[?] USB to Bluetooth conversion possible?

[hargon]

I was just wondering: Is there any possibility besides modding the controller of teh keyboard and building/using a bluetooth controller to convert a USB-keyboard to bluetooth?

[ripster]

Well, for a while there was Wireless USB but that proved to be a technological disaster so wireless USB dongles never took off.

This was the closest thing I could find.

http://www.usbgear.com/computer_cable_d ... 39,123,158

But it emulates a PRINTER, not a KEYBOARD.

[captain]

There are some cool PCBs at sparkfun.com. Look at the bluesmirf to get some ideas. It is not remotely trivial from my research.

[Maarten]

Been looking into this myself and theres quite a few possibilities if you would like to make serial keyboards work over bluetooth or design a keyboard around a bluetooth module from the start, but 'converting' USB over bluetooth really adds unwanted complexities to the mix especially if you want the device to run out-of-the-box on any system through bt HID.

[forcefollow]

You mean the one like hasu didto HHKB?

[captain]

Wow! Thanks for that link.

I would still prefer a dongle that could convert ANY USB keyboard to Bluetooth.

[Maarten]

Wow! Thanks for that link.

I would still prefer a dongle that could convert ANY USB keyboard to Bluetooth.

Im pretty sure such a device does not exist.... Simply because USB is a bit of a resource-hog it would take some serious hardware and batteries to do this. Im not familiar with hasu's HHKBt but my guess is that hes relying on the PS/2 backwards compatibility on the board and is sending that over to the PC. Like i said, something like thats very doable.

[hargon]

Is there any Workshop or HowTo available on how to do such a mod with a PS2 Keyboard?

[aarondelani]

I think this is very possible, I was able to find this: http://www.aten.com/products/productIte ... l_no=cs533

and this: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTEKN1UO8cc[/youtube]

I'm actually thinking/planning on building something that could possibly do it. I've already ordered my first component to just experiment with. I'm building it using an Ardruino Uno, and if that's successful, I would love to go even smaller and embed it into a nice case of some sort (most likely going to have to build this custom).

[NYCesquire]

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=43173.0

[Muirium]

Great link!

Looks like we have just what we're looking for. Once you open it up and fit the business end inside your keyboard.

$59 each plus $14 for non-US shipping. But 25% off if you link an article you've written about the device? Wouldn't mind exploiting that for a group buy. I could use a few after my first!