Can you make a number pad bricklet? I think it would be very beneficial for a lot of projects like alarm systems.

We thought about some kind of bricklet with buttons etc.

But so far, we could not decide how to design it. In some applications you may only need two buttons, in some others a number pad ...

perhaps you could realize a numberpad via io16 bricklet... there could about 16 switches connected or am I wrong?? :-)

No of course, you can do this.

But I see the point that a special bricklet would be easier to use,

yes of course. a bricklet with a 3x3-foil-Keyboard would be cool. like an access control or simmilar :-)

I think that 2 buttons wouldn't be bad to do with an IO bricklet. But a nice backlit number pad would be a lot nicer than connecting all of those buttons to an IO bricklet. If you make one and need someone to test it I will be more than happy to!

What about a USB (Host) Bricklet with some device driver for any keyboard you can buy?

What about a USB (Host) Bricklet with some device driver for any keyboard you can buy?

That would be quite nice!

Check this out: http://kingleadertech.en.alibaba.com/

In the German forum I suggested a GENERAL INPUT DEVICE brick, where you can plugin in devices via USB, PS/2 and RS-232. This works for keyboards, joysticks, and handheld barcode scanners, among others. Used keyboards, joysticks and similar devices are cheap, so why not reusing this old PS/2 or RS-232 hardware? The protocol just sends key scan codes as events if a key or a button has been pressed or released, this has not changed much in the last decades. Such brick would allow easy input to your applications.

In the German forum I suggested a GENERAL INPUT DEVICE brick, where you can plugin in devices via USB, PS/2 and RS-232. This works for keyboards, joysticks, and handheld barcode scanners, among others. Used keyboards, joysticks and similar devices are cheap, so why not reusing this old PS/2 or RS-232 hardware? The protocol just sends key scan codes as events if a key or a button has been pressed or released, this has not changed much in the last decades. Such brick would allow easy input to your applications.

 

This sounds great! I'd buy one or two!

I'm not that great with housings and stuff, so my ideal device would have a nice case around it. A number pad with arrow keys and an LCD screen, come to think of it, that would be EXACTLY like my house alarm system

 

With a nice case so that you can easily mount it on the wall and control all your Tinker stuff with it...

We thought about some kind of bricklet with buttons etc.

But so far, we could not decide how to design it. In some applications you may only need two buttons, in some others a number pad ...

 

TI currently promotes an capacitive input method with their MSP430 controllers, and there is a paper on that here http://www.ti.com/general/docs/lit/getliterature.tsp?literatureNumber=slaa379&fileType=pdf

 

So, as an idea, just make a PCB with enough capacitive fields (at least 4x4 fields, more would be better), which could then be grouped together in software.

 

You could add a piece of transparent material into the kit, to cover the PCB and let the user place a piece of printed paper between that and the PCB, to label the sensitive fields.

 

Such a construction would accommodate those that just need a button or two as well as those folks that need a full number pad.

 

If there were enough capacitive fields , one could implement anything from one large button to sliders and wheels.