313: Interfacing the PC AT Keyboard.

http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/DOC1235.PDF

This was published in 2002 and includes full C source code for an AT keyboard-to-serial interface. Integrating an AVR and mini-din socket within the space of an iPhone connector shell is an exercise for the astute reader. It shouldn’t be too hard.

When all you have is an Arduino, the solution to every problem is doomed to be a $30+ rat’s nest.

For those of you interested in implementing this at home, there may be a better solution than either the Arduino or the bare AVR. Most PDAs manufactured in the past 10 years had various aftermarket keyboards available; you can find them for pocket change on the used market since the PDAs are obsolete. Most of these keyboards (Palm Pilot, Compaq IPAQ) use a simple serial interface which should connect directly to the iPhone’s serial lines. Here’s one guy’s project to get you started:

http://www.splorp.com/newton/stowaway/

Better jump on it before Apple releases Bluetooth HID and takes all the fun out of the hack.

By: tripp

tripp — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:39:36 +0000

Well I can’t really use a bluetooth keyboard in my case since I have a first gen itouch, which lacks bluetooth >.<

By: cptfalcon

cptfalcon — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:23:39 +0000

@Hackius: closed source can be part of the fun, if you enjoy RE :)

By: mj

mj — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:10:59 +0000

@Laurencium Needs an upgrade to the Atmel 328 ‘DD’ if you ask me

By: Arkenklo

Arkenklo — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:25:16 +0000

Why not just use one of those tiny bluetooth keyboards?

Oh wait… Nevermind.

By: Laurencium

Laurencium — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:03:44 +0000

Heres an arduino use we can all agree is good

http://imagebin.org/67911

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:07:36 +0000

It doesn’t look pretty, or portable, but it works (and documented nicely). It’s up to you to make a custom PCB and make it all-in-one and smaller.

By: jeff-o

jeff-o — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:02:17 +0000

@mj: Yep, shouldn’t be too hard to remove the ATMega from its arduino board and place it onto its own board along with the Sparkfun iPhone interface board, then shove it all inside the body of the keyboard.

By: nave.notnilc

nave.notnilc — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:11:42 +0000

@Beavis
only since the great influx of idiots

By: Beavis

Beavis — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:07:45 +0000

How is this a hack? Sorry, I thought it was tradition to say that to every post on this blog.

By: iphone applications

iphone applications — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:14:20 +0000

wowow this is grate NEWS