I recently bought an Adesso RF wireless keypad,
http://www.adesso.com/products_detail.asp?productid=281 . Although its
claims of 100' range are wildly optimistic, the keyboard generally works
well. The main complaint I have is with its Synaptic brand touchpad. Like
those on laptops, the touchpad has a function where tapping the pad
activates a left mouse button click. Unlike most laptops I've seen
however, this function, which I HATE, as I constantly find I'm inadvertently
activating it, cannot be turned off in software. In fact, the keyboard
comes with no drivers, it "plug & plays" into existing MS drivers. So I'm
wondering if there is a way to electronically disable the tap function. The
touchpad has a multilead chip, I'm guessing severing one of the leads would
eliminate the tap, the question is which one. I'm guessing this being a
proprietary chip, there's no data sheet available. Anyone have any ideas?
Adesso simply replies "no software solution".

TIA

Dan

"Dan" wrote in message
...
I recently bought an Adesso RF wireless keypad,
http://www.adesso.com/products_detail.asp?productid=281 . Although its
claims of 100' range are wildly optimistic, the keyboard generally works
well. The main complaint I have is with its Synaptic brand touchpad.
Like
those on laptops, the touchpad has a function where tapping the pad
activates a left mouse button click. Unlike most laptops I've seen
however, this function, which I HATE, as I constantly find I'm
inadvertently
activating it, cannot be turned off in software. In fact, the keyboard
comes with no drivers, it "plug & plays" into existing MS drivers. So I'm
wondering if there is a way to electronically disable the tap function.
The
touchpad has a multilead chip, I'm guessing severing one of the leads
would
eliminate the tap, the question is which one. I'm guessing this being a
proprietary chip, there's no data sheet available. Anyone have any ideas?
Adesso simply replies "no software solution".

TIA

Dan



The chip is undoubtably a microcontroller of some sort, it's very unlikely
that any external modification you could do would disable the tap, it would
require a firmware change in the keyboard if no separate driver is used.

Dan wrote in message
...
I recently bought an Adesso RF wireless keypad,
http://www.adesso.com/products_detail.asp?productid=281 . Although its
claims of 100' range are wildly optimistic, the keyboard generally works
well. The main complaint I have is with its Synaptic brand touchpad.
Like
those on laptops, the touchpad has a function where tapping the pad
activates a left mouse button click. Unlike most laptops I've seen
however, this function, which I HATE, as I constantly find I'm
inadvertently
activating it, cannot be turned off in software. In fact, the keyboard
comes with no drivers, it "plug & plays" into existing MS drivers. So I'm
wondering if there is a way to electronically disable the tap function.
The
touchpad has a multilead chip, I'm guessing severing one of the leads
would
eliminate the tap, the question is which one. I'm guessing this being a
proprietary chip, there's no data sheet available. Anyone have any ideas?
Adesso simply replies "no software solution".

TIA

Dan




A bit of piezo somewhere inside , you can remove ?

--
Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/

"N_Cook" wrote in message
...
Dan wrote in message
...
I recently bought an Adesso RF wireless keypad,
http://www.adesso.com/products_detail.asp?productid=281 . Although its
claims of 100' range are wildly optimistic, the keyboard generally works
well. The main complaint I have is with its Synaptic brand touchpad.
Like
those on laptops, the touchpad has a function where tapping the pad
activates a left mouse button click. Unlike most laptops I've seen
however, this function, which I HATE, as I constantly find I'm
inadvertently
activating it, cannot be turned off in software. In fact, the keyboard
comes with no drivers, it "plug & plays" into existing MS drivers. So
I'm
wondering if there is a way to electronically disable the tap function.
The
touchpad has a multilead chip, I'm guessing severing one of the leads
would
eliminate the tap, the question is which one. I'm guessing this being
a
proprietary chip, there's no data sheet available. Anyone have any
ideas?
Adesso simply replies "no software solution".

TIA

Dan




A bit of piezo somewhere inside , you can remove ?



That's not how they work, they're capacitive, and the tap function is
implemented in software using the same sensing grid that measures the
position of your finger.

