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Chatpad to MicroKeyboard

digimbyte

Hey everyone,

I'm interested in modifying a $5 chatpad from ebay into a usb compatible mini keyboard, suitable for PC, Arduino, etc

Altho I may need some help and guidance, I'm familiar with some basics but not any experience with actual modding hardware

 

The model is TYX-517

the  board is marked with;

PJ-019

VER:1.1

120822

 

photo IMG_20151224_093823.jpg photo IMG_20151224_093849.jpg photo IMG_20151224_093916.jpg

is it possible to hack?

  • I think that the chat pad has a pic chip, but I don't know how you would  reprogram it.

  • Turns out that the chatpad is using a PIC and can be reprogrammed to work with an arduino over serial.

     

    Try: http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=58463.0

    The first post goes over how information on how to reprogram the chatpad itself. This does require a way to program the PIC along with trusting someone else's firmware.

     

    On the other hand the third post in that same thread provides links for an arduino library and some details on the protocol used by the chatpad.

     

    Happy Hacking!

  • UPDATE

     

    First, mentioned above are guides to an official Microsoft Chatpad.

    The one I have doesn't have a giant chip to connect to (its NOT an official Chatpad), it only has a single Chip-on-board Blob, there are various hot points around for some sort of Testing points and Resistor mounts, and the main output seems to be TTL

    but that's something I'm new too, but I have researched it which lead me to buy a USB to TTL Micro controller (RS232) in the hopes of using it to convert the signal as one option.

     

    I also got a PICKIT 3 with the

    RS232 - PL2303HX (here)

     

    UPDATE 2,

    after looking at the board, i've decided to scratch the Chip-to-Board off and use an arduino mini as the main processor for the inputs, I just need to de-compile how the PCB is mapped

  • in reply to digimbyte

    Hi, could you uncover some details about you project? I want to use similar chatpad clone to connect to arduino. No luck till now!

    Do I understand correctly: You replaced the "black thing" on the board with arduino pro mini? How you did that?