espruino - is this possible to connect BT Keyboard?

Hi,

I wonder if I could connect a BT Keyboard to the espruino.
I have this kind of mini keyboard for my Smartphone:
https://deardeerfashion.com/products/ult­ra-slim-mini-bluetooth-keyboard-for-ipho­ne-android-os-pc-ps3-ipda-mouse-accessor­ies-c871b

Thanks you,
Bogdan

Fri 2019.03.08

Hello Bogdan, @user90306 I see that you have been with us nearly a year. Thank you for being a supporter of Espruino!

Specifically, which device(s) were the desired connection partner? Puck, MDBT42Q, Pixl?

'I have this kind of'

So, do you have that exact keyboard as in #1 above, or are you just hunting for ideas at this point? It would be a shame to expend Espruino's developer resources on just an idea. Please elaborate.


I did a quick cursory search, but was unable to locate a device specifications pdf. Have you a link that may speed researching for a reply for you? Have you attempted any of the tutorials and are just stuck at this point?

While I am unable to answer your request directly, collecting some basic info will assist others in arriving at the answer you seek.

Please tell us of the successes you have had with which Espruino device(s) . . . .

Thanks Rob for some comments.

I used to use espruino at the very beginning - I used to test the STM32VLDiscovery board many years ago and used to report issues directly to Gordon for a few months.
At that time I used to develop nokia-phone based GSM alert system (home automation and boiler temperature control). And the event based-design was pretty cool to handle FBUS communication.

Now I see that the product is much more mature and decided to play with it again (after a few years). I have not decided what particular espruino hw suits me the most yet.

I do have the mentioned keyboard and it works fine with the smartphone and Windows.
The chipset is very common - Broadcom BCM2042. I would say it's typical design of BT HID keyboard.

I believe this could be ported from this project (not sure if the espruino support USB host functionality):
https://blog.tkjelectronics.dk/2013/12/b­luetooth-hid-devices-now-supported-by-th­e-usb-host-library/

Thanks for the clarification response Bogdan.

I'm always amazed at the different directions one may chase, and you have quite a niche that I have limited knowledge in. As there has been contact with @Gordon in the past, the links and detail you have provided should provide a clearer view and understanding to those that will respond.

The boiler temp GSM alert system sounds like a fun project indeed!!

The bluetooth & HID seem to be quite common today.

Why I considered BT keyboard? I was looking for decent qwerty keyboard for my STM32-based project. And haven't found anything interesting without BT.

Hi Bogdan - it's been a while! Espruino has improved a lot :)

@Robin Bogdan first used Espruino about 6 years ago!

If you have a Bluetooth LE keyboard then it should be possible to get one of the Bluetooth LE Espruinos to talk to it. I'm not aware of any example code for doing it, but I believe it's reasonably straightforward to listen to the relevant BT characteristic. The keyboard you posted is a Bluetooth 3 one (rather than 4.2) though so I'm afraid you won't have any luck there.

There's no USB Host support on Espruino, and while there was talk of making a library to interface to a USB Host controller chip (I think Microchip make one?) I don't think anyone actually did it.

Having said that, I believe a lot of keyboards/wireless receivers still support PS/2 comms if they're powered up with the USB pins connected a certain way (pullup?). It's hard to find full info on which ones support it but it could be worth trying.

You can easily get PS/2 data just using setWatch(...,clock_pin,{data:data_pin,ed­ge:"falling"/*?*/}) though, so you can connect that way.

Hope that helps!

Hi Gordon,

Thanks for your comments. The size matters that's why I selected this particular keyboard model.

Anyway, see some options to solve my problem. One of them includes the espruino genuine hardware.

Have a nice day!