5 ms·

Rotary dialer as USB keyboard

64 points by eniac111 4y ago

eniac111 4y ago
https://www.olimex.com/Products/Duino/AVR/OLIMEXINO-85-ASM/open-source-hardware https://www.olimex.com/Products/Duino/AVR/OLIMEXINO-85-ASM/o... was used for keyboard emulation :)
- unwind 4y ago
  Very cute, if rather old-school at this point, board. It's cool that you managed to do this using software USB, too! It's both weird and wonderful that they show two out of three pictures with the full-size ("printer style") USB B connector. I guess old Arduinos had that, so they're trying to be part of the family, but it seems like a rather obnoxious choice for a board that small.
  - tyingq 4y ago
    It was designed in 2013. Olimex seems to keep models around without retiring them longer than other companies like them.
  - eniac111 4y ago
    I've always wondered why they use USB-B. They also use usb-b mini for other boards, which is almost instinct nowadays.
eniac111 4y ago
Edit: I've added build info :)
sparrish 4y ago
That's pretty cool and very retro. Get a good build quality and I bet you could sell them as desktop toys.
aussieshibe 4y ago
This reminds me of this project replacing the tenkeys with a rotary dial on a mechanical keyboard: https://squidgeefish.com/projects/rotary-keyboard/ https://squidgeefish.com/projects/rotary-keyboard/
xbruteforce 4y ago
Nice!
harvie 4y ago
https://github.com/Harvie/RotaryDial https://github.com/Harvie/RotaryDial
Gravityloss 4y ago
The rotary dialer was designed the way it was not from human input point of view but to mechanically generate the different number of pulses for each number, necessary for dialing. Phones thankfully moved on with the arrival of electronics which allowed a more human friendly interface. But we still use keyboards with the same form factor that was dictated by mechanical typewriter constraints. I'm not talking about QWERTY but the whole device. Think about your unnatural posture when writing both hands on a keyboard. We could do a lot better but for some reason things like split keyboards haven't caught on. Path dependency is one tremendous force.
- AlgorithmicTime 4y ago
  [dead]
- 082349872349872 4y ago
  > ...not from human input point of view but to mechanically generate the different number of pulses... It was even possible to generate the pulses by hand, by flashing the hangup pogos. Very useful to make outgoing calls from phones which had their dials locked/removed ... if a bit painful when the number one wished to call had an '9' or a '0' in it.
  - gr4yb34rd 4y ago
    when i was a kid trying to dial bbs numbers by tapping them out with the hook switch was like its own form of entertainment. there were other variables to contend with on those old at&t phones everyone had, as the pegs you release to off-hook the phone moved faster than the switch under them. this means you had to tap fast enough for the CO to see them as dial pulses, but also slow enough that the peg and switch mechanism doesn't separate and cause inconsistently timed or missed pulses.
- rgoulter 4y ago
  > We could do a lot better... I think the biggest win would be getting rid of the big spacebar, and replacing it with more keys. (The thumb is much stronger than the pinkies; but we use the pinkies for all sorts of keys, and the thumb only for a few keys). Although I think by the time a keyboard design gets rid of the big spacebar, it then goes on to make other improvements (like symmetry, being split) and so ends up as looking too unusual.
iraldir 4y ago
I could see that being a feature in a escape room, connected on an old timey minitel like screen
snshn 4y ago
There're similar input devices out there, e.g. https://askergoworks.com/products/blue-orb-inc-orbitouch-keyboard-kb10607-white https://askergoworks.com/products/blue-orb-inc-orbitouch-key...
nzoschke 4y ago
Very cool. I have a weird obsession with number input devices for my DIY jukebox. I could totally see using this to enter the 4 digits to pick a song. I’ve long thought about touch tone phone keypads too. There’s a frankenstein jukebox at Zam Zam in San Francisco that uses one. https://www.getjukelab.com/docs/numpads https://www.getjukelab.com/docs/numpads
jsjohnst 4y ago
Author goes to plug in USB cable to monitor. Seemingly has to spin the cable three times. Yep, definitely legit! USB-C may have its own category of problems, but at least directional superposition isn’t one of them.
- eniac111 4y ago
  I had to find the quantum superposition :)

