Hi,
we have developed a prototype for a 80 button QWERTY keyboard PCB
that could eventually be connected/integrated into the GTA04. It should fit
into a specially designed battery cover so that you can easily stow it away
if not needed. Such battery covers could be produced individually through
3D printing solving the issue of manageing and stocking 20 different key
layouts.
But watch yourself how we think it can look like:
http://youtu.be/WM94%5fR5eKcc
There is also a new video showing a comparison with some other keyboards:
http://youtu.be/wGASnE1zGh4
Pleas tell us if you like this idea and what you would like to pay for such an
extension unit through the Wishlist function of our shop:
http://www.handheld-linux.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04%3AKeyboard
Two issues are still to be developed:
a) how to reliably connect it to the GTA04 PCB (soldering copper wires or a
FFCs is a little difficult so it should have a tiny, flexible but robust
B2B cable).
Maybe, we can use a micro-USB socket or similar (we need to connect 6
wires).
This may also need a redesign of the GTA04 board (for a nice plug)
b) design a 3D printable case with key-caps that is robust enough
If you want to support us for developing this idea, please give us a kickstart
donation.
Nikolaus
PS: the keyboard driver for the TCA8418 is already part of Linux 3.3 - and has
been backported to the 2.6.32-kernel. This has been tested to work on a
BeagleBoard XM.
http://git.goldelico.com/?p=gta04-kernel.git;a=commit;h=f19d5c430458bbce8955bc9e04dd161f6a80347d
It just needs platform data in the board file:
http://git.goldelico.com/?p=gta04-kernel.git;a=blobdiff;f=arch/arm/mach-omap2/board-omap3gta04.c;h=8a7e4b0803920f635e7101bfbd5a60b6b84b1107;hp=3e49efef2de0b42cd419a46a9cd45448fd04a44c;hb=4b2de3db742abce9212c1af2cc576e2a3a64b0d9;hpb=1d7c6b5f043661621ec374d96c3c4a4454f9bb7b
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