On Sat, 29 Apr 2006, Hans Fugal wrote:
I know some of you are into MythTV and probably have run this gauntlet
before.
I'm not afraid of a DIY kit, provided it's something I could handle (no
experience in EE-like stuff whatsoever). I'm not afraid of a wireless
keyboard provided it's A) compactish, and B) affordable (<= $30).
I've gone both routes. I started out with a serial IR receiver from here:
http://www.home-electro.com/ira3.php (they have USB ones for twice the
price; those are $20 apiece). Setting it up is rather poorly documented,
(it uses LIRC) but not really very tricky, so let me know if you decide
to go that route.
After a while, though, I eventually (a) wanted keyboard control and
(b) got annoyed by the line-of-sight requirements of IR. So recently I
bought this keyboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16823126181
which is absolutely stellar. It does have a non-detachable wrist support
and funky keys along the side, but it's super-thin and comes with a RF
remote (that just presses keys like the keyboard) so you could, say, use
the keyboard and mouse at your desktop, and then only use the remote to
control TV-ish stuff.
I'd recommend the IRA-3 over doing it yourself, since it's probably going
to be around the same price as buying the parts and soldering it on your
own (although perhaps not as much fun if you really enjoy that sort of
thing). But at the end of the day, I think you're eventually going to be
annoyed at the line-of-sight requirements of infrared and go RF.
If the expense of the media wireless set (the one with the RF remote
control) is enough to be a dealbreaker for you, there's another RF
keyboard that I use on my own desktop machine:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16823126168
It's $27 at newegg at the moment. The wrist-rest on this one is
detachable, and although it has a handful of special media keys at the top
the keyboard footprint is still relatively small. You probably won't be
able to find a much smaller footprinted wireless keyboard.
Anywho, hope this helps. LMK if you have any other questions!
~ Ross
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