Modifier keys (Shift, Control, Alt) on slate tablets

[tpope]

Like (I imagine) several people on this forum, I've always had a bit of trouble using my LE1700 with Photoshop, Illustrator and other Adobe applications, due to their heavy reliance on key commands. Programs designed for pen input, like Sketchbook Pro, are much less of an issue, but I'm not even sure Adobe knows that Tablet PC's exist based on their UI design.

I partially solved the issue by using a 2-button pen and mapping the second button to shift, but that's only one of the many keys I used on a regular basis, and gradually I just stopped using my tablet with Photoshop or Illustrator.

However, a few weeks ago, I had a minor epiphany. A USB keyboard is not all that complex of a device, and I realized that one could probably wire in some regular buttons to specific keys and "fool" the tablet into thinking there was a keyboard attached, when really it was a custom set of buttons with the most important modifier keys.

So, after two rounds of experimentation, I ended up with the following:
862

It's about 4" long and slots right into the USB port on the side of my tablet. It has keys for Alt, Shift, Control and Space, plus a bonus Control-Z key. While it's still in the prototype stage, it's perfectly functional, and I'm already using it to do real work on my tablet again.

If anyone is interested in the steps to build both Mk1 and Mk2, the full drama can be found here:
http://forum.bongofish.co.uk/index.php?topic=1808.0

I'm luck in where I work that I have keyboards and various other equipment lying around that I could tear apart for the electronics bits, a friend was nice enough to loan my his soldering iron and I had the acrylic from some modelmaking projects. But all told, I think you could build one of these for less than $20 in parts (most of which would be the keyboard) a cheapo $10 soldering iron and pretty amateur soldering skills.

So I figured I'd post here on the off chance that it might inspire someone else to make their own.

[docg]

get a patent on that! That is such a great idea! I have never been able to use photoshop with my tablet. I didn't bother loading it up due to the fact that so many keyboard shortcuts are used - what a great idea!:clap2: I have absolutely no skills, but I admire the work you did.

[John Hill]

Awesome job!

[Steve B]

Yeah, that really is cool. You really could sell it too! I searched around today everywhere on the web, and I could find find a keyboard that did that, in that format. !!!

[tpope]

Thanks for all the comments!

I'm not sure there's anything to patent in here really, as it's all an existing use of prior art (though my understanding of the patent process is admittedly shaky). As for selling them... It's a neat idea but would probably suck the fun right out of the process, and/or require me to charge higher than anyone would want to pay (as mentioned, I'm an amateur at this, and somehow charging over $100+ for one of these to cover the time it takes to build one I doubt would fly).

If keyboards were at all standardized, I had the idea of selling a precut plexiglass kit on Ponoko, but I'm still working with just whatever old keyboard I can find lying around, and of the 6 I've disassembled so far, only two were even close and even they wouldn't have fit into the same enclosure design.

I'm going to keep refining the idea however, and keep building these as long as I can come up with something worth improving from the last design. ...and hopefully can share something worth learning with others as well. I'm about as much of an amateur at this stuff as they come, and firmly of the opinion that if I can do this, so could just about anyone.