Xref: utzoo comp.windows.misc:822 comp.sys.next:1020 Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!ucsd!ames!oliveb!sun!rfm@sun.com From: rfm@sun.com (Rich McAllister) Newsgroups: comp.windows.misc,comp.sys.next Subject: Re: IR-link keyboard -- it's been done! Message-ID: <83073@sun.uucp> Date: 27 Dec 88 18:02:37 GMT References: <4362@pitt.uucp> <257@gloom.uucp> <82702@sun.uucp> <8939@ut-emx.uucp> <88Dec26.153341est.10798@ephemeral.ai.toronto.edu> Sender: news@sun.uucp Reply-To: rfm@sun.com (Rich McAllister) Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc. Lines: 19 In-reply-to: bradb@ai.toronto.edu (Brad Brown) In article <88Dec26.153341est.10798@ephemeral.ai.toronto.edu>, bradb@ai (Brad Brown) writes: >Whether the IR keyboard really worked on the PC-Jr is debatable -- it *was* >a cool idea but required a line-of-sight from the keyboard to the computer. >This was *not* nice. If you could put the IR reciever on the NeXT monitor >it would be OK, but then you'd still have to worry about paper getting in the >way or the desk covering the LED when you type on your lap. Give me a nice >old wire, just make it long and flexible! This just means that the IR transmitter was anemic. A really *bright* IR source can bounce off walls, ceilings, etc. to get to the sensor. Think of flashing a strobe light in a dark room. Steve Wozniak's CL9's "Tyron" remote control booster is an example. Obviously this makes crosstalk between two systems in the same room even worse, but at the cost of a little more processing power in the keyboard, one could do a packet-based scheme (like Ethernet) to address the keyboard packets and get retransmission after a collision. -- Rich McAllister (rfm@sun.com)