Making a USB Wireless Keyboard

[BSBarrows]

I have a question. I bought a roll up membrane keyboard for cheap and it is USB, I was wondering if there is a process where I can make it into a wireless/bluetooth keyboard. Is there something (PCB board something of that nature) that I could get to transmit bluetooth from the USB Keyboard. Any idea's will help, I really liked this idea for college and being on my couch at home.

 

[Xander562]

I believe they sell wireless usb transmitters. But I don't know how big or how reliable they are. You could try one of those.

 

[lee1210]

I couldn't find anything like this and don't know that such a thing exists. The small brick you'd need to hold batteries, a small circuit board, an antenna and a usb port wouldn't be all that compact.

If you really want to build it yourself I'm afraid I wouldn't know where to start. You'd need a board with a usb port, a port for a bluetooth antenna, a bluetooth controller, and some sort of programmable gate array to implement the communication between the USB and bluetooth and vice versa (the computer can send signals to turn on the 3 leds). You'd also have to deal with (I have no idea how this works) advertising that the device is a standard keyboard, or respond to a device id/type query with that, so a computer would know what it's dealing with.

If you're going to give it a go, good luck, but only do it because you think it's fun, as it is totally impractical compared to buying a bluetooth keyboard.

-Lee

 

[BSBarrows]

I am just going to buy a cheap wireless keyboard, take it apart and see what I can do from that. I might just be able to interface the two. thanks for idea's people, always good to have a springboard.

 

[bigjnyc]

just buy the apple wireless keyboard, its really tiny and gets the job done so long as you dont rely on a numeric pad.

 

[pinktank]

tehere are wireless usb transmitters but they are pretty useless for quick response devices like keyboards

 

[GGJstudios]

just buy the apple wireless keyboard, its really tiny and gets the job done so long as you dont rely on a numeric pad.

I agree. By the time you buy two keyboards and the supplies to try to convert, not to mention the time and effort, you could spend $69 and get a refurbished Apple Wireless Keyboard, complete with warranty.