Alcatel 4059EE special keys, active keys

Other Hardware Device Hacking
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Hi, I'm using an old Alcatel 4059EE keyboard , I'm a calltaker.

The keyboard uses some call handling keys for answering, transfering, etc calls. The active keys light up whenever they can be used.

I always wanted to diy a custom keyboard/pad. Replacing the huge alcatel with a 5x4keypad.

But I'm got stuck on the special keys, and the active status.

Everytime I got an incomming call, the key for answering the call lights up. When answering the call, two other keys light up, they become active. etc etc..

How can I integrate this into my project? Can I read the usb output from Alcatel Lucent software and make my custom keys light up when active?

I hope this is a bit clear..

Thank you very much!

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Have you looked for a forum for this product or Alcatel?
Would your project involve Arduino?

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I'm going to guess that the Alcatel keyboard generated a single byte for each keypress, but I stress that this is a guess. If this were my project I'd probably get 2 USB capable Arduino boards, connect them back to back through serial or I2C, configure one as USB host and the other as client so the pair can sit in the middle between the PC and the keyboard, write some code to just pass the data through and also mirror it to a serial port and to a PC serial port. Watch the data and see what you get.

Maybe there's an easier way, but if so I don't know what it is. Maybe someone else has a better suggestion.

Sounds interesting but not a beginner project.

Not something that I have tried.

I'll follow this topic and make any suggestions if I think of anything.

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I did looked at a Alcatel forum. But nothing to find over there. I did found this. A programmable StreamDeck exatly what I'm looking for!

In the Alcatel manual, I read that you could use some regular keyboardkey's like Enter, ArrowKeys, etc, so that one problem solved.

But how do I make the function keys "active" (light up).

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Hi @PerryBebbington Thx for your answer, I guess the easiest way to do this is, buying a logic analyzer? But the most affordable logic analyzers don't have a pass through function (I guess I need some kind of "men in the middle" analyzer). I don't know if my software will send the "active key" information over USB if the keyboard is not detected. The thing is, when unplugging the Alcatel 4059EE keyboard the software reacts with a "no keyboard present" message.

I know this might not be a beginners project, but I love a challenge, and with some tips and tricks of the community!

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I'm sorry but I don't know what else to suggest, other than the general comments I have already made. I don't have a logic analyser, so I can't comment on their capabilities. I was hoping someone else would have some better advice.

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Lets hope the right person finds his way to this topic :sweat_smile: ! Thx @PerryBebbington !

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