Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Arrr, Matey, Stow That Serial Keyboard - This 'ere's Cap'n Bluetooth!
Posted by Don Tolson in "HARDWARE" @ 09:00 AM
Installation and Setup
The batteries (two AAA size) are inserted in a compartment in the bottom of the keyboard.
Figure 2: The battery compartment on the bottom of the keyboard. The cover is shown to the left.
According to Think Outside, under normal use the batteries should last approximately 3 months. I wasn’t able to test that, but if it’s true, that’s a reasonable amount of time.
Drivers for the keyboard come on a CD which runs the installation routines as soon as it is inserted. To install the drivers, you need a PC connected to your Pocket PC via Activesync – either direct USB or Bluetooth. The driver for the Universal Bluetooth Keyboard is unfortunately named the same as my existing Stowaway XT driver, so there was no chance to install both side-by-side. Although the Quick Start Guide tells you to remove any previous versions of keyboard drivers before proceeding, I decided to see if it could handle installation over top of my existing v2 Stowaway XT Keyboard Driver. In a word – No. It got hung up. So, I did a soft reset, removed the old driver completely and installed the new driver. To my surprise, the Bluetooth Keyboard driver (v3.1) supports not only the Bluetooth keyboard, but also the XT serially-connected keyboard, and the IR-connected model as well! Way to go, Think Outside!
Setup of the keyboard is exactly the same as for the Stowaway XT, except that you don’t have to worry about plugging the unit into the keyboard, or removing a case, etc. To open the keyboard, you fold back the stand, then press a long, grey button on the left hand side. Pulling open the top portion, like a book, you unfold the keyboard and it locks in position.
Figure 3: Unfolding the stand...
Figure 4: Unfolding the keyboard...
Figure 5: Fully extended Bluetooth Universal Keyboard.
The PDA/phone stand has two positions, which you select by adjusting its back support wall, and you can detach the stand completely by pulling gently back on it, away from the keyboard.
Figure 6: The PDA/Phone stand separated from the keyboard.
