imported_JPM

I saw that there was one other post concerning this but there was no answer and the question was a bit different so here goes...

I checked with palm about their Universal Wireless Keyboard and they have said that it is not compatible with the hx470* because of a size/position of IR problem but as far as I know it should work fine otherwise as palm states on their site that the keyboard works with many other ipaqs. I really like the feel of this keyboard as I find the keys to be very close to my laptop keyboard and quite "snappy" and was wondering if anyone has tried successfully to mod the keyboard IR arm to fit the hx470*. I'm going to try it when my device arrives in the mail later today but I don't want to mess up my keyboard if this won't work.

The keyboard IR arm rotates around to allow devices to be in landscape mode during use so I can't see why there would be a problem... It worked fine with my ill fated Lifedrive (I couldn't stand the device) in landscape mode.

Thanks for any advice,
-Phillip-

Possum Roadkil

It does work fine in landscape mode. IR is on the bottom of the IPAQ so the reason you were probably told that it is not compatible is that it will not work in portrait mode (easily).

If you get one of those 180° rotation programs that I've seen on some of the freeware sites, you can simply turn the screen upside down and then the IR port will be situated where you want it.

I bought a HP bluetooth keyboard so I wouldn't have to mess with this, but the battery time is unbelievably awful compared to the Palm IR keyboard, so I'm back to using the Palm keyboard now.

weastman

Originally Posted by JPM

I saw that there was one other post concerning this but there was no answer and the question was a bit different so here goes... I checked with palm about their Universal Wireless Keyboard and they have said that it is not compatible with the hx470* because of a size/position of IR problem but as far as I know it should work fine otherwise as palm states on their site that the keyboard works with many other ipaqs. I really like the feel of this keyboard as I find the keys to be very close to my laptop keyboard and quite "snappy" and was wondering if anyone has tried successfully to mod the keyboard IR arm to fit the hx470*. I'm going to try it when my device arrives in the mail later today but I don't want to mess up my keyboard if this won't work. The keyboard IR arm rotates around to allow devices to be in landscape mode during use so I can't see why there would be a problem... It worked fine with my ill fated Lifedrive (I couldn't stand the device) in landscape mode. Thanks for any advice, -Phillip-

From what I understand, the 470*'s IR is on its bottom side. From palm's point of view, it isn't "supported". However, if you *only* use landscape and put the IPAQ in the holder so that the arm can hit the IR port, then I am guessing it will work.

Let us know how it works, as I also have a wireless keyboard (IR) and am looking into a 4705 myself.

Good luck.

JudgeDredd

I think the PalmOne and ThinkOutside keyboards are identical in size and shape. I have the ThinkOutside keyboard that works with my 4705, thats the good news, now for the bad news. They are correct when they say the 4705 will not fit. I purchased my keyboard for my PalmOne T3 so it didn't hurt much to try and mod it to fit my 4705. Here are some pics to show what I mean.



This is the part you have to cut out to make room for the extra length of the 4705.



As you can see the T3 fits, but with no room for any extra.



The 4705 needs just a little more length so I removed the section that you see in the photos.

It does not hurt anything except it does leave the end of the keyboard exposed. That is not a problem for me as it is in the case for travel.

Just be carefull to remove the section.



I would not do this to a new keyboard but it saved me some bucks and I had this one already.

Hope this helps.

Nickster248

Originally Posted by Possum

It does work fine in landscape mode. IR is on the bottom of the IPAQ so the reason you were probably told that it is not compatible is that it will not work in portrait mode (easily). If you get one of those 180° rotation programs that I've seen on some of the freeware sites, you can simply turn the screen upside down and then the IR port will be situated where you want it. I bought a HP bluetooth keyboard so I wouldn't have to mess with this, but the battery time is unbelievably awful compared to the Palm IR keyboard, so I'm back to using the Palm keyboard now.

I'm trying to use my Wireless IR Palm Keyboard with my HX4700, but am having no luck. One thing that I did was download the latest HP Wireless Keyboar Driver the other day, so could that be where my problem lies? Is everyone just using the Keyboard driver that comes with the HX 4700... or is there somewhere I should be looking to update a certain driver?

Possum Roadkil

The tray is a little bigger on the Universal Wireless keyboard. I am using one now and I didn't have to hack anything apart to get it to fit. It even works with an extended battery installed.

The big difference between the two is whre the IR arm is attached. It's on the other end of the universal wireless. The arm ends up sticking way out to the left but it works fine that way.

imported_JPM

So I finally got my device and everything seems to work perfectly with no modification needed as long as you want to keep it in landscape mode. You can just swing the arm way out to the left and it works even though it isn't pointing at the IR sensor much. I think I might still mod this though so I can use it in potrait mode because landscape mode cuts off the bottom of certain applications like my wireless keyboard setup up software

So I guess I'll post again after I have tried to "fix" the keyboard to work in potrait mode, although i think it will be fairly simple.

-Phillip-

Possum Roadkil

Like I said, you can download free programs that will rotate the screen 180, so the IR is on the top. You might want to try this first just to see if it's an acceptable solution for you.

Nickster248

Originally Posted by Possum

It does work fine in landscape mode. IR is on the bottom of the IPAQ so the reason you were probably told that it is not compatible is that it will not work in portrait mode (easily).

Can you tell me if you need some kind of special driver from either PalmOne or HP to allow an out-of-the-box HX4700 to accept a PalmOne Universal Keyboard?

