"Oneswitch Pup" keyboard modfication

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greengeek
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"Oneswitch Pup" keyboard modfication

#1 Post by greengeek »

** See third post below for much easier mod**

This thread offers a tutorial that is intended to help people modify a keyboard so that it can be used as an interface for the "Oneswitch Pup" pet requested for the benefit of disabled users in the original thread here:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=84617

Latest Oneswitch pet (at time of writing...) here:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=87418

My original versions of SwitchPup here:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=85466

******************
** See third post below for much easier mod**

It is difficult to post a proper tutorial on the forum due to the difficulty of putting multiple images into a single post, so the pdf version of this tutorial is a 1MB download available here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/z9tur ... torial.pdf
(This tutorial is for a usb keyboard which in this cases uses a "membrane style" internal construction. I hope to post more tutorials for other types of keyboard - although the principles will be very similar)

Basically it is necessary to open up the keyboard, locate the cables that supply the "grid wires" that criss cross to each keyswitch, measure the pins till you locate the pair which come from the Pause/Break key, then solder a couple of wires and a resistor into that circuit. More details in the downloadable pdf.
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greengeek
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#2 Post by greengeek »

There is an easier way to achieve this:

SFR has written the oneswitch gui in such a way that we have complete control over which keyboard, and which keyswitch we use to trigger the mouse movement. Therefore I decided to try an external usb numeric keypad and use the "5" key in the middle of the pad to do the triggering.

EDIT : I recommend the silicon keyboard mod (shown in the post after this one) in preference to this modified numeric pad. (This numeric keypad mod does work but requires someone to manually switch off the numlock - at least until I find a mod to achieve this...)

The numeric keypad only cost me $6 so it is a cheap option - but does have one drawback - the numlock key has to be manually turned off after booting (I plan to add another mod to turn the numlock off automatically if I can)
(The silicon fullsize keyboard mod in the next post is probably a better option)

The numeric keypad mod tutorial is here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/998cn ... ation2.pdf
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greengeek
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#3 Post by greengeek »

UPDATED 27 July 2013

I have found that the rollable silicon keyboards can easily be modified to be turned into a really nice hotpluggable usb interface for OneSwitch.

Tutorial here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/ilam8 ... torial.pdf

If using this interface with my AutoStart version of switchpup (which uses SFRs new keyhunter script) it puts total control in the hands of the disabled user - without anyone else needing to do any configuration for them.
EDIT : (The latest Radar_firstrun version includes keyhunter now also)

Pups that don't have the keyhunter script will need a small manual change made to the "event" setting in OneSwitch. Details are included at the end of the tutorial.
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standard7452
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#4 Post by standard7452 »

The number keyboard is exactly what I did when I made my first switch interface.

I also had luck using one of the membrane type keyboards and lightly sanding off the super thin layer of insulation (if it is even the correct term) on the ribbon tape to expose a little copper and then soldering from there.

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greengeek
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#5 Post by greengeek »

For anyone who might someday need this sort of adapter I just found an interesting site that offers photos of hundreds of "accessibility" switches that could be used to connect to the keyboard/keypad adapters:
https://plus.google.com/photos/10731235 ... banner=pwa

Seems as if the 3.5mm mono connector is a common choice so that is a happy coincidence.

Camera switches used by skydivers are another option:
http://conceptusinc.com/biteswitch.htm

Also found a site that uses the "oneswitch" name to promote their disabled assistive activities and products, so I'm hoping they do not feel our use of the name encroaches on their activities: http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/index.htm
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greengeek
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#6 Post by greengeek »

Added another tutorial to my third post above - it shows how to use a "rollable silicon" keyboard as a donor to make a hotpluggable usb interface for OneSwitch.

This is a very easy, cheap and effective mod. (More effective than the numeric keypad mod which I need to improve due to a design oversight)

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Ted Dog
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#7 Post by Ted Dog »

Cool I hope I saved mine, a new puppy (real dog.. not linux) teethed on one I had, Now if only I could find it. Most likely placed it in the rubbish-bin.
Still looking for my golden cache of soldering irons. I've used to have many and have not found a single one in the months since we started this project... Did find my 7th grade report cards, was not as good a student as I thought I was :?

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Ted Dog
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#8 Post by Ted Dog »

WOW that one switch website is a treasure, I do not think there will be much of an issue with name confusion, He is WAY WAY ahead of the effort we are just starting.
We should join forces.....


We could spend hours following his links... :lol:

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