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Cell phone sport developer, Xinming Chen, also called pymo, stepped again a few a long time for a cellular gadget hack. This Palm Transportable Keyboard (PPK) Bluetooth adapter makes use of an Adafruit nRF52 Bluefruit LE to upcycle the classic fold-up keyboard right into a usable accent for contemporary cellular gadgets.
“DIY mission that turns the traditional Palm Transportable Keyboard right into a Bluetooth keyboard. It may be paired with any laptop computer, telephone or pill that has Bluetooth, giving us a really transportable and cozy type-on-the-go choice.” — pymo
The Palm Transportable Keyboard folds itself right into a handy carrying case when not in use. When unfolded, nevertheless, the consumer had a keyboard about the identical dimension as modern laptops. Since these keyboards typically pre-date Bluetooth, there’s not a lot utility for them at the moment — until you might be nonetheless utilizing a Palm V!
3D printing and a few trimmed wires assist keyboard generations (📷: pymo)
Chen’s PPK BT Adapter plugs into the keyboard the place a Palm III or Palm V would usually go. The 3D-printed enclosure cleverly makes use of wires to adapt to the proprietary connector. As soon as related, the Adafruit’s nRF52840-powered Feather communicates with (and powers) the keyboard matrix and pairs to cellular gadgets. Sadly, the keyboard’s IO indicators are usually not instantly suitable with the nRF52840’s GPIO pins. Luckily, a easy transistor and voltage divider-based logic converter circuit do the required shifting.
Stage shifting circuit on the again of a Bluefruit LE (📷: pymo)
This PPK adapter is much like one other mission which used an ESP32. Nonetheless, the nRF52840 is extra energy-efficient, and since it’s a Feather kind issue, it has a built-in LiPo battery charging circuit. Alternatively, the Adafruit nRF52 Bluefruit LE is barely costlier than an ESP32.
The Arduino IDE can program the Feather. Nonetheless, Chen offers ready-to-go firmware in the event you choose simply to plug and play. The present firmware controls an LED to point the LiPo battery’s charging state, allows pairing with a Bluetooth-enabled cellular gadget, and the required code to interface to the Palm Pilot Keyboard.
For individuals who need to construct a Palm Transportable Keyboard Adapter, this GitHub repo consists of clearly written construct directions, intensive photos of the development steps, 3D-printable enclosure items, and Arduino IDE suitable firmware information
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