text input with ugfx

[kiwi]

Hi guys,

I'm not sure whether this is the right board, if not excuse me

I'm currently developing an embedded where the user should be able to input text (length similar to text messages on a mobile phone). Since I'm growing fond of using ugfx and chibios I was wondering what is the best solution for this problem with these tools.

Right now I'm thinking about to either use a touch keyboard or a hardware keyboard for text input, but I'm not sure what the better approach is. So I wanted to check with you guys.

Maybe one of you knows a cool vendor for little phone hardware keyboards? Or did anybody of you already implement an on screen keyboard I could base my work on?

I'm even open for new ways of designs like a text recognition and enabling the user to really write on the screen.

Any Ideas?

best,

kiwi

[Joel Bodenmann]

The GINPUT module does provide a working hardware keyboard interface since a few months. There is even a dedicated demo that you can run on your Windows / Linux emulator.

When it comes to touch input (virtual keyboard): There is currently nothing official. However, inmarket has started working on such a keyboard widget. I am not sure what's the status on that. I'm sure he'll let us know.

There is also a user called "Smd" who has successfully implemented a very neat virtual keyboard widget. However, it is for an old version and I think he never ported it to the newer version (It was for 1.8 if I remember correctly. The driver interface changed completely since then).

I'd strongly recommend to wait until inmarket comes online to inform you about the current state of the official keyboard widget.

What's best for your design depends on your application. If you give some more information we might be able to give some advice. Handwriting recognition is a huge topic and I don't think that it will make sense on a small microcontroller with a cheap resistive touchscreen.

~ Tectu

[inmarket]

The hardware keyboard stuff is working nicely even handling complex operations like scan code conversion.

For most hardware keyboards a driver would need to be written as the only keyboard drivers currently in the repository are the Win32 and x drivers.

A virtual gwin based keyboard is underway but has been on the back burner due to other demands. I will bring that forward again but no promises on when it will be ready as I am very busy currently with other work.

As Tectu mentioned, hand writing recognition is well beyond most embedded platforms.

[kiwi]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your advice!

Handwriting recognition is not an option then, was a joke anyways.

So I will probably have to go with a hardware keyboard, but which one to take. Do you have any experiences with specific hardware? I'm using a STM32F4 and my goal is to have a max. mobilphone size embedded device including the keyboard. Do you maybe now a shop with a good selection of keyboards?

Also, if you have a alpha version of your virtual keyboard, I'm happy to test it I'm probably busy with this project another 3 month since it's my bachelor thesis.

best,

kiwi

[inmarket]

I don't know of any particular keyboard maker. For commercial product these are usually custom designed as part of the case design. Membrane switches are common so perhaps look for a membrane manufacturer.

Perhaps a better possibility for a one off project is to look on aliexpress or on ebay. I am sure you will find something suitable for your project there.