Keyboard Info Thread

[Cedric_Greene]

Looks like there is another site making adapter kits.
http://www.indiglo.net/
They already have their kits listed on eBay with a fixed BuyItNow of $50, probably not the best deal with the upcoming release of Datel's keyboard but for those interested...
Also Eric -73+41=-22 last time I checked so I can't see my greed coming in to play here, I had an extra adapter kit I didn't wish to fudge so I let another take it off my hands. Starting price was $27 and the auction was only 3 days so the price would not be absurd.

[Layrinn]

On 2003-03-15 21:23, Cedric_Greene wrote:
Also Eric -73+41=-22 last time I checked so I can't see my greed coming in to play here, I had an extra adapter kit I didn't wish to fudge so I let another take it off my hands. Starting price was $27 and the auction was only 3 days so the price would not be absurd.

Mmm hmm... and the last time I checked, one adapter kit didn't cost you $73, so your math is a little flawed. You did not incur a loss in that transaction, becuase presumably the other two adapters are in use by either yourself or the people you purchased them for.

You could have assembled it and sold it for a little profit.
You could have sold the kit at your cost.
You could have contacted me; I would have gladly taken it back to sell to someone else.

But you didn't do any of these things... you chose to auction it off and pocket the money. Forgive me if I seem a little sensitive about this, but you're cashing in on MY hard work. I embarked on this project for the good of the PSO community. I sold the kits for as little as I could while still not incuring a net loss. Because of this, it makes me very upset to see people twist things around to satisfy their own ends.

Of course, the bottom line is you bought it so it was yours to do with what you wanted, short of marketing it as your own creation. It is simply my opinion that you selling one of my kits for your personal gain was a very disrespectful and unethical act. I neither approve of nor appreciate it.

That's all I have to say on this matter.

[Layrinn]

On 2003-03-14 05:07, RaymondDay wrote:
I guess you reccommend that because it could break off some of the solder parts? I don't think so at all. I been using my keyboard for a long time now. I have my game cube in my bed room by my bed. My TV is next to my bed. I sit on my bed to play the game. My nieces play the game too they are teen agers. This keyboard has slid off the edge of my bed on to the hard tiled non carpeted floor a lot of times and it's still worked super. My bed is a little over 2 feet from the floor. I think this is a good test and I been solding stuff just like this, like in the hud of 25 pin centronics plugs years go by and they still work! Other stuff too I have to think of what, but they all still work at last the last time I used them. The chip is not heavy so it will not bust off the board. I bet I could drop it from 6 foot and still be good. I don't want to test it like that because it's my only one. I just don't see why solding all 5 components directly to the chip is bad? My keybaord is a good test and it's been working super! I guess it's been about 2 weeks working so good now

Raymond, you're right... I would be worried about the chip breaking off at the solder points over time. Who knows... maybe I'm being overly cautious.

I'm glad things are working out for you so far. Keep up the good work.

[Layrinn]

Just a quick comment on the indiglo.net adapters. I have been in contact with the designer of those adapters for quite some time now. Although I did provide a bit of assistance here and there, the design is his own work. His design also appears to be a little more tolerant of what kind of keyboard you use with it, so that may be a plus for some folks who have a particular model they'd like to use.

I wish him the best of luck with his distribution. It's great to see more people step up to the plate and help out this community.

[Sheik1]

If I might comment briefly on these adapters. I was behind the programming of the 'indiglo.net' adapters. I have gotten some great advice from Eric (thanks a lot) especially for switching the keyboard into U.S. layout mode and with a specific part (2N7000 transistor).

While we do hope to make some profit on these the costs to order parts to make 50 of them has been quite a bit. I believe we are sitting at about $1200 on parts right now for these 50 that we have assembled.