James Sweet wrote:

That's not how they work, they're capacitive, and the tap function is
implemented in software using the same sensing grid that measures the
position of your finger.


The same keyboard is sold as a KeySonic ACK-540RF (25UKP here in the UK
from Ebuyer). I've got one, great in front of the TV / media centre.
Awful for heavy PC use.

Yup, no drivers, hence no configuration choices. Take it or leave it
technology. FWIW I'm a fan of the tap'n'click system so I'm OK :-)

--
Adrian C

"James Sweet" wrote in message
news2tNj.6251$nT1.4847@trndny09...
A bit of piezo somewhere inside , you can remove ?



That's not how they work, they're capacitive, and the tap function is
implemented in software using the same sensing grid that measures the
position of your finger.

Thanks for the replies. I gathered from what I'd read that the mouse
movement was capacitive, but I thought perhaps the tap portion was sensed by
something else which might be eliminated.
There may be a firmware avenue to this, but since the only software involved
is the basic MS keyboard & mouse driver, there doesn't appear to be a way to
get to/modify/replace the firmware, if such a replacement was even
available. I've also tried installing the generic Synaptics touchpad driver
for XP, but since the keyboard apparently just appears as a basic
mouse/keyboard once its signals get to the PC, the software doesn't detect
the presence of a touchpad.


Dan

"Adrian C" wrote in message
...
The same keyboard is sold as a KeySonic ACK-540RF (25UKP here in the UK
from Ebuyer). I've got one, great in front of the TV / media centre. Awful
for heavy PC use.

Yup, no drivers, hence no configuration choices. Take it or leave it
technology. FWIW I'm a fan of the tap'n'click system so I'm OK :-)

--

Adrian-I bought it also to use primarily with a HTPC, but I find I'm also
web browsing etc, in front ot the TV. I wouldn't want to write a doctoral
thesis this way, using this keyboard, but aside from the tap issue, I
actually find it's pretty comfortable to access the pc this way. The main
trouble for me has come when using WE. More than once I've gone to move the
cursor from, say, the upper right hand portion of the left, only to find
I've selected & moved some file/folder without meaning to or having any idea
which file & moved where.

Dan

On Apr 16, 1:05*pm, "Dan" wrote:
I recently bought an Adesso RF wireless keypad,http://www.adesso.com/products_detail.asp?productid=281. *Although its
claims of 100' range are wildly optimistic, the keyboard generally works
well. *The main complaint I have is with its Synaptic brand touchpad. *Like
those on laptops, the touchpad has a function where tapping the pad
activates a left mouse button click. *Unlike most laptops I've seen
however, this function, which I HATE, as I constantly find I'm inadvertently
activating it, cannot be turned off in software. *In fact, the keyboard
comes with no drivers, it "plug & plays" into existing MS drivers. *So I'm
wondering if there is a way to electronically disable the tap function. *The
touchpad has a multilead chip, I'm guessing severing one of the leads would
eliminate the tap, the question is which one. * *I'm guessing this being a
proprietary chip, there's no data sheet available. *Anyone have any ideas?
Adesso simply replies "no software solution".

TIA

Dan

http://appleiphonelover.blogspot.com/

On Apr 16, 1:05*pm, "Dan" wrote:
I recently bought an Adesso RF wireless keypad,http://www.adesso.com/products_detail.asp?productid=281. *Although its
claims of 100' range are wildly optimistic, the keyboard generally works
well. *The main complaint I have is with its Synaptic brand touchpad. *Like
those on laptops, the touchpad has a function where tapping the pad
activates a left mouse button click. *Unlike most laptops I've seen
however, this function, which I HATE, as I constantly find I'm inadvertently
activating it, cannot be turned off in software. *In fact, the keyboard
comes with no drivers, it "plug & plays" into existing MS drivers. *So I'm
wondering if there is a way to electronically disable the tap function. *The
touchpad has a multilead chip, I'm guessing severing one of the leads would
eliminate the tap, the question is which one. * *I'm guessing this being a
proprietary chip, there's no data sheet available. *Anyone have any ideas?
Adesso simply replies "no software solution".

TIA

Dan
http://appleiphonelover.blogspot.com/

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:05:50 -0700, "Dan" wrote:

I recently bought an Adesso RF wireless keypad,
http://www.adesso.com/products_detail.asp?productid=281 . Although its
claims of 100' range are wildly optimistic, the keyboard generally works
well. The main complaint I have is with its Synaptic brand touchpad. Like
those on laptops, the touchpad has a function where tapping the pad
activates a left mouse button click. Unlike most laptops I've seen
however, this function, which I HATE, as I constantly find I'm inadvertently
activating it, cannot be turned off in software. In fact, the keyboard
comes with no drivers, it "plug & plays" into existing MS drivers. So I'm
wondering if there is a way to electronically disable the tap function. The
touchpad has a multilead chip, I'm guessing severing one of the leads would
eliminate the tap, the question is which one. I'm guessing this being a
proprietary chip, there's no data sheet available. Anyone have any ideas?
Adesso simply replies "no software solution".

TIA

Dan


You could check Synaptic's site for a driver. It wouldn't be specific
to your keyboard, but they might have something that would work with
it.
Andy Cuffe

"Dan" wrote in
:

"James Sweet" wrote in message
news2tNj.6251$nT1.4847@trndny09...
A bit of piezo somewhere inside , you can remove ?



That's not how they work, they're capacitive, and the tap function is
implemented in software using the same sensing grid that measures the
position of your finger.

Thanks for the replies. I gathered from what I'd read that the mouse
movement was capacitive, but I thought perhaps the tap portion was
sensed by something else which might be eliminated.
There may be a firmware avenue to this, but since the only software
involved is the basic MS keyboard & mouse driver, there doesn't appear
to be a way to get to/modify/replace the firmware, if such a replacement
was even available. I've also tried installing the generic Synaptics
touchpad driver for XP, but since the keyboard apparently just appears
as a basic mouse/keyboard once its signals get to the PC, the software
doesn't detect the presence of a touchpad.

Have you checked the manufacturer's website for drivers?
MOST companies have drivers that can be downloaded and installed.

BTW, I also HATE 'tap' and turn it off whenever I can.
I also wear out the left 'mouse' button on my laptop keyboard.
I am on my third 'palm rest' on this DELL inspirion 640m. Replaced under
warranty when the button stopped working.

--
bz 73 de N5BZ k

please pardon my infinite ignorance, the set-of-things-I-do-not-know is an
infinite set.

remove ch100-5 to avoid spam trap

wrote in message
...

http://appleiphonelover.blogspot.com/

Not sure I see what you're getting at...

Dan

"Andy Cuffe"
You could check Synaptic's site for a driver. It wouldn't be specific
to your keyboard, but they might have something that would work with
it.
Andy Cuffe



Andy - I tried that, the driver doesn't recognize the presence of a
touchpad. Inside the keyboard, there's a circuit that apparently takes all
keystrokes/touchpad actions, converts them to the equivalent basic MS plug &
play keyboard/mouse actions, then transmits them to the USB RF receiver.
There doesn't appear to be a software way of diong this with this setup,
which is why I was looking for an electronic (hardware) solution.

Dan

"bz" wrote in message
98.139...

Have you checked the manufacturer's website for drivers?
MOST companies have drivers that can be downloaded and installed.

No drivers, uses the MS plug & play drivers, which have no settings for a
touchpad.

"Dan" wrote in
news
"bz" wrote in message
98.139...

Have you checked the manufacturer's website for drivers?
MOST companies have drivers that can be downloaded and installed.

No drivers, uses the MS plug & play drivers, which have no settings for a
touchpad.

http://www.adesso.com/keyboard_drivers.asp

download the drivers for your keyboard from their web site.
Download the manual and read it.
If you STILL have problem, contact their support people.





--
bz 73 de N5BZ k

please pardon my infinite ignorance, the set-of-things-I-do-not-know is an
infinite set.

remove ch100-5 to avoid spam trap

"bz" wrote in message
98.139...
"Dan" wrote in
news
"bz" wrote in message
98.139...

Have you checked the manufacturer's website for drivers?
MOST companies have drivers that can be downloaded and installed.

