Dual role wireless keyboard

Perhaps I should have defined 'reasonably priced'.

For example, a quick Google gives

Bluetooth keyboards

Noted (grumble) that like many others this seems to be a US keyboard.

Bluetooth dongle

Basically, wired keyboards are cheap as chips.

Bluetooth USB dongles are a pound or so.

So the cost of bluetooth circuitry is low. The cost of keyboard hardware is low.

None of this indicates why a decent quality keyboard/mouse with bluetooth

I did wonder if it was the cost of the mouse (but why) however I can find

Grump.

Dave R

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Windows 8.1 on PCSpecialist box

[...]

The cost of *cheap* keyboard hardware is low, and for a reason.

Two words; switch mechanism.

If you type a lot, the difference in using a micro-switch keyboard is immediately apparent.

I have used the same Compaq keyboard for close to two decades; it's so old it doesn't even have a 'Windows' Key. (Which is great as I'm a Linux user!) It weighs as much as some netbooks, but it's terrific to use. I have dismantled it twice so I could put all the non-electrical parts in the dish-washer, so it still looks like new.

Chris

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Remove prejudice to reply.

You may also want to define "decently sized" - full size? With keypad? With fullsize cursors? Plus you mention a mouse in the title but not in the body... any preferences there? Trackpad built into the keyboard perhaps?

Cheers - Jaimie

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To every complex problem there is a solution which is simple, neat and wrong. 
                                                               -- HL Mencken

O.K - just wandered round my motley collection of keyboards and the answer seems to be around 11" wide for the alphanumeric keys plus extra width for cursor keys plus numeric keypad.

This would equate more or less to "full sized".

Separate mouse if possible as I don't get on with track p[ads and tend to use a mouse with a laptop.

I am reasonably aware of quality levels in keyboards and Logitech seem to provide acceptable quality across their range.

seems to meet my requirements with regards to keyboard and mouse but only in 2.4 GHz wireless, not in bluetooth.

There seems to be no general demand for "full sized" bluetooth keyboards despite the fact that they don't only sell phones and tablets to people with tiny hands.

Cheers

Dave R

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Windows 8.1 on PCSpecialist box

If it makes you feel any better, I also hate tiny keyboards. However, most people with a tablet want a tablet sized keyboard. Deity knows how they use the buggahs.

rd

Does it have to be Bluetooth? Presumably the 2.4Ghz Rx is USB, so just get an OTG (On The Go) cable for the Android device. I've a mini keyboard with touch pad for use as a remote with Pi running XBMC. Take the USB Rx from the Pi pop it onto an OTG cable for a Galaxy Tab and it works with that as keyboard and mouse.

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Cheers 
Dave.

Not always, since some of the expensive ones are membrane mechanisms like all the rest.

One 'desktop' Bluetooth keyboard I could mention is the Apple version, especially the older full-size A1016. 25 quid from ebay:

(ouch, postage is heavy though)

Or there's the aluminium one without keypads, but maybe that's too small.

I looked up the prices of Logitech's multitouch competitors to Apple's mice the other day - they're even more expensive. Not sure that Logitech understand this pricing thing.

Theo

I don't have the solution for your problem because I think you will probably find the keyboard I use too small and too expensive. It's the Logitech K810 . I have responded because most bluetooth keyboards including the recommended DiNovo Edge and Apple Wireless Keyboard would require you to go through the pairing process each time you switch between your computers. The K810 pairs with up to three computers simultaneously and you change between them by pressing a function key.

If the price is acceptable you might find the size is not a problem. The smaller size is achieved by eliminating several keys so the spacing is similar to a "full size" keyboard. A friend who was a professional typist in the days of the IBM Selectric is happy with hers.

The current Apple keyboard will pair with multiple devices:

but the issue is more that it has to decide which one to send keypresses to, if you have both in the room at once. Turning off BT on the ones you don't want is one solution, but not ideal if you want to say talk on a BT headset to your phone while typing on your tablet, and then pair the phone with the keyboard when you're on the road.

