Adding media player buttons to case, how to

O

Ohmsford

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 3, 2004
Messages
152
I just got a Sonata case and am thinking about modding it. I've already decided what I want to do with the power and reset button, but I want to put the Media player buttons on my keyboard onto the case, does anybody know of a way to do this? I like them on the keyboard, but I think it would be awesome if I could have them on the front of my case.
 
this could work but i havent tried it or anything but maybe if you cut out the buttons on a crappy $1 keyboard and wired it some how.


oh ya i have a extra cromosome on the 21 trinome
 
It's probably possible, but I don't think it's worth doing unless you're willing to spend the money. I can think of 3 ways to do it.

1) Buy something that does it. Some small LCD screens you can buy for your tower comes with programmable buttons.

2) Make your own keypad that can work with a program online or write your own program.

3) take apart a keyboard, reverus engineer how the circuit inside works, hook some switches to it, and then figure out how to have two keyboards hooked to a computer at once. (It will be more complex than a simple Y adapter I believe.)
 
Take the buttons, wire each one to the parallel port's data lines so that a button press sends it high (5V?). You can then write a simple C or even VB program to monitor those inputs and do whatever you need.
 
PicoFaradPJF said:
and then figure out how to have two keyboards hooked to a computer at once. (It will be more complex than a simple Y adapter I believe.)
Click to expand...

usb is your friend
 
i'd say use a basic usb game pad with a d-pad and a few buttons (but probably no analog sticks unless you'd like to use those for mouse or other functionality... there are programs for it) on it and mod part or all of that into the case. for winamp and others you could get a controller plugin that will allow you to map the controller's buttons like hotkeys. for windows media player, you may be able to find some sort of global windows hotkey program since plugins for it are pretty rare. that is an awesome idea though, and i'd love to see it be done. good luck!
 
theres options.

you can hack up the keyboard and mount the part in your computer. the big problem is you might have to splice up the keyboard's board, youll have to trace out where the buttons go to the controller IC and just recreate those bridges. not impossible, but kind of a bitch. as has been said USB is your friend here.

you can buy a dedicated unit, mount it in the case somehow. that would most likley be a serial solution.

you can BUILD buttons that connect to the serial or parallel port.

all of these I recommend being controlled by Girder. This will allow you to use them with ANY program you wish.
 
One thing you could also do, but may be overkill is to get a keyboard encoder. They are usually used for MAME arcade projects but would work in this situation. There are USB and PS2 solutions and they allow you to marry any kind of button to any action that can be done on a keyboard.

For my MAME project, I used the MK64 but unfortunately he is not selling it anymore. However, the best solution out there is the IPAC. It allows for up to 56 different inputs.

With a keyboard encoder, you can hook any kind of momentary pushbutton or toggle switch to it and program it to do anything you can do on your keyboard, including key combinations.
 
Ohmsford said:
I just got a Sonata case and am thinking about modding it. I've already decided what I want to do with the power and reset button, but I want to put the Media player buttons on my keyboard onto the case, does anybody know of a way to do this? I like them on the keyboard, but I think it would be awesome if I could have them on the front of my case.
Click to expand...

my understanding of what your asking is to move the media buttons on your keyboard. the little buttons that bring up media player, mail, ie, control volume and such. if so this shouldwork.
buy an identical keyboard. cut the media buttons out. mold them to the case. make wire extions long enough to reach the circuit board inside the keyboard (the non cut one). soldier wires to circuit board. it will work just like on the keyboard.
 
nomar said:
One thing you could also do, but may be overkill is to get a keyboard encoder. They are usually used for MAME arcade projects but would work in this situation. There are USB and PS2 solutions and they allow you to marry any kind of button to any action that can be done on a keyboard.

For my MAME project, I used the MK64 but unfortunately he is not selling it anymore. However, the best solution out there is the IPAC. It allows for up to 56 different inputs.

With a keyboard encoder, you can hook any kind of momentary pushbutton or toggle switch to it and program it to do anything you can do on your keyboard, including key combinations.
Click to expand...


but...all that does is emulate a keyboard...overtop of the keyboard.
 
kronchev said:
but...all that does is emulate a keyboard...overtop of the keyboard.
Click to expand...
:confused:
Well.... it is a much easier and cleaner way of doing all of the things you mentioned in your post above. He wanted to move keyboard keys to the case and this will accomplish that with ease.
 
nomar said:
:confused:
Well.... it is a much easier and cleaner way of doing all of the things you mentioned in your post above. He wanted to move keyboard keys to the case and this will accomplish that with ease.
Click to expand...


rereading his post I think theres no way to do what he wants without heavy modding (and honestly your way does work but IMHO its not the cleanest implementation). he wants to basically move the panel off his keyboard into the case. now unless he does do what I said which is hack up his keyboard (which is going to be ugly for the keyboard first off), then move it to the case (which is going to restrict the placement due to the board unless again, its hacked up), then run wires to the controller chip in the keyboard (just keeps getting uglier and uglier), and then manages to do it all correctly so it might work (which it might not even since the signal strength by then will hvae dropped so much), he has done a lot of work, a lot of uglying up of his case and keyboard, and has gotten little benefit, assuming it even works.

he can do your way, any of my ways, but in the end his question just will not work.
 
Putting alittle more thought into it, use that guide as a basis and get a Keypad like these:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=23-119-119&depa=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=23-119-116&depa=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=23-119-120&depa=0

mod an enclosure and mount it in your case, use what buttons you want (or build your own) and use Girder to assign a function to each button.
You could have a button launch whatever media app you want, another could act as volume control, etc..
 
CrimandEvil said:
This is what you want: http://htpcnews.com/main.php?id=controllermod1
All you do is change the bottons to what you want.
You should have came over the the HTPC forum, I would have posted this sooner ;)
Click to expand...

Thx for the link, its exactly what I'm looking to do.

Thx for everyone's reply, but I'm no hardware guru and some of it just went in one ear and out the other :confused: Whenever I go through with trying this out, I'll make sure I post some pics of it.
 
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