64 points by eniac111 4y ago

https://www.olimex.com/Products/Duino/AVR/OLIMEXINO-85-ASM/open-source-hardware https://www.olimex.com/Products/Duino/AVR/OLIMEXINO-85-ASM/o... was used for keyboard emulation :)

unwind 4y ago
Very cute, if rather old-school at this point, board. It's cool that you managed to do this using software USB, too! It's both weird and wonderful that they show two out of three pictures with the full-size ("printer style") USB B connector. I guess old Arduinos had that, so they're trying to be part of the family, but it seems like a rather obnoxious choice for a board that small.
- tyingq 4y ago
  It was designed in 2013. Olimex seems to keep models around without retiring them longer than other companies like them.
- eniac111 4y ago
  I've always wondered why they use USB-B. They also use usb-b mini for other boards, which is almost instinct nowadays.

eniac111 4y ago

Edit: I've added build info :)

sparrish 4y ago

That's pretty cool and very retro. Get a good build quality and I bet you could sell them as desktop toys.

aussieshibe 4y ago

This reminds me of this project replacing the tenkeys with a rotary dial on a mechanical keyboard: https://squidgeefish.com/projects/rotary-keyboard/ https://squidgeefish.com/projects/rotary-keyboard/

xbruteforce 4y ago

Nice!

harvie 4y ago

https://github.com/Harvie/RotaryDial https://github.com/Harvie/RotaryDial

Gravityloss 4y ago

The rotary dialer was designed the way it was not from human input point of view but to mechanically generate the different number of pulses for each number, necessary for dialing. Phones thankfully moved on with the arrival of electronics which allowed a more human friendly interface. But we still use keyboards with the same form factor that was dictated by mechanical typewriter constraints. I'm not talking about QWERTY but the whole device. Think about your unnatural posture when writing both hands on a keyboard. We could do a lot better but for some reason things like split keyboards haven't caught on. Path dependency is one tremendous force.

AlgorithmicTime 4y ago
[dead]
082349872349872 4y ago
> ...not from human input point of view but to mechanically generate the different number of pulses... It was even possible to generate the pulses by hand, by flashing the hangup pogos. Very useful to make outgoing calls from phones which had their dials locked/removed ... if a bit painful when the number one wished to call had an '9' or a '0' in it.
- gr4yb34rd 4y ago
  when i was a kid trying to dial bbs numbers by tapping them out with the hook switch was like its own form of entertainment. there were other variables to contend with on those old at&t phones everyone had, as the pegs you release to off-hook the phone moved faster than the switch under them. this means you had to tap fast enough for the CO to see them as dial pulses, but also slow enough that the peg and switch mechanism doesn't separate and cause inconsistently timed or missed pulses.
rgoulter 4y ago
> We could do a lot better... I think the biggest win would be getting rid of the big spacebar, and replacing it with more keys. (The thumb is much stronger than the pinkies; but we use the pinkies for all sorts of keys, and the thumb only for a few keys). Although I think by the time a keyboard design gets rid of the big spacebar, it then goes on to make other improvements (like symmetry, being split) and so ends up as looking too unusual.

iraldir 4y ago

I could see that being a feature in a escape room, connected on an old timey minitel like screen

snshn 4y ago

There're similar input devices out there, e.g. https://askergoworks.com/products/blue-orb-inc-orbitouch-keyboard-kb10607-white https://askergoworks.com/products/blue-orb-inc-orbitouch-key...

nzoschke 4y ago

Very cool. I have a weird obsession with number input devices for my DIY jukebox. I could totally see using this to enter the 4 digits to pick a song. I’ve long thought about touch tone phone keypads too. There’s a frankenstein jukebox at Zam Zam in San Francisco that uses one. https://www.getjukelab.com/docs/numpads https://www.getjukelab.com/docs/numpads

jsjohnst 4y ago

Author goes to plug in USB cable to monitor. Seemingly has to spin the cable three times. Yep, definitely legit! USB-C may have its own category of problems, but at least directional superposition isn’t one of them.

eniac111 4y ago
I had to find the quantum superposition :)