Theo

Hmmm, I must be doing something wrong, then.

It so happens that this lunchtime I bought a Logitech K270 from Asda's

I've tried connecting the receiver to an OTG cable and connecting that to a couple of Android 4.2 tablets, one rooted, one not rooted, and I can't get anything to happen. I have various USB diagnostic programs loaded on the tablets, but they just seem to expect a memory stick to be connected or say they don't detect any usb hardware.

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Bill

My main reason for not using USB with the tablet is the location of the USB port - I have a Sony Xperia Z tablet and the USB port is on the "bottom" both in the case/stand and the official Sony charger/stand.

This makes a bluetooth keyboard far more attractive for the tablet. I would just like one solution for that and the Pi.

I note also that some have had problems with OTG cables. I have such a cable which works with hard drives but I haven't tested it with a keyboard yet.

Cheers

Dave R

pictures show a US keyboard (as do most of those for bluetooth keyboards). Sell UK keyboards in the UK!!!!!!!!!!

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Windows 8.1 on PCSpecialist box

Thanks for the correction but that doesn't seem like a good solution to the problem of pairing an input device with multiple computers. The K810 is paired with up to three computers but only talks to one of them at a time as selected by a function key.

running

Galaxy

be

How odd, just to make sure I wasn't confusing myself between wireless and wired keyboard/mouse connected via an OTG cable to a Samsung Galaxy Tab running Android 4.2.2 I've just tried the wireless and it worked fine.

You are trying with an OTG cable? ie one that terminates with a socket that a memory stick plugs directly into? Does a memory stick work? (To prove the cable at least).

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Cheers 
Dave.

In message , Dave Liquorice writes

I'll need to look into this a bit more.

Yes I'm trying with an OTG cable, and yes I can play video from a usb stick plugged into that cable.

However, when I try to play a video from the stick that I've downloaded from YouTube, and which is still in flv format, playback is very prone to garbling. If I go back onto YouTube and play the same video, it plays solidly. The same thing happens on both these low-end but otherwise good tablets, but I am "playing" with other things at the moment, so haven't investigated any more.

I'd be interested if anyone could recommend a worthwhile USB diagnostic app for Android 4.2. I've downloaded a few in trying to get external audio interfaces to work, but have not made much progress with any USB testing or device operation.

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Bill

Slowly grinding on with this.

I have bought some OTG cables to test support for USB wireless keyboards and mice - with the intention of buying a wireless solution and using OTG instead of Bluetooth - and I have mixed results.

With my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone the OTG cable works with my Microsoft USB keyboard with an optical mouse plugged into the USB hub on top of the keyboard.

[The one with a micro USB connector as well to allegedly charge the device whilst using OTG works as an OTG lead but will not charge.]

However when I plug the OTG cable plus keyboard and mouse into my Sony Xperia Z 10" tablet the keyboard and mouse are not recognised.

Which is a bugger as the tablet would benefit most from having a screen and keyboard.

I am soldiering on but I still haven't found one solution which works for everything.

Cheers

Dave R

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Windows 8.1 on PCSpecialist box

Bugger!

Went back and double checked and the cable just provides external power. It does not charge the device. Oh, well.

Dave R

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Windows 8.1 on PCSpecialist box

Urgh! Confused me again.

I now have a Logitech EX110 keyboard/mouse working wirelessly with the tablet through an OTG cable.

I was about to go shopping for a Logitech Kxxx keyboard as I have an M570 tracker ball mouse with a unifying receiver which would work well with any 'unifying' keyboard.

Will test the mouse to confirm that it works.

I have no idea why Microsoft USB cabled keyboards don't work.

The optical mouse is strange also - will work with my W7 PC but not my Raspberry Pi.

Cheers

Dave R

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Windows 8.1 on PCSpecialist box