19 May
2005
19 May
'05
5:04 p.m.
Hi folks,
Recently I've picked up the bits of the infra-red Apricot keyboard that
Jules investigated at my place and left in bits all over one of my
sofas :)
It's a membrane activated by springs and quite a lot of the keys don't
register with the host machine which in wired keyboards points to a
dodgy membrane.....however, in this case there might also be some issue
with the infra-red emitters, so short of dragging a digital video
camera down to my southern home is there a way of watching the
infra-red emitters to see if they're working OK?
I know CCD based video cameras can see infra-red......
Apologies in advance if this message appears garbled, I'm using an
awfully off-topic Mac G4 with OSX 10.2 and I'm not used to its settings
yet :) The machine was going to be dumped yesterday because 'it doesn't
work'..........oh yes it does :D
Cheers,
a
19 May
19 May
5:27 p.m.
On Thu, 2005-05-19 at 22:04 +0100, Adrian Graham wrote:
Hi folks,
Recently I've picked up the bits of the infra-red Apricot keyboard that
Jules investigated at my place and left in bits all over one of my
sofas :)
Hey, the task was merely to see how it came apart - you were on yer own
after that point! ;)
I know CCD based video cameras can see infra-red......
Hmm, you got me curious there... had a poke around via google; some
digital cameras seem perfectly capable of it, but you need an IR filter
over the lens (presumably you need this for a camcorder too)
I'd be surprised if the IR was the problem though; it's obviously
working in some fashion to be letting some keys through. Seems more
likely that the membrane's borked (I suppose you could make a note of
what keys don't work, then check for continuity through the membrane
when those keys are pressed...)
Apologies in advance if this message appears garbled,
I'm using an
awfully off-topic Mac G4 with OSX 10.2 and I'm not used to its settings
yet :)
Did you get the quick one? Did you bring that HP rack home? ;)
seeya
J.
6:02 p.m.
Jules Richardson wrote:
On Thu, 2005-05-19 at 22:04 +0100, Adrian Graham
wrote:
Not really - if you use a camcorder with an IR remote, and you stand in
shot with it, you can clearly see the LED winking away.
I've removed the IR filter from my Philips PWC680K webcam before, and
got some surprising results - one pair of black jeans I have shows up as
white! You can use a bit of completely black film from the end of a
roll of negatives as a very effective IR pass filter. It will block out
the visible light but you'll see near IR. The first time I did this I
wasn't entirely sure it was working, until I started to look closely at
it...
Gordon
Hi folks,
Recently I've picked up the bits of the infra-red Apricot keyboard that
Jules investigated at my place and left in bits all over one of my
sofas :)
Hey, the task was merely to see how it came apart - you were on yer own
after that point! ;)
I know CCD based video cameras can see
infra-red......
Hmm, you got me curious there... had a poke around via google; some
digital cameras seem perfectly capable of it, but you need an IR filter
over the lens (presumably you need this for a camcorder too)
6:13 p.m.
On Thu, 2005-05-19 at 21:27 +0000, Jules Richardson wrote:
Further to that, it works nicely with my Canon G5 with a minimum of
fuss....
No need to even use a filter; just stick the camera on auto mode and the
IR led on a remote control is easily visible on the camera's LCD. So,
basically, just go try it...
I did find a site that mentions using a bit of offcut from a
conventional camera negative as a useful filter to pass IR and cut
everything else. I've got a suitable bit, so I might give that a try
just for the sake of seeing what IR shots I can get...
cheers
Jules
I know CCD
based video cameras can see infra-red......
Hmm, you got me curious there... had a poke around via google; some
digital cameras seem perfectly capable of it, but you need an IR filter
over the lens (presumably you need this for a camcorder too)
6:39 p.m.
Hey, the task was merely to see how it came apart -
you were on yer own
after that point! ;)
Good job I got it back together in one piece then! It's all horribly
clean underneath the screws and plastic....
digital cameras seem perfectly capable of it, but you
need an IR filter
over the lens (presumably you need this for a camcorder too)
Nope, ours is a Sony MiniDV or something and you can point it at a bog
standard remote control and watch the flashes...blinkenlights...mmmm :)
likely that the membrane's borked (I suppose you
could make a note of
what keys don't work, then check for continuity through the membrane
when those keys are pressed...)
That's the next step, though not the NEXTStep. Did you see what I did
there? I'll do some testing next week.
Did you get the quick one? Did you bring that HP rack
home? ;)
Yup and nope. I'm still without the means to strap a 42U rack to the
top of my car!
cheers,
A
7:32 p.m.
Hi folks,
Recently I've picked up the bits of the infra-red Apricot keyboard that
Jules investigated at my place and left in bits all over one of my
sofas :)
It's a membrane activated by springs and quite a lot of the keys don't
register with the host machine which in wired keyboards points to a
dodgy membrane.....however, in this case there might also be some issue
with the infra-red emitters, so short of dragging a digital video
Surely there's one encoder and IR transmitter for the entire keyboard
(there may be several IR LEDs, but normally they're wired in series and
send the same information). In which case if _any_ keys work, then it's
very unlikely the problem is with the IR transmitter.
camera down to my southern home is there a way of
watching the
infra-red emitters to see if they're working OK?
There's a little circuit in an old issue of the Maplin Magazine for an IR
remote control tester. I've found it very useful for testing IR
keyboards, detecing the beam in a laser printer, etc. Such circuits have
also appeared in Television magazine over the years.
There used to be (and probably still are) cards available -- about credit
card sized -- coated with some special phosphor material. You 'charge'
them by exposing them to normal light, and then they glow if hit with an
IR beam. You can recharge them many times, I am not sure what the
lifetime is.
-tony
20 May
20 May
3:08 a.m.
Tony wrote:
Surely there's one encoder and IR transmitter for
the entire keyboard
(there may be several IR LEDs, but normally they're wired in series and
send the same information). In which case if _any_ keys work, then it's
very unlikely the problem is with the IR transmitter.
True, I'm just trying to eliminate all possibilities because the
mechanical side of things looks OK - no obvious cracks or breaks etc.
card sized -- coated with some special phosphor
material. You 'charge'
them by exposing them to normal light, and then they glow if hit with an
IR beam. You can recharge them many times, I am not sure what the
lifetime is.
Those would be handy! Any idea of manufacturer name etc? I'll do some
searching at work.....
cheers
--
adrian/witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UKs biggest home computer collection?
2:12 p.m.
card sized --
coated with some special phosphor material. You 'charge'
them by exposing them to normal light, and then they glow if hit with an
IR beam. You can recharge them many times, I am not sure what the
lifetime is.
Those would be handy! Any idea of manufacturer name etc? I'll do some
searching at work.....
cheers
--
adrian/witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UKs biggest home computer collection?
7003
days inactive
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8 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
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ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
geoffreythomas＠onetel.com -
gordon＠gjcp.net -
julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk -
witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk