Does the USB camera adapter for iPad still work with keyboards?

[face]

The question is in the title. I have an iPad mini 2 and want to know if I can plug in a pok3r... without spending 35€ just for trying.

Does anyone know if this still works?

[zslane]

I use the adapter to connect a Pok3r to my iPad Air. Works like a charm.

[face]

Great, thank you very much!

[czarek]

Most keyboards work, unfortunately HHKB doesn't because of power requirements. It does work with a powered hub however.

[the_marsbar]

Just a thought I've had.

Wouldn't it be possible to disable the USB hub somehow?

[need]

Should a model M works with an iPad Mini ?

[czarek]

Model M will greatly depend on the adapter you use. I will check mine (SDL to USB cable) when I'm back home.
It's really dissapointing that HHKB doesn't work. It's USB hub is very low power anyways (can't handle mionix castor), and surprisingly V60 keyboard works fine even with backlighting at full brightness!

[czarek]

Update:
I just tried Model M 1391401 from 1988 on iPad using camera adapter and USB to SDL cable and to my surprise it worked just fine!
That makes me wonder what is eating so much power in the HHKB if it requires more power than the old school IBM?
It's not the switches for sure as 55G Realforce works fine... Must be the crappy and nearly useless USB hub.

[andrewjoy]

Here is an idea , get one of them old double headded Y USB cbaels that where used before USB could power a whole drive.

https://www.pcworldbusiness.co.uk/catal ... oCYHbw_wcB


the red one is usualy the power , plug that into a power bank or charger and the other into the ipad .

then try the HHKB

[czarek]

Or just carry your water cooled desktop PC with you everywhere you go to make sure HHKB works
Thank you very much, I'll stick to GH60 which only requires short USB cable or even better GON Nerd60 with bluetooth for portable keyboard. Or if I want to stick to Topre while on a go, I may justify buying HHKB BT.

[andrewjoy]

Its more to test if it works than a practical sollution.

[face]

Update:
I just tried Model M 1391401 from 1988 on iPad using camera adapter and USB to SDL cable and to my surprise it worked just fine!
That makes me wonder what is eating so much power in the HHKB if it requires more power than the old school IBM?
It's not the switches for sure as 55G Realforce works fine... Must be the crappy and nearly useless USB hub.

I have heared that this comes from the capacitive switches, that require a constant current to recognise keystrokes. Maybe the Realforce uses slightly other switches, like the new BT HHKB does to get a longer battery life.

[Belfong]

I use the adapter to connect a Pok3r to my iPad Air. Works like a charm.

When you said it works, does it work across all apps or just Apple apps? I am interested to get this kit myself and it is likely I have to bring both the iPad and the keyboard to the mall to test it out. I hope they allow testing though. Typically the packaging are sealed, right?

[zslane]

Yes, the packaging is sealed; really sealed. Apple makes you use industrial machinery to open their dang packaging.

Now, I only use the adapter to hook up my Pok3r keyboard to my iPad. I don't attach any other type of device. I have not yet run into any app in which my keyboard does not work.

[Belfong]

Thanks for informing it works with app. I brought my 2TU keyboard to the shop but unfortunately they refuse to let me test it. Damnit. I'm not sure I want to risk $39 so, I don't know. Shit out of luck, I suppose.

[Belfong]

So I bit the bullet and bought the $39 kit. My Korean custom 60% keyboard, 2TU did not work when just connecting to the USB port. But the beauty of this $39 port is that I could plug a lightning cable into it, thus supplying power to charge the iPad and to also power the USB device. This allows the kit to channel power to the 2TU and the iPad recognise the keyboard. Perfect!

However, it didn't work with HHKB Pro 2 though. I'd expect the kit would power the HHKB Pro 2, looks like it is not enough.

[Thumper]

So I bit the bullet and bought the $39 kit. My Korean custom 60% keyboard, 2TU did not work when just connecting to the USB port. But the beauty of this $39 port is that I could plug a lightning cable into it, thus supplying power to charge the iPad and to also power the USB device. This allows the kit to channel power to the 2TU and the iPad recognise the keyboard. Perfect!

However, it didn't work with HHKB Pro 2 though. I'd expect the kit would power the HHKB Pro 2, looks like it is not enough.

As far as i can remember nearly no USB Hub/iPad-Combo could power a HHKB pro 2 because of the integrated USB Hubs. On reddit mk wiki there is an entry. https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyb ... _keyboards

[Belfong]

You are correct although that Reddit wiki is already 1 year old and is now archived. I was hoping that the new USB Camera Connection kit, which also have ability to input power might work. Alas it didn't. However, I do read that in iOS 10, Apple might change the specification of the Lightning port to allow more power to be drawn. Perhaps this will do it!