While we have listed them in EBay I am waiting for the project boxes to arrive on Monday (tomorrow) so we might get them finished assembled. Everything else about them is comleted. I do not see the price of $45 plus some shipping to be extreamly high as it took us about 3 days to get the 35 assembled that we are selling for the first batch. In reality the parts cost us about $15 which is because I ordered most parts in bulk and got a good deal on it.

We are also using fabricated PC boards which speeds up assembly and reduces chance of errors with assembly. We are fully testing each device before they ship...you are assured they will work to your standards or your money back...garanteed.

The actual code work (programming) involved in this project took about 2 weeks and 50+ hours. I spent nearly all my extra time perfecting this device as and it seems to have payed off.

It seems to be compatible with nearly every keyboard that we have tested...including the wireless Logitech keyboard that I personally use for PSO online. My wavebird is wireless, why not my keyboard too! I have not run into an incompatible keyboard yet, which is a very good thing.

We are considering selling in kit form most likely in the future, but we will be providing a fabricated PC board like the photos on our site show and this will speed up assembly and make it virtually impossible to screw it up.

I have to give credit...again...to Eric and Adam for some great advice that they gave me. If you look closly at our designs you will notice that there are some differences. The pins that the GCN and the PS/2 use on the PIC microcontroller are reversed. For all those technical people the reason being that I am using the external interrupt for the keyboard communications while they are doing the opposite (Eric I hope you dont mindme mentioning this).

I would like input from people on the pricing if you do not believe that this is fair. Please use the http://www.indiglo.net web site and email us off there. We are not quite sure of the pricing but it sounded fair to us...after all there were some PSO happy fun boxes going for $60 the other day!!!

Anyways, for those interested in this please visit the web page as I am proud to have completed this project to help people who would like keyboards to have one. I know that Datel has recently announced a keyboard for $20 but I believe that there are some things that can still be done with out system that can't be done with the new Datel keyboard (wireless maybe?).

Thanks for all your patience and if you are interested you know where to find them. Item#3013533877.

We hope to start turning out at least 50 a week in the future if the initial interest is high.

--Allan
[email protected]



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: alland on 2003-03-16 23:45 ]</font>

[Layrinn]

On 2003-03-16 23:36, alland wrote:
I would like input from people on the pricing if you do not believe that this is fair. Please use the http://www.indiglo.net web site and email us off there. We are not quite sure of the pricing but it sounded fair to us...after all there were some PSO happy fun boxes going for $60 the other day

Nice to see you posting here, Allan. I just wanted to make it clear (again) that those HFBs being auctioned off were NOT sanctioned by Adam or myself. Adam and I never sold a HFB for more than $21 plus shipping costs, and we strongly disapprove of auctioning our adapters. Unfortunately, once the adapters leave our hands, their fate is beyond our control.

Anyways, congratulations again on getting your project up and running. I was glad to offer you my assistance. It's great to see people take an active role to help and support this community. Best of luck to you on your sales. =)

See you online!

[FreakinRican]

I'm personally waiting for the Datel keyboards but I am growing impatient. I was looking at the http://www.indiglo.net adapters and the price was a bit much for me. With Adam's and Eric's boxes costing $24 with shipping unassembled. I would think that $35 for an assembled product at most would be fair. Right now I need 2 keyboards, whether they come from Datel or another source. I would love to have them as quickly as possible. I don't expect you to lower your prices just for my sake though. Just an impatient person that needs 2 keyboards badly and at a reasonable price.

[Sheik1]

Update: We changed the pricing slightly on the 'indiglo.net' adapters to $39.99 plus $5.00 shipping anywhere in US. International shipping will be slightly higher.

We feel that this price is pretty fair noting how long it takes to assemble and test (about 30 mins each)...and to get it developed in the first place.

We MIGHT offer in kit form soon for a price of $24.99 each plus shipping. Be watching our web page for updates.

New EBay item#3013830678...check it out.

Contact us with any questions.

--Allan Drassal and Adam Roberts
Developers
http://www.indiglo.net



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: alland on 2003-03-17 14:13 ]</font>