Just found this baby... I am now looking for hackable iPod connectors buyable from the US...
http://www.rev-ed.co.uk/docs/axe119.pdf
**Update** (5 minutes later --I love the Google!!)
Sparkfun has got them!!
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8295
I’m not sure why you would
I’m not sure why you would want to do this.
I HAVE NO IDEA EITHER!!!
But man, isn’t it cool?
Thats Aweome!
It would be so cool if you could use the ipod for a robot. Like when you press start it is autonomous and when you press menu it becomes rc. It would be even cooler if you could use the ipods LCD somehow.
That’s rather an over-spec’d
That’s rather an over-spec’d keypad
Way cool.Could you run I2C
Way cool.
Could you run I2C or some other comms protocol over the link and use the iPod as a MASSIVE EPROM?
two things…
I think the picaxe/ ipod set up only allows you to control the standard controls, ie play, skip, volume etc. However, mike you bring up a good point…
If you use a keypad alone, it takes like, 482 input pins… If you use the entire keyboard it is only two wires using the kbin command… Why in the world can’t you get a number-only keypad that uses the same kbin set-up? I have never understood this. I would love to have a number pad onboard my bot, but it seems silly to drive around with a huge full-size keyboard!
electrical tape–
You know you can get just the iPod controls, right?
This is the guts of a click-wheel --it is really just a potentiometer.
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9074
Yeah rik, but…
When you wire a numaric keypad to a picaxe, the rows goto outputs (5 of them) and colums goto inputs (4 of them) or vice-versa and so I am led to believe… We’re talkin’ 9 connections!! If that same numeric keypad is attached to a regular keyboard, the whole darn thing can be plugged into just 2 inputs!
http://www.rev-ed.co.uk/docs/picaxe_manual2.pdf
Page 96,97,98 and 99 (Page 99 has the connection details)
I just don’t understand why I can’t get just the number pad that will plug in to a picaxe with the same 2 wire set-up!
There must be a chip in a
There must be a chip in a regular keyboard that converts the row/column address into an ascii byte. Could you take appart an old keyboard, extract the chip and build your own interface board? In fact it will be a standard chip soyou could buy one from a catalogue, and there will be instructions somewhere on the interweb thingy to build an interface.
pricey
Which would explain why the numeric keypads I found (click the image) are so pricey. $40 and up. They are all PS2 connected and would operate without a “normal” keyboard.
I expect they would operate with a picaxe as documented. But for that money (and maybe a bit extra) an i-pod would be way cooler. Even if it didn’t operate as an input device.
Chris: band saw?
Not a lot of people buy them
Not a lot of people buy them so supply and demand dictates that they must be pricey. If a lot of people bought them more companies would make them and the cost would go down.
I had no idea you could get that…
I have never seen a numeric keypad with a “round” keyboard style connector -they were all usb or a blank board to be soldered by guys like us. And you know me too well, rik I seriously thought about hacking and well, hacking a full size keyboard into just what I wanted…
Well, I’m off to the Googles…
it’s a good alternative to
it’s a good alternative to give voice to your robot! or…you could make a remote for your ipods. Looks very interesting to me, thanks for having posted it 
