deskthority

I have a problem with this keyboard interest of mine. I try not to collect keyboards as I don't have space to store stuff like that and I don't like the concept of having things that I never use. I have a Filco that I'm very happy with as my main keyboard at home and a Topre at work. So what now? I don't need any more keyboard! Oooh wait what's that laying on my coffee table as a centerpiece of my living room...

I have the same shitty keyboard hooked to my media center and I'm definitely interested in this thread

why you need a PC to control yr TV?

hrrmm, isn't there a wireless adapter for mini-usb (too lazy to search)? as in a battery powered mini-usb thingy?

that would make a neat "coffee table" set with f.e. a cherry g84 or smth else small with a integrated trackball (touchpads stink...)

i sadly don't have a dedicated coffee table keyboard because that's actually my main desk (sitting on a cushion on the ground).

for livingroom we use a Rappoo Blade: My wife like it, and I am ok with it. We use it for our Media PC.

the rapoo is lovely indeed. Are you aware of any similar kb but with a trackball?

I have that rappoo in black, and while it looks indeed very nice, it sucks for typing.

To the fingers, the whole keyboard is more or less a single flat plane with no orientation at all.

Especially if you try to hit the enter key, you have to look carefully where it is, because at the place where you normally expect enter to be, there's this touchpad. So if you hit there with your finger what you actually do is click the mouse whereever it is at that moment, which is something you don't want to do during typing.

That Rappoo Blade looks slightly better than the Logitech K400 but is basically the same thing. The K400 has a left mouse button in the upper right corner which makes the pointing device usable when holding the keyboard in your hands, clicking with right thumb and navigating with the left.

What do you need the keyboard for? Wouldn't it be easier to get one of those cheap PC remotes for use with XMBC/Windows Media Center?
EDIT: SOmething like this http://viewitem.eim.ebay.se/Remote-CONT ... 68990/item

I have a DLNA server and some other stuff running on an old first-gen netbook with an external 2TB HDD at home. Me and my parents have BubbleUPnP (Android DLNA/UPnP client) on our phones and we can use them to control the playback (e.g. the streaming) from the server/phones to the TV/phones.
Everyone can stream everything (music, videos, pictures) everwhere. Even from phone to phone

the media mini boards I tested, the trackball was very awful. Everytime you lay down the keyboard the too light trackball moves the mousepointer. Very hindrance with XBMC for us.
I also have a BT keyboard from sony with trackpoint but the media keys are not default instead the F Keys.
I prefer a keyboard with mouse replacement over a remote control.
Because filehandling, browsing or mailing is a lot easier. Also I prefer wireless over IR. There are only a few remotes who supports wireless and not infrared.
I miss the mousebuttons at the Rappoo but most of the time it is ok.
I think the media buttons are a lot better. The housing is neat and is out of metal. Our white version fits better to our livingroom.

ne0phyte wrote:I have a DLNA server and some other stuff running on an old first-gen netbook with an external 2TB HDD at home. Me and my parents have BubbleUPnP (Android DLNA/UPnP client) on our phones and we can use them to control the playback (e.g. the streaming) from the server/phones to the TV/phones.
Everyone can stream everything (music, videos, pictures) everwhere. Even from phone to phone

UPNP/DLNA never worked for especially with weird codecs and/or with on the fly encoding (not to mention 1080p videos).

matt3o wrote:

ne0phyte wrote:I have a DLNA server and some other stuff running on an old first-gen netbook with an external 2TB HDD at home. Me and my parents have BubbleUPnP (Android DLNA/UPnP client) on our phones and we can use them to control the playback (e.g. the streaming) from the server/phones to the TV/phones.
Everyone can stream everything (music, videos, pictures) everwhere. Even from phone to phone

UPNP/DLNA never worked for especially with weird codecs and/or with on the fly encoding (not to mention 1080p videos).

We convert everything to MKV with h.264 and AC3 (for 5.1 audio) and I bought a mini-pcie gigabit ethernet card for the "server" so the network is more than fast enough to stream videos with 25mbps video+audio.

ne0phyte wrote:We convert everything to MKV with h.264 and AC3 (for 5.1 audio) and I bought a mini-pcie gigabit ethernet card for the "server" so the network is more than fast enough to stream videos with 25mbps video+audio.

for me it's easier to have a dedicated mini linux server that can play anything directly. Actually xbmc has an android app so you can use your smartphone as a remote.

but I'm glad to hear that a DNLA server is actually feasible

I have tried many of those solutions but I always end up wanting to use a feature that can't be controlled from the remote. DLNA does not work with Internet streaming which I use a lot. Most stuff is possible to get into XBMC with plugins but the remote apps doesn't work well with them. Sometimes I use Skype and that's not in XBMC. Other times streaming in the web browser is the only thing that works. So I definitely know I want this type of solution, maybe there will be a product in the future the covers all my needs but there isn't one now.

Any other coffee table keyboards?

Also subtitles over DNLA aren't supported (last time I tried...)

This is the keyboard I keep on my coffee table:

Nice living room. I don't recognize that computer, what is it?

The photo title tells us that it's a Atari 800XL:


Do you use it as Atari or do you use it only as keyboard?

Edit: judging from the cable plugged in on the right I assume you use it the way it was supposed to be used. Cool!

Additionally I'm impressed by the Encyclopedia Britannica in the background.

RC-1140 wrote:The photo title tells us that it's a Atari 800XL:

Ug... that's the worst of the 6 known Atari 800XL keyboards - a mushy piece of crap from the later years. I've got an ALPS-made 800XL keyboard.

RC-1140 wrote:Do you use it as Atari or do you use it only as keyboard?

Edit: judging from the cable plugged in on the right I assume you use it the way it was supposed to be used. Cool!

Additionally I'm impressed by the Encyclopedia Britannica in the background.

I occasionally type notes and things with this 800XL, using an 80-column text editor that's still being updated. I also have an SD card reader that allows me to easily transfer files to modern computers. This post, for example, was entirely typed using the 800XL you see in the picture.

I paid only $6 for that Encyclopaedia Brittanica set, brand new, still in its original wrappings. It's one of the last versions made - not as nice as an earlier set I have, but still great to have brand new for $6. (especially considering that it originally cost around $1000)

Nice Competition Pro.

Yeah, I've got 4 new Competition Pro joysticks. I also got a Tac-2. (NIB!)

I only got old ones.
http://deskthority.net/post95084.html#p95084

webwit wrote:I only got old ones.
http://deskthority.net/post95084.html#p95084

Nice. I'd rather have originals than "Made in China" reproductions, but they're not too bad. My Tac-2 is original though.