Interacting externally with a PC?

Any suggestions on a no-brainer and safe way to get external input recognised by a PC please? Apart from a voice command approach. Or a solenoid to tap a key. For example a cheap commercial or easily built switch or momentary button with a USB plug at its end. That sort of thing.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

 

[Terminal_Crazy]

In article <1446b259-0ae4-4d2d-bf55-677f9128454b@googlegroups.com>,
<terrypingm@gmail.com> wrote:

pproach. Or a solenoid to tap a key. For example a cheap commercial or
easily built switch or momentary button with a USB

Buy a cheap USB Keyboard.
Connect inputs directly to key connections on the pcb.

--

Terminal Crazy

terminal_crazy@sand-hill.uk

 

[Robert Roland]

On Sun, 10 Mar 2019 04:38:41 -0700 (PDT), terrypingm@gmail.com wrote:

>Any suggestions on a no-brainer and safe way to get external input recognised by a PC please?

The USB-to-serial chips are popular among hobbyists. The PC
application sees a serial port, so you can transfer data both
directions.

Look for

FT232
CP2103
PL2303
CH340
--
RoRo

 

[M Philbrook]

In article <1446b259-0ae4-4d2d-bf55-677f9128454b@googlegroups.com>,
terrypingm@gmail.com says...

Any suggestions on a no-brainer and safe way to get external input recognised by a PC please? Apart from a voice command approach. Or a solenoid to tap a key. For example a cheap commercial or easily built switch or momentary button with a USB plug at its end. That sort of thing.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

with windows you can use a USB to Serial (RS232) adapter...

The OS see's most of these on the market as standard so there should be
a driver already on board..

Windows provides a ESCAPE function that allows you to Read and Write
the INPUTS and output pins of the port.

Also Windows provides a WAIT function so that your code can responed to
it via a trigger, but this should be done in a secondary Thread or you
could simply scan the port at timely intervals.

you get more input than you do output though..

For example:

CD :Carrier detect;
RD :Ring Detect;
DSR ata Set Ready;
CTS :Clear to Send;

Whereas for output you don't get as much.

DTR ata Terminal ready.
CTR :Clear to Receive;

And some devices will support the BREAK single which places the TX pin
to low or high state depending on how you do it.

Depending on how good your adapter is, you can most likely drive them up
to around 10Volts without issues but the output will most likely be like
around 5 volts, some will actually do 10-12 volts depending on how good
they are.

Hope that helps you.

 

[Wond]

On Sun, 10 Mar 2019 04:38:41 -0700, terrypingm wrote:

Any suggestions on a no-brainer and safe way to get external input
recognised by a PC please? Apart from a voice command approach. Or a
solenoid to tap a key. For example a cheap commercial or easily built
switch or momentary button with a USB plug at its end. That sort of
thing.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

There was a thing some years ago, an infrared sensor on a USB connector.
You used an ordinary remote control to command the machine.

 

[default]

On Sun, 10 Mar 2019 04:38:41 -0700 (PDT), terrypingm@gmail.com wrote:

Any suggestions on a no-brainer and safe way to get external input recognised by a PC please? Apart from a voice command approach. Or a solenoid to tap a key. For example a cheap commercial or easily built switch or momentary button with a USB plug at its end. That sort of thing.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

USB Switch Interface - Connect as many as 150 switches to your PC!
https://www.kadtronix.com/sw150_matrix.htm

X-keys USB Switch Interface for 1 to 3 Switches
https://www.amazon.com/X-keys-USB-Switch-Interface-Switches/dp/B00Q34LQ6O

 

Thanks, appreciate all those suggestions, which I’ll now investigate further.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

 

[John Larkin]

On Sun, 10 Mar 2019 15:10:23 +0100, Robert Roland <fake@ddress.no>
wrote:

On Sun, 10 Mar 2019 04:38:41 -0700 (PDT), terrypingm@gmail.com wrote:

Any suggestions on a no-brainer and safe way to get external input recognised by a PC please?

The USB-to-serial chips are popular among hobbyists. The PC
application sees a serial port, so you can transfer data both
directions.

Look for

FT232
CP2103
PL2303
CH340

You can connect TTL or equivalent levels directly into one of the the
RS232 control lines, like DTR or CTS. Or loopback tx to rx through a
switch and note whether it talks to itself.

Some PCs still come with a real serial, or even parallel, port.

Amazon has USB data acquisition boards for around $10. Ebay is
probably cheaper.


--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc

lunatic fringe electronics

 

[Jasen Betts]

On 2019-03-10, terrypingm@gmail.com <terrypingm@gmail.com> wrote:

recognised by a PC please? Apart from a voice command approach. Or a
solenoid to tap a key. For example a cheap commercial or easily built
switch or momentary button with a USB plug at its end. That sort of
thing.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

USB joystick interface. (or just pull apart a $3 USB gamepad)
several digital inputs with pull-ups

will need software support to generate keyboard events


USB serial port: 5 inputs 3 outputs.
inputs TTL compatible, +/- 24V tolerant
ouputs approx +/- 10V 1200 ohms impedance

will need software support to generate keyboard events

USB keyboard - cut the sucker open and use an optocoupler or
relay to mimic the keyboard switches - or you can buy just
the electronic part from sparkfun etc.

AVRUSB or other usb-device capable microcontroller.

eg: https://www.sparkfun.com/news/804

--
When I tried casting out nines I made a hash of it.

 

[whit3rd]

On Sunday, March 10, 2019 at 4:38:44 AM UTC-7, terry...@gmail.com wrote:

Any suggestions on a no-brainer and safe way to get external input recognised by a PC please? Apart from a voice command approach. Or a solenoid to tap a key. For example a cheap commercial or easily built switch or momentary button with a USB plug at its end. That sort of thing.

There's dozens of gizmos for slideshows, with a few remote buttons, that can handle the task.
All USB implemetations recognize some generic device types, the remotes are usually
keyboards (with only a few buttons). The Macintosh media remote (bluetooth, I think) can
be emulated by a cellphone app, so you might have all the needed parts already, just a
small matter of programing.

This item comes with a laser pointer, too.
<https://www.banggood.com/R400-Wireless-Presenter-Receiver-Pointer-Case-Remote-Control-p-933742.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN>