hey all, ive been out of the arduino game for a while and now my newbyness is back and im stumped..
basically what im doing is making a gear shifter for driving simulators on my computer. ive already figured everything out, and i just need to figure out how to make it so if i press a switch it will hit a key on my keyboard to shift it.
i hope thats understandable.. any help is appreciated!
its a usb.
and yes, i have googled, but i had no clue what to google.
If your computer has a PS/2 keyboard input, there are keyboard simulator projects on the Web. Probably even in the Playground area on this very site.
I've used AACKeys.
You send serial messages and it "presses" keys.
It can even do mouse movements!
I've used it to make a mouse out of a claw machine style joystick.
Its for at least mac, I don't know about PC, but I think there is an equivalent.
thanks guys, but i found out im way over my head, so i just took apart an old usb keyboard and connected a wire to both contacts of a key and use a switch to press it.
works perfect. now time to race!
Did a little looking, and liked what I found! AACKeys is FREE, for one thing.
From their site...
"AAC Keys is a keyboard and mouse emulation program for Microsoft Windows-based computers.
"AAC Keys receives commands through your computer's serial port and translates them into keystrokes and mouse moves, giving you full control of your computer from another device. AAC Keys implements the common GIDIE commands."
Site:
http://www.aacinstitute.org/downloads/aackeys/AACKeys.html
One worry: The latest LISTED versions of Windows it supports: Windows NT 4 and Windows 2000. Anyone used it with XP, Vista, 7?
Anyone know Linux equivalent?
Another site...
http://www.oatsoft.org/Software/aac-keys
.... says....
"A Macintosh version was developed following the introduction of OS X . (Earlier Macintosh operating systems included SerialKeys.)"
(There's a donload link for the Mac version at oatsoft.)
The only problem I have had with AACKeys is that it tends to spontaneously quit on my iMac running Snow leopard. A minute or so after it starts. This may be because I am sending a lot of serial messages from my arduino, I think 10 per second at least.
Not really a problem, because I sorta just did it as an experiment, not to replace my mouse. (it's really hard to balance reasonable speed with accuracy)
I use a old ps2 keyboard and ripped the pcb out and connected the thing to my pc i then got a piece of wire and shorted contacts (while in notepad)
when you have the right key you can solder wire on it and us that to shift up or down...
I used it for a arcade controller (just soldered a ps2 controller to the keyboard pcb) for my media pc...
It verry funny 
and really easy
although i maybe try it + a 7 segment display to show wich gear i'm in 
Cheers!