No drivers, uses the MS plug & play drivers, which have no settings for a
touchpad.

http://www.adesso.com/keyboard_drivers.asp

download the drivers for your keyboard from their web site.
Download the manual and read it.
If you STILL have problem, contact their support people.

Speaking of "required reading", did you READ THIS THREAD at all?

Did you even bother to LOOK AT what's available for the model in question on
the very link you supplied before posting it???

There is not a point in your post that isn't incorrect, and that I haven't
covered AT LEAST ONCE in this discussion.

Make sure YOU know what YOU'RE talking about before you shoot your mouth off
& imply SOMEONE ELSE isn't doing their homework.

Dan

bz wrote:

http://www.adesso.com/keyboard_drivers.asp

download the drivers for your keyboard from their web site.

That page doesn't offer drivers, just announces that the keyboard is
'plug and play'.

Download the manual and read it.
If you STILL have problem, contact their support people.

You seem to have a short fuse there. Looks like a quick blow, I'd
replace it with an anti-surge delay if I were you.... :~(

--
Adrian C

Dan wrote:
Make sure YOU know what YOU'RE talking about before you shoot your mouth off
& imply SOMEONE ELSE isn't doing their homework.

Dan

Hi Dan, that guys a moron..... You get plenty of them around these parts :-(

Since I'm not about to tear my nice identical keyboard to pieces to find
out, but since you probably have ;-) could you list out any part numbers
of the chips & touch sensor, or better put some good resolution pictures
on a blog somewhere?

It's very possible that it's programming code in firmware that needs
changing, and it's also very probable that the CPU device used is NOT
reprogramable and might even have be programmed in such a way that
reading out the code and hacking changes to write to another device
might be difficult.

On the other hand, if the synaptics OEM touch sensor is connected to the
keyboard CPU chip using a standard (PS/2?) interface you may be able to
hack your own programmed microcontroller (PIC?) inbetween it and the CPU
chip, doing your own custom initialisation after the CPU has done its
default?

There seems to be a bit of information on the synaptics web site at a
low level (mainy for driver writers) that might help if you feel
inclined to take on this hacking job. Certainly an interesting project
if you have time/$$/patience to spare. :-)

--
Adrian C

"Dan" wrote in
:

"bz" wrote in message
98.139...
"Dan" wrote in
news
"bz" wrote in message
98.139...

Have you checked the manufacturer's website for drivers?
MOST companies have drivers that can be downloaded and installed.

No drivers, uses the MS plug & play drivers, which have no settings
for a touchpad.

http://www.adesso.com/keyboard_drivers.asp

download the drivers for your keyboard from their web site.
Download the manual and read it.
If you STILL have problem, contact their support people.

Speaking of "required reading", did you READ THIS THREAD at all?

Did you even bother to LOOK AT what's available for the model in
question on the very link you supplied before posting it???

There is not a point in your post that isn't incorrect, and that I
haven't covered AT LEAST ONCE in this discussion.

I AM trying to help. I hate the tap to click also.

I missed the fact that the driver page showed a little icon that said
'windows drivers'
rather than actually leading to a driver because I didn't try to download
the driver and didn't look closely at the icon.
My bad. Sorry about that.

I also didn't bother to download the manual and read through it.
My bad. Sorry about that.

But then you never said YOU downloaded the manual and it gave no help.

There does appear to be one point you have not covered, contacting their
support people.

Have you contacted or 800-467-1195?
If you covered that, I missed reading it. Sorry about that.

You and Adrian seem to have a bit of a short fuse.
I missed a couple of points but I didn't call anyone names.


Make sure YOU know what YOU'RE talking about before you shoot your mouth
off & imply SOMEONE ELSE isn't doing their homework.

Simply saying 'I said I tried that already' would have been sufficient,
there is really no need losing one's temper.

If you had said something like
[hypothetical quote]
checked company web site
Driver page shows only 'use windows drivers'
downloaded manual
Same as the useless manual that came with the keyboard
[end hypothetical quote]

It would have prevented some misunderstanding on my part, but missing IS my
fault.
Sorry about that.

