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Mac Forum / General / Portable Macs / December 2005What would you like in a compact BT Keyboard?
I recently contacted PFU systems and asked them what their plans were for a compact Bluetooth keyboard; they said they had no current plans. I wish these guys would make one. They have a quality compact USB keyboards already; such a keyboard could be very useful in the Mac marketplace. And I'm guessing that the PC world will eventually catch up on Bluetooth. What else would be useful? It would be nice to have a BT keyboard with a USB outlet as a fallback if there was excessive RF noise to use bluetooth in a particular environement. Connecting a USB cable to a host would automagically turn off BT... Anyhow, if people are interested in asking PFU if they would consider making a BT keyboard, I suggest going to http://www.pfu.fujitsu.com/en/hhkeyboard/inquiry/index.html , looking up the contact info for the company, and sending them a message. Tell them how you would use such a keyboard and why you think there's a market for a well-designed compact BT keyboard. --phil Entity Phil Earnhardt uttered this profundity: > I recently contacted PFU systems and asked them what their plans were > for a compact Bluetooth keyboard; they said they had no current plans. I'm using a Logitech Bluetooth mouse and I like it, except for a small problem with cursor speed. No problems yet and it does free up a USB port. But it takes batteries. This is a heavy mouse and gets tiring after hours of use. I'm guessing a lot of potential users are scared off by the prospect of constant battery maintenance. They could make built-in photovoltaic collectors s ambient light could keep it going. Other than that, I can't think of a good reason to not make one. -- Gnarlie > I'm using a Logitech Bluetooth mouse and I like it, except for a small > problem with cursor speed. No problems yet and it does free up a USB port. > But it takes batteries. This is a heavy mouse and gets tiring after hours of > use. I'm using an Apple bluetooth one-button mouse and am very happy with it. I know, I know, but there are some of us that are very content and productive with the mouse/keyboard combinations as an alternative to a multi-button mouse. I use the mouse on a pad which provides a smidgen of resistance to movement which, at least in my mind, improves positioning accuracy. As for batteries, the two AAs need replacing about every other month.  SignatureJames L. Ryan -- TaliesinSoft > I'm guessing a lot of potential users are scared off by the prospect of > constant battery maintenance. Not "scared off" - quite... If it runs on batteries, it doesn't get used with my system. Period. Full stop. No discussion. World without end, amen. It's a lesson learned *LONG* ago when I had an IBM PCjr with its damned battery-operated wireless (IR, in those days) keyboard. It never failed - I'd sit down to do something, and the keyboard batteries would be dead, without a spare set to be found anywhere in the house, and by the time I located a fresh set (or scavenged enough "not new, but not dead" ones out of various other articles in the house to replace the dead set), I'd invariably forget what it was I'd wanted to do in the first place. *NEVER* again, regardless of advances in battery and/or hardware technology. I won't even *CONSIDER* using a battery powered peripheral under any circumstances anymore. Gimme something wired to the main machine that gets its power from there, and all is well. Don't even bother to offer me a battery-powered computer gizmo - If I happen to be in a good mood and you do, I'll likely pitch it in the junk-box for later disassembly as spare parts. If I'm in a particularly foul mood, the emergency room chart on your case might well read "Patient presented with acute pains in the nether regions - upon x-ray exam, patient was determined to be suffering from having what appears to be some kind of computer hardware lodged in his rectum." :) SignatureDon Bruder - dakidd@sonic.net - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist, or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow" somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd> for more info > If it runs on batteries, it doesn't get used with my system. Period. > Full stop. No discussion. World without end, amen. Okay, let's go for a solar-powered keyboard. I hadn't thought of that before! SignatureA few minutes ago I attempted to give a flying fsck, but the best I could do was to watch it skitter across the floor. (Anthony de Boer) > > If it runs on batteries, it doesn't get used with my system. Period. > > Full stop. No discussion. World without end, amen. > > Okay, let's go for a solar-powered keyboard. I hadn't thought of that > before! As long as it'll operate with light levels as low as that put out by the typical monitor, it's an idea that I'd at least consider. Otherwise, I'd have to class it the same as any other battery powered wireless computer whatsit other than a complete laptop: either "a not-yet-disassembled source of spare electronic bits and pieces" or "an object with which to cause the person handing it to me intense pain in as creative a fashion as possible" :) SignatureDon Bruder - dakidd@sonic.net - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist, or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow" somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd> for more info >> If it runs on batteries, it doesn't get used with my system. Period. >> Full stop. No discussion. World without end, amen. > >Okay, let's go for a solar-powered keyboard. I hadn't thought of that >before! How about a keyboard powered by piezoelectricity? I recently started reading Oschman's book "Energy Medicine." This book discusses how electromagnetic forces are used to create and maintain low-level structures in our bodies. Our bones apparently use micro-voltage piezoelectric potentials to adapt to stress; we've got RC and RLC circuits in our bodies out the wazoo. It seems like a natural to use piezoelectricity to generate power for a keyboard. Power typing takes on an entirely new meaning! It would be very cool if low-power portables like OLPC ( http://laptop.media.mit.edu/ ) could be powered by the user's keystrokes themselves and get rid of that ugly hand crank. --phil >It's a lesson learned *LONG* ago when I had an IBM PCjr with its damned >battery-operated wireless (IR, in those days) keyboard. It never failed [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >set), I'd invariably forget what it was I'd wanted to do in the first >place. Is there nothing clever that could be done to deal with this today? Clearly, the BT keyboard could figure out within a minute or so that it should stop transmitting those keystrokes.... --phil > I recently contacted PFU systems and asked them > what their plans were for a compact Bluetooth keyboard; > they said they had no current plans. Twenty years ago Atari was putting the entire computer minus disk drive in the keyboard. That would be no trick today with a HD and CD-DVD. Add a trackball and IR to drive the monitor. Still, the keyboard - computer would need a power supply. Ahhh! shades of Tesla, wireless power transmission. Dan > RE: Phil Earnhardt wrote: >> [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > would need a power supply. Ahhh! shades of Tesla, wireless power > transmission. Dan So, would we then end up as did the infamous Cube where the power brick was as big as the computer? SignatureJames L. Ryan -- TaliesinSoft > > Dan wrote: > > Twenty years ago Atari had the entire computer minus disk drive [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > So, would we then end up as did the infamous Cube where the power > brick was as big as the computer? James L. Ryan -- TaliesinSoft Not likely. Power requirements are way down from what they were 20 years ago. Atari's computer-in-the-keyboard was quit nice. IIRC, a little larger than the Happy Hacker but compact compared with most any of today's. For many years Apples were marketed with a compact keyboard. Dan |
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