I've tried with mine, and it just will not work.I have 'Accept Beams' under Beaming in Settings/Connections, but aside from that, I don't know where else to look for a setting that would dictate whether or not my HX4700 will or will not work with the IR Universal Wireless Keyboard.

Thanks very much for your help.

Nick

imported_JPM

Originally Posted by Andriash

Can you tell me if you need some kind of special driver from either PalmOne or HP to allow an out-of-the-box HX4700 to accept a PalmOne Universal Keyboard? I've tried with mine, and it just will not work.I have 'Accept Beams' under Beaming in Settings/Connections, but aside from that, I don't know where else to look for a setting that would dictate whether or not my HX4700 will or will not work with the IR Universal Wireless Keyboard. Thanks very much for your help. Nick

In order to use the keyboard with the hx4700 you need to grab the Pocket PC driver from this site: http://www.palmone.com/us/support/do..._keyboard.html

From there just follow the instructions on the site or just open up the Universal Keyboard software it puts on you ipaq and you shouldn't have any problem.

On a side note, if you just bought the keyboard and haven't used it yet, make sure to try a different set of batteries as when I got mine I thought I wasn't setting it up correctly but the problem was really the shipped batteries were dead
-Phillip-

Nickster248

Originally Posted by JPM

In order to use the keyboard with the hx4700 you need to grab the Pocket PC driver from this site: http://www.palmone.com/us/support/do..._keyboard.html From there just follow the instructions on the site or just open up the Universal Keyboard software it puts on you ipaq and you shouldn't have any problem. -Phillip-

Well, I had already downloaded that driver from PalmOne, and put in a fresh set of batteries, but still a no go with the IR Keyboard. Is there something with the Keyboard... a switch or something that I am missing. If memory serves, with my Dell X50v, I just turned the Dell on, and it worked with the Keyboard... I didn't have to do anything special with it. I notice on the #1 Key is a small white mark with "Off/On", with 3 periods next to the word "On"... but I have no idea what that is supposed to mean... there is no switch there.

Any ideas?

imported_JPM

Originally Posted by Andriash

Well, I had already downloaded that driver from PalmOne, and put in a fresh set of batteries, but still a no go with the IR Keyboard. Is there something with the Keyboard... a switch or something that I am missing. If memory serves, with my Dell X50v, I just turned the Dell on, and it worked with the Keyboard... I didn't have to do anything special with it. I notice on the #1 Key is a small white mark with "Off/On", with 3 periods next to the word "On"... but I have no idea what that is supposed to mean... there is no switch there. Any ideas?

First, the On/Off that you see has to do with the position of the PDA stand. If you slide it all the way to the left then the keyboard would switch off, you can see a little white line on the stand as well I believe.

One problem may the the alignment of the IR arm and the IR port on the hx4700. Don't know what to tell you here other than try holding the bottom of the device where the IR is next to the IR transmitter on the keyboard and see if that works (I don't have my keyboard here so I can't remember if you need it set as your input mode in the lower right?).

Inside the keyboard program there aren't very many settings, as long as you have enable keyboard checked and actually use the keyboard soon after (otherwise it shuts down the keyboard connection) there shouldn't be a problem. Try clicking enable and then right after using the test box below it to see if its working. If that doesn't work then I guess set the keyboard and ipaq up, do a soft reset and then try it again, but I'm not sure why that wouldn't work as I did the same thing with mine and it worked fine...

Nickster248

Originally Posted by JPM

Inside the keyboard program there aren't very many settings, as long as you have enable keyboard checked and actually use the keyboard soon after (otherwise it shuts down the keyboard connection) there shouldn't be a problem. Try clicking enable and then right after using the test box below it to see if its working. If that doesn't work then I guess set the keyboard and ipaq up, do a soft reset and then try it again, but I'm not sure why that wouldn't work as I did the same thing with mine and it worked fine...

Well, I don't what did differently this time, but it worked... just like it did with my Dell X50v... so that is good news. It still baffles me that I've tried so many times without luck. The only thing different this time, is that I brought the KeyBoard and HX4700 so close to my Laptop, that a dialogue box appeared on my Laptop screen asking if I wanted to beam over a file... so I did just for the heck of it to establish the fact that IR worked on the PPC. Right after that, the Keyboard started working.

Thanks very much for the help. BTW, do you know of any Typing Programs like Typing Tutor that one can use on the PPC/Wireless Keyboard?

imported_JPM

Originally Posted by Andriash

Well, I don't what did differently this time, but it worked... just like it did with my Dell X50v... so that is good news. It still baffles me that I've tried so many times without luck. The only thing different this time, is that I brought the KeyBoard and HX4700 so close to my Laptop, that a dialogue box appeared on my Laptop screen asking if I wanted to beam over a file... so I did just for the heck of it to establish the fact that IR worked on the PPC. Right after that, the Keyboard started working. Thanks very much for the help. BTW, do you know of any Typing Programs like Typing Tutor that one can use on the PPC/Wireless Keyboard?

I did some searching for a typing tutor for the pocket pc and I couldn't really find anything. The only typing program I found is one that is designed to train you to use the Fitaly keyboard but it works with any input mode so it works with a wireless keyboard. Its called Fitaly Letris and is free : http://www.fitaly.com/product/letrisppc.htm so you might want to give that a try.
-Phillip-