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Nimue

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Joined: 06/08/2020
Location: United Kingdom
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Posted: 01:57pm 11 Jan 2026

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Mixtel90 said Of course, if you'd used IR for the clicker you could have used a Zero or a MX170 with very little else. :)
.

ooohhh - What kind of IR reciever would I need - wouldn't it also need some sort of HID layer itself?

Saw this on Git Hub (https://github.com/wagiminator/CH32V003-USB-IR-Receiver - but then back into coding something "not" 'mite.

Never thought of IR.

Edit:
I think my challenge will be the host pc - I can't install software so I need to send USB HID commands. The IR route seems to need something at the PC end to interpret the signals.
Edited 2026-01-12 00:01 by Nimue

Entropy is not what it used to be

Mixtel90

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Posted: 02:55pm 11 Jan 2026

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Well, yeah. The difference is that instead of using a wifi or BT input it would use a modulated IR receiver. Apart from that the HID side is the same.

A PC can see a HID device as a keyboard, so it can poke, say, "W", "A", "S" or "D" into the keyboard buffer and the PC will react as if it's had those keys pressed.

A USB joystick controller is also a HID device, but Windows sees it as that rather than a keyboard. If you stripped one down you could use GPIO pins to "control" the joystick using lovely clicky relays for a touch of authenticity. :)

You could use, say, a Zero as the converter between IR and HID. Your software would run a loop to wait for a character from the IR sensor then send a character over HID. MMBasic supports IR TX and RX, but not being a HID master unless someone knows differently. Circuit python can probably handle both as IR has been around a long time. It's only a serial bit stream.

Of course, other such things are available. :)

If you use two IR LEDs in the transmitter, angled outwards a bit and driven by the same mosfet, you'd get a wider operating field.
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Edited 2026-01-12 00:57 by Mixtel90

Mick

Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini
Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs

Volhout
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Joined: 05/03/2018
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 5703

Posted: 07:09pm 11 Jan 2026

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@Mick,

IR keyboard is funny, but is not really robust. The IR protocols implemented in MMBasic are used for changing TV channels. And when you aim bad with your remote, you simply press channel-up again.

That does not work for a keyboard. You would be agitated very soon (I know since I used one). But what is more, the IR remote keycodes are slow, a fast typist could crash the IR system easily (not me, I am more like 2-5 keys per second).

Volhout

PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS

phil99

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Joined: 11/02/2018
Location: Australia
Posts: 3016

Posted: 09:08pm 11 Jan 2026

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As this is a clicker emulating a keyboard speed is unlikely to be an issue so I think IR could be worth a try.
At the clicker end use a MicroMite2 as it also supports IR. With sleep enabled it would cut the battery size.
At the PC end another MM2 or PicoMite driving this :-

Quote A DIY hardware option could be to gut a keyboard for it's chip and cable. (Assuming the chips are not available on line.)
Before dismembering it trace the tracks of keys you wish to use back to the chip and record the pin numbers.
Your input device can then link its output to the required pins via optocouplers.

Mixtel90

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Posted: 09:38pm 11 Jan 2026

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That Flirc device that I linked to appears as a HID device. You configure it to act as keyboard keys when it receives IR messages. It also learns the remote that you want to use so IR SEND should be ok.

It has the disadvantage that it's 22 quid though. :(

Mick

Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini
Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs

phil99

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Joined: 11/02/2018
Location: Australia
Posts: 3016

Posted: 10:12pm 11 Jan 2026

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That looks like a handy device but Nimue wont be allowed to install its configuration software on the PC.

It might work if it can be configured on his own PC and from then on appear to be a standard keyboard to a computer without the software.

mozzie
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Joined: 15/06/2020
Location: Australia
Posts: 204

Posted: 01:56pm 12 Jan 2026

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G'day,
Once again, the Remapper software as suggested by Arne may be the solution depending on requirements.
Assuming (here I go again) that the "Clicker" is a HID device that sends keypresses to the host PC, and its one of these that needs modifying:

A switch can be added to a GPIO pin to select modes ie: normal and modified, if needed
Plug the Remapper unit into the PC, plug the Bluetooth dongle into the Remapper.
Program the Remapper on an "open" PC, although it is a webpage so might even work with the "work" PC's

Once programmed, the Remapper is seen as a HID device so no software required, with the bluetooth dongle working through it.

Of course, this is nowhere near as much fun as building it from scratch, and as suggested by Mick, there is a IR library for CircuitPython that looks interesting.
Once again, to be able to achieve this in MMbasic would be awesome, but I reckon we are already spoilt with all the goodies we have.

Regards,
Lyle.

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