We’ve such an abundance of computing energy out there to us as of late that we will afford to permit for some inefficiency in how we use it. We don’t must give you advanced and cryptic algorithms, for example, to shave just a few clock cycles or bytes of reminiscence off of a program anymore. And as Jean-Luc Aufranc simply demonstrated, many people may even spare a complete laptop to behave as a Bluetooth keyboard for interacting with one other laptop.
Sure, it’s ridiculous. I imply, it’s not like keyboards are costly or briefly provide. But it surely did get Aufranc out of a troublesome bind just lately. With work piling up, a lot of computer systems to work at, and a scarcity of keyboards with which to do this work, Aufranc turned to a newly-acquired Raspberry Pi 500+. Positive, this laptop alone might have been used to do a lot of the work, however that may contain shifting a lot of knowledge and putting in tons of apps.
HID system, huh? (📷: Jean-Luc Aufranc)
So relatively than doing any of that, Aufranc merely hacked away on the Pi 500+ to make it current itself as a Bluetooth HID system to different machines. And as a bonus, it comes geared up with a really good mechanical keyboard.
This was all made doable with the assistance of a C and Python Bluetooth interface referred to as btferret that has been developed for Raspberry Pis. After compiling and executing a small program, the Pi 500+ will current itself to different computer systems as a Bluetooth keyboard. As soon as linked, it’ll transmit key presses simply as you’d count on some other keyboard to.
Nonetheless, this methodology positively falls into the class of soiled hacks. It’ll get you by in a pinch, however you’re going to seek out loads to bother you as properly. Among the keys don’t work, and if the Pi doesn’t keep on the desktop, nothing in any respect will work. Additionally, overlook about utilizing the ESC key. That may terminate this system and make your keyboard vanish.
In case you do end up in an analogous pinch, learn up on the undertaking write-up for extra particulars. The identical method also needs to work with a Pi 400 or Pi 500.
