good external keyboard for Windows Mobile 5 devices? (XV67..

I personally like this other TO one better than the one Clinton linked
http://store.clintonfitch.com/productAccessories.asp?id=9729
It is bigger, but I find it more solid. Both pretty much require a flat
surface to work on. The one Clinton linked has the two sides suspended a bit
of of the surface, and I find it rocks a bit when I hit the outside keys. I
grant I hit the outside keys, I'm not a light touch. (I do own both)

You may have noticed that your PPC doesn't have a cursor. It isn't really
designed for a touch pad or mouse interface. That said, TO also sells a BT
Mouse, whose software does add a pointer (cursor). I see that on Clinton's
site too. http://store.clintonfitch.com/productAccessories.asp?id=7429

I have found when I add a 'real' keyboard to a PPC, I tend to reach for a
mouse...it just seems natural, so the combo of TO keyboard and mouse is
pretty comfortable.

Can't help on the game stick aspect, but I can say I have never seen any
such peripheral attached to the majority of Windows Mobile devices. To
support them would require a host USB port and most all WM Devices have
client ports.

--
Sven
MS MVP Mobile Devices
"Clinton Fitch, MVP-Mobile Devices"
<management RemoveThis @NOSPAMMIETHANKIE.clintonfitch.com> wrote in message
news:OUFx7YJBIHA.5960@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Hello,
>
> The best external keyboard I've personally used is from Think Outside.
> You can see it at
> http://store.clintonfitch.com/productAccessories.asp?id=4356
>
> This keyboard is not cheap by any means and it doesn't have a joystick
> type input that you have asked about but from a connectivity (BT) and ease
> of use perspective, I love it. I've used it on WM5 and 6 devices with no
> problem.
>
> Regards,
>
> --
> Clinton Fitch, MVP-Mobile Devices
> Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com!
>
>
> <mad.scientist.jr RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1191282489.818752.93850@22g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
>> I'm looking for a good external keyboard for the Starcom XV6700
>> (Windows Mobile 5 phone) - either one that connects with bluetooth or
>> plugs into the mini-usb jack on the phone (is there a difference in
>> power consumption?), with dedicated numeric keys. Another nice feature
>> would be a touchpad on the keyboard for pen/mouse input. It would also
>> be cool if the keyboard was made in such a way that you could open it
>> up and wire a 9-pin serial jack to 5 of the key contacts and plug an
>> Atari 2600 joystick into it, to play pocketcult MAME or pocket Stella.
>> Old AT keyboards had solder blobs under the keys that made it easy to
>> do this but I haven't seen this on newer keyboards. Any suggestions
>> appreciated...
>>
>
>

I also recommend the keyboard Sven has recommended.

As far as gaming controllers are concerned, there is only one external
controller (via Bluetooth), but I don't really recommend it - to my
knowledge, it still has no WM5 support.

--


--
Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen - Microsoft MVP - Windows - Mobile Devices
Please see the Pocket PC Mag Expert Blog (including mine) at
http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/ - you will definitely like it.


<mad.scientist.jr.RemoveThis@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1191282489.818752.93850@22g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
> I'm looking for a good external keyboard for the Starcom XV6700
> (Windows Mobile 5 phone) - either one that connects with bluetooth or
> plugs into the mini-usb jack on the phone (is there a difference in
> power consumption?), with dedicated numeric keys. Another nice feature
> would be a touchpad on the keyboard for pen/mouse input. It would also
> be cool if the keyboard was made in such a way that you could open it
> up and wire a 9-pin serial jack to 5 of the key contacts and plug an
> Atari 2600 joystick into it, to play pocketcult MAME or pocket Stella.
> Old AT keyboards had solder blobs under the keys that made it easy to
> do this but I haven't seen this on newer keyboards. Any suggestions
> appreciated...
>

MAME, Stella and other emulators allow you to map keys on the keyboard
as game controller input. So theoretically any device that is
recognized by the system as a keyboard should be able to be used as a
game controller. However for some reason PocketCult MAME doesn't seem
to detect the slide-out keyboard on the XV6700 - I am hoping it will
with a bluetooth device. Being able to wire in an Atari or other old
school game controller wouldn't require anything extra, because the
joystick would just be sending keyboard input by closing the contacts.
I have done it with an old AT keyboard and it works great with MAME.
The problem is, finding a bluetooth keyboard that is "hackable" - ie
easy enough to open up and solder wires to some keys. The other trick
is, the original Atari joysticks use a common ground. On old AT
keyboards I was able to find a block of keys that used one ground, for
instance A-S-D-F-G, so those and the one ground could be wired to the
DB9 joystick port. Way back when I did my first keyboard/joystick
interface, I didn't know about groups of keys having a common ground,
so I just dremeled the PC board of the joystick so that each switch
(up/down/left/right/fire) had its own ground, which worked. Of course
it's preferable to just be able to connect an unmodified
joystick! : )

On Oct 1, 11:53 pm, "Sven" <sejohann....DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Can't help on the game stick aspect, but I can say I have never seen any
> such peripheral attached to the majority of Windows Mobile devices. To
> support them would require a host USB port and most all WM Devices have
> client ports.
> > <mad.scientist....DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote in message
> >news:1191282489.818752.93850@22g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
> >> I'm looking for a good external keyboard for the Starcom XV6700
> >> (Windows Mobile 5 phone) - either one that connects with bluetooth or
> >> plugs into the mini-usb jack on the phone (is there a difference in
> >> power consumption?), with dedicated numeric keys. Another nice feature
> >> would be a touchpad on the keyboard for pen/mouse input. It would also
> >> be cool if the keyboard was made in such a way that you could open it
> >> up and wire a 9-pin serial jack to 5 of the key contacts and plug an
> >> Atari 2600 joystick into it, to play pocketcult MAME or pocket Stella.
> >> Old AT keyboards had solder blobs under the keys that made it easy to
> >> do this but I haven't seen this on newer keyboards. Any suggestions
> >> appreciated...

The other reason I'm looking to use the keyboard to control MAME and
other games is the XV6700's built in joystick seems to only be 4-
directional - ie diagonal movements don't work. I remember this was an
issue on my old iPAQ 3650. So you can't play games that require
diagonal movement. Also in the heat of a game you can sometimes push
down on the joystick, which can get you killed in certain crucial
moments. Note I am mainly playing 70s/80s classic games like Galaga,
Pac Man, Atari 2600 games, etc.

On Oct 1, 11:53 pm, "Sven" <sejohann... RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote:
> Can't help on the game stick aspect, but I can say I have never seen any
> such peripheral attached to the majority of Windows Mobile devices. To
> support them would require a host USB port and most all WM Devices have
> client ports.
> > <mad.scientist... RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote in message
> >news:1191282489.818752.93850@22g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
> >> I'm looking for a good external keyboard for the Starcom XV6700
> >> (Windows Mobile 5 phone) - either one that connects with bluetooth or
> >> plugs into the mini-usb jack on the phone (is there a difference in
> >> power consumption?), with dedicated numeric keys. Another nice feature
> >> would be a touchpad on the keyboard for pen/mouse input. It would also
> >> be cool if the keyboard was made in such a way that you could open it
> >> up and wire a 9-pin serial jack to 5 of the key contacts and plug an
> >> Atari 2600 joystick into it, to play pocketcult MAME or pocket Stella.
> >> Old AT keyboards had solder blobs under the keys that made it easy to
> >> do this but I haven't seen this on newer keyboards. Any suggestions
> >> appreciated...