[Elecraft] Computer Keyboard and P3/SVGA

[Dauer, Edward]

Thanks to Charles N2SO, Steve WB6RSE, Bill NR4C, Guy K2AV, and others in off-line conversation for helpful responses to my question about having a single keyboard communicate more or less simultaneously with both a PC and the P3/SVGA.  Bottom line is, it might not be possible.

One suggestion was the Matias keyboard, which has internal switching for up to four devices.  I wrote to Matias to ask if that would work with the Logitech receivers that the P3/SVGA seems to work well with, and the answer was no.  Logitech receivers, the Matias rep said, are 2.4 Ghz dongles, not Bluetooth.  The Matias keyboard uses Bluetooth.  Without hanging some sort of additional device in the system – which then might not work with the P3 – that keyboard won’t do it.

Another suggestion was an in-line USB switch.  In some ways that defeats the purpose of having a simple, no-real-estate-used on the desk, solution.  More important, several people wondered if the switch itself would be a problem for the P3, either directly or by way of reconnecting when switched over and back.  The P3/SVGA, one pointed out, is not a computer.  Also, using a switch with a wire to one device and a wireless to the other might work but undoes the advantage of a wireless keyboard.  Anyone with a full K3 system knows there are wires and cables enough as it is, thank you.

So that leaves me with the question – how do those who operate using both a PC accessing the Internet and its own on-board programs such as logging, and accessing the macros and recorded texts in the P3/SVGA, do it?  Two keyboards and a desk bigger than mine?

Ted, KN1CBR