You still have not made clear whether you tried to contact the company.
I am trying that because you haven't said that you tried it.
Their auto-answer-bot doesn't give much hope, but there may be a later
answer from a human being that is more helpful.
I can't call the 1 800 number right now but it is worth trying.



--
bz

please pardon my infinite ignorance, the set-of-things-I-do-not-know is an
infinite set.

"bz" wrote in message
98.139...
I AM trying to help. I hate the tap to click also.

I missed the fact that the driver page showed a little icon that said
'windows drivers'
rather than actually leading to a driver because I didn't try to download
the driver and didn't look closely at the icon.
My bad. Sorry about that.

I also didn't bother to download the manual and read through it.
My bad. Sorry about that.

But then you never said YOU downloaded the manual and it gave no help.

There does appear to be one point you have not covered, contacting their
support people.

Have you contacted or 800-467-1195?
If you covered that, I missed reading it. Sorry about that.

You and Adrian seem to have a bit of a short fuse.
I missed a couple of points but I didn't call anyone names.


Make sure YOU know what YOU'RE talking about before you shoot your mouth
off & imply SOMEONE ELSE isn't doing their homework.

Simply saying 'I said I tried that already' would have been sufficient,
there is really no need losing one's temper.

If you had said something like
[hypothetical quote]
checked company web site
Driver page shows only 'use windows drivers'
downloaded manual
Same as the useless manual that came with the keyboard
[end hypothetical quote]

It would have prevented some misunderstanding on my part, but missing IS
my
fault.
Sorry about that.

You still have not made clear whether you tried to contact the company.
I am trying that because you haven't said that you tried it.
Their auto-answer-bot doesn't give much hope, but there may be a later
answer from a human being that is more helpful.
I can't call the 1 800 number right now but it is worth trying.



--
bz

I did contact the manufacturer, and mentioned this in my original post:
"Adesso simply replies "no software solution".

I also said in that post, and at least once later in a reply to you, that
"the keyboard comes with no drivers, it "plug & plays" into existing MS
drivers."

Why would you not simply assume I was correct about these very basic things,
rather than that I hadn't even bothered to read the (very scant, BTW)
documentation: "Download the manual and read it"?

I accept at this point that you were sincerely trying to help, but come on,
the entire tone of your reply was condescending. If that really wasn't what
you were trying to communicate, you might want to work on how you phrase
things.

Apologies accepted.

Dan

"Adrian C" wrote in message
...
Since I'm not about to tear my nice identical keyboard to pieces to find
out, but since you probably have ;-) could you list out any part numbers
of the chips & touch sensor, or better put some good resolution pictures
on a blog somewhere?

It's very possible that it's programming code in firmware that needs
changing, and it's also very probable that the CPU device used is NOT
reprogramable and might even have be programmed in such a way that reading
out the code and hacking changes to write to another device might be
difficult.

On the other hand, if the synaptics OEM touch sensor is connected to the
keyboard CPU chip using a standard (PS/2?) interface you may be able to
hack your own programmed microcontroller (PIC?) inbetween it and the CPU
chip, doing your own custom initialisation after the CPU has done its
default?

There seems to be a bit of information on the synaptics web site at a low
level (mainy for driver writers) that might help if you feel inclined to
take on this hacking job. Certainly an interesting project if you have
time/$$/patience to spare. :-)

--
Adrian C

Adrian - I have taken the keyboard apart a couple times (screws under the
stick on rubber feet & center label, don't you hate that? ;-) I tried
disconnecting the 5 leads that run from the touchpad to the other main PCB,
one at a time, on the outside chance severing any would disable the tap,
didn't really expect it to work, but I thought I try it. No luck. of
course. Makes sense, I'm sure by the time the "left click" signal has left
the touchpad itself, there's no way to distinguish whether its from the pad
or the button.

Does seem like a firmware solution is the only way.

I looked on the Synaptics site for a driver, which I dl'd to no avail, but
didn't really poke around there much more, didn't expect them to have any
technical info to speak of. They seemed to say "If this driver doesn't do
it for you, don't bother us, call the manufacturer". I'll go back there &
look some more.

I'm not home right now, but later I'll see if I can get a decent pic of the
interior to post on a hosting page.

Thanks for the ideas.

Dan