USB Keyboard driver?

I am so glad to have found this forum!javascript:emoticonp('') I picked up a new in the box tablet for $30, and thought I'd have some fun with it.

I have been using Windows CE starting at 2.0 and all the way down to Windows Mobile 6.5. I have lots of experience modding CE devices and enjoying them. I am working on getting some of my old collection of HPC and PPC software installed on this tablet, but as I try to do that I can't get either of my two USB keyboards to work. One does nothing, the other will give me one letter repeated and then fail. Is there a driver for the keyboard I'm missing? Thanks for your help.

I'd love to be able to use this with a mini USB keyboard, since the on screen hunt and peck really makes this device terrible to use.

Glad to hear from you. I don't think keyboard or mouse need's driver at all if it is HID device. Never had tried to attach keyboard to my netbook but mouse works excellent.

Thanks for such a prompt reply!

My USB mouse works wonderfully, but not the keyboard. (Both the keyboards I tested work on a Windows CE 5 SP1 WYSE terminal so I know that they are not the problem.) My hope was to attach a USB hub and use both keyboard and mouse with this, to run as a remote desktop mini terminal.

My USB hub does not seem to detect or work properly. When a flash drive or mouse that work on this device are connected through it, it powers them but they are not loaded. Is there a problem here?

I had read posts indicating that CE 5 has had keyboard issues. I wonder if this ROM is using a bad DLL, and wanted to try loading an alternate using a registry mod. Do you know if it is using the kbdmouse.dll or the KBDHID.DLL and if we could load a copy of these off another device? Maybe you could test a USB keyboard with your tablet to see if it a common problem, or just with mine?

I would be so excited to use a mini keyboard and mouse with this tablet!

I do not have tablet so can't test. You could of course try to load different driver. https://mininetbooks.forumotion.com/t171-german-keyb?highlight=keyb

Or read this sub-forum about tablet. There is another USB inside to which wifi is attached, you could try to solder another USB port and look maybe it works from there.

I have been playing around with loading different dll's and making registry entries, but nothing has worked. I did, however, connect a USB keyboard/mouse combo that uses 1 composite USB adapter and the mouse worked fine and the keyboard failed after repeating one letter. I am certain the the problem is not hardware but software, it's impossible for the same plug to not send the correct info on the keyboard while the mouse works fine.

I'm not a programmer, just a tech-head who tinkers and tweaks for fun. Is there anyone out there who knows CE registry better that could help me figure out how to load the correct dll? Maybe one of the "Knights"?

It looks like in my tinkering I've killed the hardware buttons on the tablet. I think it has to do with the registry settings located at: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\KEYBD Can anyone confirm their default settings for me?

I think this is leading me in the right direction, as it has now dawned on me that the hardware buttons must be registered as a simple keyboard. It only has 8 keys, but it's still a hardware keyboard! Now to get the resources from there over to the USB keyboard is another thing...

Hi sillyb!

I have had some problems with the keyboard too, I used this thread: Keyboard problems... Any solution?.

What got me interested is that you mentioned that the most you got out of the keyboard is the first pressed key doubled... Maybe you find bits of useful infos there, or at least a faint clue...

Good luck!

ppeterka wrote:Good luck!

Thanks for the tip, although it didn't help me. My keyboard runs an endless repeat of the first character I type, and won't do anything else until I reset it.

sillyb wrote:... it has to do with the registry settings located at: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\KEYBD

I was finally able to find the correct registry entry to return functionality to the hardware keys (after some trial and error looking at the .dlls in the stock ROM) DriverName=kbdhid.dll is what the key should be. Also, the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\STATUS\ should be KBDI_KEYBOARD_PRESENT=1 . I am putting this on here in case anyone else runs into similar problems.

Also, I'm still not convinced that I can't get an external keyboard running in addition to the touch screen and mouse. It think it's just a matter of registering the correct .dlls and changing some registry entries, but to be honest I have not been playing with this device too much anymore.

It's too bad, if this was a more active community (which it is hard for it to be with such uncommon devices) we might be able to get some fun customizations on these little tablets. The finger friendly on-screen keyboard I installed makes things so much better. Just a few little things like that can really increase usability.

So attaching USB keyboard or mouse doesn't work?

A mouse works fine but keyboards don't, as explained above.

When I changed the registry keyboard entries to load a different keyboard.dll driver to try to get the keyboard to work, I was no longer able to use the hardware buttons on the tablet for page up/ page down/ home etc.

I really want to be able to use this device with mouse and keyboard most of the time when at my desk, and use the touch interface and hardware buttons only when outside the office. If I knew CE better I'm sure I could figure out which entries to alter and which .dlls to load to get this running, but I'm no expert.

For example on netbooks for the special keys there is a kbdhook application started called - Sysmgr(startupapp.exe) which controls F1-F12 keys or writes screenshots using PrtScrn button. Maybe the hardware keys are controlled simillary.