MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - FYI Nice little portable USB keyboard for Edge/PE

jdm001 · 08-22-2012, 02:37 PM

FYI Everyone,

I was looking for a portable little keyboard so that I could turn my PE into a portable office during a long vacation. It's a great tool, having an ereader (I use the LCD2Eink and also convert stuff to epub online for many work manuals and documents i need to review), and, with wifi being available in many places (or using tethering), you can get whatever you need done with the little PE.... conferencing with video, chat, skype, email, browse web, office documents... but it's a pain in the butt to punch and peck one letter at a time with a stylus.

So, first i tried this item: $23 shipped
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o03_s00_i00

While it worked, the keys were too small to try to get fingertips to actually type. It was like typing with a phone (before iphones) where you had to thumb type. It's a great little keyboard (the touchpad even worked, but only to scroll on the PE... similar to if you hook up any USB mouse) so, i saved it for a HTPC remote and then got this:

Next I got this: $12 shipped
http://www.amazon.com/Tablet-Stand-U...d_rhf_pe_p_t_1

Arrived yesterday, works flawlessly. Keys are only slightly smaller than a regular keyboard, and it's the same exact shape (length/width) as the PE when folded. It is about the same thickness too, and, unfortunately you can't fit the PE inside it to get it to act as a cover.

It comes with a thin USB cable, and two little "loops" (one holds the thin USB cord, the other holds an extra stylus it came with. The stylus is good for the PE screen, because you can save the Wacom enabled pen for the eink side, but then use this stylus for the LCD since the wacom pen scratches the surface of the LCD after a while).

It comes with a little tripod stand, and, it has 3 clips. Two at the bottom (perfectly sized for the PE's width when open horizontally) and one at the top. The top one gets in the way, it does stretch, but it never reaches the width of the PE.

So, since it was made out of a metal bar, I folded it back by hand. It folded to about a 40 degree angle, and when stretched fully back, it actually became the perfect size to hold the top of the PE in place. I ran the cable through the back/middle (behind the PE speaker) and hooked up the keyboard USB on the top left side, and it was a perfect setup.

I'll take pictures if anyone interested.

Overall, it's a good size, works seemlessly (although if any background services were running--ie Email-- the keyboard was as slow as molasses until the services were complete).

Hope this helps someone!

JM

08-22-2012, 02:37 PM	#1
jdm001 Connoisseur Posts: 57 Karma: 64 Join Date: Jan 2012 Device: Entourage Dualbook	FYI Nice little portable USB keyboard for Edge/PE FYI Everyone, I was looking for a portable little keyboard so that I could turn my PE into a portable office during a long vacation. It's a great tool, having an ereader (I use the LCD2Eink and also convert stuff to epub online for many work manuals and documents i need to review), and, with wifi being available in many places (or using tethering), you can get whatever you need done with the little PE.... conferencing with video, chat, skype, email, browse web, office documents... but it's a pain in the butt to punch and peck one letter at a time with a stylus. So, first i tried this item: $23 shipped http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o03_s00_i00 While it worked, the keys were too small to try to get fingertips to actually type. It was like typing with a phone (before iphones) where you had to thumb type. It's a great little keyboard (the touchpad even worked, but only to scroll on the PE... similar to if you hook up any USB mouse) so, i saved it for a HTPC remote and then got this: Next I got this: $12 shipped http://www.amazon.com/Tablet-Stand-U...d_rhf_pe_p_t_1 Arrived yesterday, works flawlessly. Keys are only slightly smaller than a regular keyboard, and it's the same exact shape (length/width) as the PE when folded. It is about the same thickness too, and, unfortunately you can't fit the PE inside it to get it to act as a cover. It comes with a thin USB cable, and two little "loops" (one holds the thin USB cord, the other holds an extra stylus it came with. The stylus is good for the PE screen, because you can save the Wacom enabled pen for the eink side, but then use this stylus for the LCD since the wacom pen scratches the surface of the LCD after a while). It comes with a little tripod stand, and, it has 3 clips. Two at the bottom (perfectly sized for the PE's width when open horizontally) and one at the top. The top one gets in the way, it does stretch, but it never reaches the width of the PE. So, since it was made out of a metal bar, I folded it back by hand. It folded to about a 40 degree angle, and when stretched fully back, it actually became the perfect size to hold the top of the PE in place. I ran the cable through the back/middle (behind the PE speaker) and hooked up the keyboard USB on the top left side, and it was a perfect setup. I'll take pictures if anyone interested. Overall, it's a good size, works seemlessly (although if any background services were running--ie Email-- the keyboard was as slow as molasses until the services were complete). Hope this helps someone! JM