[the_marsbar]

I'm still thinking it might be possible to do some sort of modification to a HHKB Pro 2, in order to disable the USB hub. I don't use it anyway. If the USB hub circuit was disabled, it would draw less power I assume (correct me if I'm wrong).

[Belfong]

I have no idea. That stupid USB hubs are useless anyway, I can't even plug a USB pen drive into it. What was going on in PFU's mind when they designed this? What a bummer that it renders the HHKB useless in this context. I'd love to get HHKB working with the iPad.

[face]

The USB hub shouldn't draw power when it's not being used, should he? A possible other explanation is, that the capacitive matrix of the HHKB requires a constant current, to recognise any possible keystrokes.

That would explain the low battery life with the hasu bluetooth controller (which doesn't feature a hub).

[face]

I have no idea. That stupid USB hubs are useless anyway, I can't even plug a USB pen drive into it. What was going on in PFU's mind when they designed this? What a bummer that it renders the HHKB useless in this context. I'd love to get HHKB working with the iPad.

Easiest way without buying the Pro BT would be to buy the hasu bluetooth controller and take a power cable for it with you. That should work with the iPad.

[the_marsbar]

A possible other explanation is, that the capacitive matrix of the HHKB requires a constant current, to recognise any possible keystrokes.

But doesn't a Pro 1 work without any issues? I thought I read that somewhere. If so, that would more or less confirm that it's the USB hub, since the two keyboard are similar otherwise (again, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't own a Pro 1, unfortunately).

[Belfong]

The USB hub shouldn't draw power when it's not being used, should he? A possible other explanation is, that the capacitive matrix of the HHKB requires a constant current, to recognise any possible keystrokes.

That would explain the low battery life with the hasu bluetooth controller (which doesn't feature a hub).

I have just plugged in my 55g Realforce 87UB, typing this sentence with it and it works. So, it is not the capacitive board, if that is what you meant.

[face]

Mmh, awkward. Why does the hasu bluetooth controller need so much energy then? The hub is out of the system with this. It shouldn't use much more than my Pro BT controller and Pro BT lasts for months with 2 AA batteries. The Pro BT not even uses low energy bluetooth as far as I can tell.

Maybe there is something else with especially the HHKB Pro 2 that draws a lot of power.

[the_marsbar]

If anyone finds out, I'd be happy to know, since it might help to find a solution Not that I currently use my keyboard with an iPad or anything (I only have an older iPhone at the moment), but I'd still like to know.

[the_marsbar]

Sorry for bringing this up again, but since we got an iPad recently I have been looking into it, and thought it would be worth sharing the experience.

I thought about getting a HHKB BT, but not being able to use the keyboard with a cable put me off in the end. I ended up buying one of Hasu's BT controllers instead, and got an Apple Camera Adapter.

Swapping controllers and connecting the keyboard to the iPad (latest version, the one compatible with Apple Pencil) via the camera adapter wasn't enough though. I used QMK firmware and edited a header file, such that the variable that contains the advertised power draw is set to some small value (I used 50 mA). It took me about an hour to find the resources and set it up, and now it works great. I used a MacBook Pro running macOS High Sierra to compile and flash the firmware, and I am not using the keyboard in Bluetooth mode as I didn't buy a battery yet.

If anyone needs further information, feel free to contact me, or even ask here.

[zslane]

I'm confused. Are you connecting the keyboard to the iPad via Bluetooth, or via USB>Camera Adapter?

I find that connecting keyboards to an iPad via USB>Camera Adapter is a frustrating experience (and has been for years). The iPad reboots itself every time it performs its notifications check (about every 2-5 minutes) while a keyboard is connected in this way. I have resorted to using a BT400 Bluetooth adapter to connect any USB-only keyboard (like a Vortex Pok3r) to my iPad over Bluetooth instead.

[the_marsbar]

I'm connecting to the iPad via USB (using the camera adapter). I'm sorry about the confusion.

What notifications check are you talking about? I'm not sure I understand.

[zslane]

Well, many apps want to present notifications (usually called push notifications), and the way the iPad does this is by looking in an internal message queue for app or system notifications. This notification check occurs on a timer, often configurable by app (like Mail), but for most users including myself, these notification checks occur about every 2-5 minutes.

The spontaneous reboots which I see occur whenever I have a keyboard attached to the USB port via the Lightning Camera Adapter correlate with the notification check cycle. It is my belief that this is a by-product of the fact that USB keyboards are not "approved" devices for the Lightning port, and so stable behavior is not to be expected. On older versions of iOS you used to get a popup notification every time you woke up the iPad, informing you of the "unsupported device" that was detected, and you had to dismiss it before continuing. Now, instead of an annoying popup, the iPad simply reboots itself. To my mind this is merely annoyance in a different form.