Handheld Scientific BT-500 - make any wired keyboard a Bluetooth keyboard
I’ve been using a Handheld Scientific BT-400 for years, to let my wireless devices (iPad, etc) use my wired keyboards. It adapts PS/2 or USB keyboards to Bluetooth with a built-in battery. It’s a little clunky and the LEDs are obnoxiously bright, but still, it’s a unique product and I love it. Still works great. Except, it wasn’t passing through the media keys I layered into my D60Lite.
BT-500 |
Gone is the PS/2 port, though their compatibility list suggests most (all?) PS/2 to USB adapters should work.
As for USB, it turns out the BT-500 is very particular about what cable it’s connected to. It worked perfectly with a GMMK full-sized keyboard and a Unicomp SpaceSaver M, both of which are hardwired. When I tried to use a USB-A to USB-C cable that came bundled with one of my keyboards, however, it didn’t recognize any input from the board whatsoever (nor did RGB illuminate, on the boards that had it). Tried a different, braided, USB-A to USB-C cable, and everything worked perfectly. (The cable that didn’t work with the BT-500 worked perfectly when connecting the same keyboards to the hub built into a Dell monitor that was connected to my Mac mini.)
Meanwhile, all the keys worked, including the media keys I have mapped to Layer 1.
I’m not sure I agree with the decision to make a smaller device without the battery. Having to plug the BT-500 into a battery pack is a clunky solution, frankly. I’m using it with a FuelRod as one of the smaller options I have (most of my battery packs are big, manly things that can power a laptop through a zombie apocalypse), and it’s ... Fine. But if you’re trying to turn a wired keyboard into a wireless Bluetooth keyboard, without replacing the controller circuitry inside, this is basically the only game in town. Glad it exists, and that it works – even if it is very particular about what it works with!
BT-500 and Unicomp SpaceSaver M |
BT-500 and Tokyo60 |
Comments
Post a Comment