Guest ghm101 Posted September 20, 2004 Report Share Posted September 20, 2004 Am I an optimist to think someone will make an adaptor that would allow a C500 to use the old spv E100E200 Elektex soft keyboard :?: Then I will only need to get a widgit instead of a whole new keyboard 8) No doubt there are numerous techinal reasons why this can't be done and we have to spend the extra. :cry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dade Posted September 20, 2004 Report Share Posted September 20, 2004 Unfortunately this wouldn't work, the keyboard are serial devices and the C500 is USB only. The only option for C500 keyboards is going to be Bluetooth or IRDA. Shame that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fozzie Posted September 20, 2004 Report Share Posted September 20, 2004 Hmm, not sure that's strictly true. It's still serial data - the SPVs have serial data ports that connect to a USB port on the PC. Just because the connector is a mini USB style connector I don't think it means that it doesn't support serial data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dade Posted September 20, 2004 Report Share Posted September 20, 2004 Been talking to O about this a lot. Aint no serial data on the C500 connector! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fozzie Posted September 20, 2004 Report Share Posted September 20, 2004 But there is on the SPV and E200, which also directly connect to a USB port on the PC? Hmmmm......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dade Posted September 20, 2004 Report Share Posted September 20, 2004 Yes but all of these have far more pins on the connector. Im just telling you what O have told me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fozzie Posted September 20, 2004 Report Share Posted September 20, 2004 Oh, that's ok then! At least it's come from a reliable source! What bunkum. USB is USB is USB....... The connection onto the PC has four pins - +5v, GND, +data & -data i.e. serial data! You said that you had been talking to them a lot about this, what else did they say? To answer the original question, the issue will be one of software drivers for the keyboard. I don't expect Orange have plans to write them. Whether they are something that could be written and implemented by a third party, I wouldn't like to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest the_ugly_north Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 You're all missing the point that the C500 mini-usb is a slave port not a host one (powered). Therefore any keyboard connected through it must be self powered. So the elektek will not work..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fozzie Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 That would be pretty easy to solve with an 'engineered' cable solution and a battery pack. It might not be elegant but we don't do these things for their looks - we do them because we can :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dade Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 'Power' isnt the issue here with USB. Its more complex than that. The C500 is, and can only be, a 'slave' so that would mean that the keyboard or joypad device would have to act as the USB Host (master) which is Unlikely to say the least! www.usb.org for more info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ghm101 Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 I have emailed www.elektex.com to see what they say on this.. let you know what the reply is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest the_ugly_north Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 ghm101, The reply will be 'It won't work'. Saved you waiting.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ghm101 Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 Happy to wait and hear what they say Poss answers might be 1. No hope 2. Yes we are working on an adaptor wigit that will provide power and connectivity. 3. No wont work but here are the details of our next SoftTextor that will. maybe a nice bluetooth one. no skin off my nose waiting for a hardwaresoftware devoloper to reply, its a habbit I have developed through years of practice. I mentioned I was an optimist.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fozzie Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 'Power' isnt the issue here with USB. Its more complex than that. The C500 is, and can only be, a 'slave' so that would mean that the keyboard or joypad device would have to act as the USB Host (master) which is Unlikely to say the least! So what was the original SPV & E200 which also directly connected to the PCs USB port but do work with the 'serial' keyboard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ghm101 Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 fozzie I agree, there are plenty of USB to Serial adaptors available for other uses. One that springs to mind is the USB to DB9 comm port adaptor I've got in my laptop bag. It probably would be complex and require some sort of SPV software update as well as a widget to connect. but thats just a guess. The answer, iff it comes will be interesting in any event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fozzie Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 I'm just waiting for someone to explain how come 2 phones, both of which directly connect to the USB port on a PC without any convertors, can have completely different interfaces (and I'm not talking about the physical layer) :?: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ghm101 Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 Answer received from from Eleksen - Business Development Manager. "Thanks for your mail re the keyboard and the fact it won't work with the new SPV c500. There are no plans at present to provide a 'connector' and as you are aware it is not quite as straight forward as that due to other changes made to the phone. We are currently evaluating the value of moving the flexible keyboard products forward and bringing them back to market to work with a wider range of handheld devices. We will post regular news items and launches on our website, please check it out for information. Regards" Probably about what was expected and par for the course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jasonkruys Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 Bluetooth stowaway keyboard reported as compatible here... http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/product/4262.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ghm101 Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 The Bluetooth stowaway keyboard looks good, so does the Projector Keyboard (http://www.internity.co.uk/vkb.asp) but both are a bit expensive and will have to go in the "stuff i really want but can't justify" category Along with the i-phono bluetooth stereo headset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ghm101 Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 An Additional Reply from Eleksen - different individual - seems they are waiting for orange before acting. "Orange have been in contact with me to ask how easy it would be to change the cradle on the keyboard to fit the C500, which I have also. It is reasonably easy for us to make this change and I am waiting to hear back from Orange. ...... ....I would very much like to be able to please you and the others who are interested." Furthermore, Eleksen have offered to put me in contact with the relevant person at orange and I will draw Oranges attention to our interest in this matter. So Orange will hopefully be influenced by the interest shown in this topic and go on to implement some form of keyboard adaptation. Maybe there is hope? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fozzie Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Now that does sound promising, although of course, it may only apply to new keyboards bought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dade Posted September 25, 2004 Report Share Posted September 25, 2004 I'd love to know how they think they can do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ghm101 Posted September 27, 2004 Report Share Posted September 27, 2004 I have spoke to both Eleksen and Orange the technical side an adaptor does not seem to be the issue. It is more a question of the Will. I was told by orange this morning that they were disappointed by sales of the orignal SPV keyboard. These low sales numbers do not create the necessasary demand for an adaptor. Instead, (in true IT tradition), the old Keyboard will be obsolete and a new one offered to the market. ETA December. Orange also mentioned that a fully rigged car kit would be availabe by then as well. (they apparently tested some for the older SPVs and none of them passed). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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