[Elecraft] OT: Want USB Output Keyer Info.

[David Allred]

David:

Thanks for the reply.

> It is possible that someone who wanted to play with USB implementing  
> microcontrollers might do the software on the keyer side of the USB

True. It's been done many times.

> and interface using the USB HDI keyboard protocol

This is the missing piece. But, can a USB I/O implementation also  
include the keyboard protocol. The drivers are different, but is this  
feature an easy hardware or software addition? Does the USB chip  
already include latent hardware of software?

> such a device would be bad consumer choice

Right again. The market is limited. But if this feature is easy to add  
to an existing design, why not put it in? Maybe someone already put it  
in, but we don't know about it yet.

(If I had the device, I'd use it to talk back to my dentist. A little  
key strapped to my leg sending text to the text-to-speech software in  
my laptop. Hey, I actually could do it now. Keyer audio to the  
computer, decoded with MultiMode or MRP40, use a shell script to grab  
the text and put it into Simple Text, then invoke text-to-speech...  
Hah! Then he'd have real comments to his monologue. No more "ahn-hunh,  
urk." Now he'll get a real answer when he ... but, I digress.)

> the average consumer wouldn't be able to reflash the device with  
> improved software

Actually, there isn't anything preventing this. The keyboard under my  
fingers right now got a firmware update in February. Since an iambic  
to USB device is probably a keyer with a computer interface, that  
would provide an update path.

Also, we aren't average (I hope). I recently changed the chip in my  
ancient MFJ-495 to bring it up to the current firmware version.  
Improved software can be a chip-change away.

> you cannot represent key up, or more generally, multiple key  
> presses, with morse code.

For the present application, it's not an issue. My friend would be  
able to enter plain text into a document faster with a keyer than he  
does now, limited to one-finger typing. Anything other than simple  
text and punctuation could be added by one-finger typing.

Also, if this really were an issue, the Mac OS already has adaptive  
technology built in. Stickey Keys in Universal Access provides a way,  
for instance, to type Shift, Option, Control, and other meta keys with  
one finger. Many disabilities limit people to single-press keyboard  
use. And, if it's been built into the Mac OS for fifteen years, it has  
to be in Windows too.

>> In an effort to reduce OT QRM on the list, please reply to me  
>> directly by email or use the contact form at my Radio Webpage:
>
> That's not particularly a good idea, because you lose peer review of  
> the suggestions and people may waste time by telling you the same  
> thing over and over again.

I agree. But, one man's peer review is another man's waste of  
bandwidth. I opted for less interference, but an open thread does save  
some effort (or start rant-vs.-rant or, worse, a flame war - "because  
it's off-topic for this list." And then it really gets out of hand.  
Before you know it, Wayne's Mighty Fist of Death comes to Smite the  
rogue and pointless thread, squashing it into ... but, I digress.).

Open is fine with me.

Thanks,
David
N1VU


     |  J. David Allred
     |
     |  P H O T O N
     |
     |  allred at photoninc.com
     |  Photon, Inc.
     |  617-661-9046
     |  www.photoninc.com



On May 22, 2008, at 7:14 PM, David Woolley (E.L) wrote:

> David Allred wrote:
>> That's why I would like to have your help finding a device for  
>> iambic input and USB output.
>
> If there were a market for such, which I very much doubt, I would  
> expect it to be implemented using generic USB hardware with a host  
> device driver actually implementing the decoding.  However, I doubt  
> that you would think that a USB parallel port would meet your  
> requirements, even though it actually meets them as stated.
>
> It is possible that someone who wanted to play with USB implementing  
> microcontrollers might do the software on the keyer side of the USB  
> and interface using the USB HDI keyboard protocol, but such a device  
> would be bad consumer choice, because the average consumer wouldn't  
> be able to reflash the device with improved software, and because  
> you cannot represent key up, or more generally, multiple key  
> presses, with morse code.
>
> There are specialist Assistive Technology retailers on the web who  
> sell specialist input devices, but I think they would consider  
> learning morse too difficult and the proportion of their market who  
> already had that skill to be negligible.
>
>> In an effort to reduce OT QRM on the list, please reply to me  
>> directly by email or use the contact form at my Radio Webpage:
>
> That's not particularly a good idea, because you lose peer review of  
> the suggestions and people may waste time by telling you the same  
> thing over and over again.
>
> -- 
> David Woolley
> "The Elecraft list is a forum for the discussion of topics related  
> to Elecraft products and more general topics related ham radio"
> List Guidelines <http://www.elecraft.com/elecraft_list_guidelines.htm>