I want a very small keyboard to use with my MAME cabinet. I often play PC games on my MAME cab, and many games require one to input names to start, or to use the Enter key, or require other actions that cannot be simply done without a keyboard.
I have an Ultimarc Mini-Pac installed, and I can use special moves to simulate the Enter key and some other keys, but it's not very intuitive. People who visit and play the cab don't know the moves. Besides, this doesn't cover all situations. No, I need a real keyboard.
I want a keyboard that is readily accessible. I have seen many other people's cabinets with pull-out keyboards. But I want a keyboard right there on the control panel, in plain site and ready for use at any time.
After searching the web for small keyboards, I found nothing small enough. Then I had a thought. I used to use a Motorola PageWriter pager at work, and I thought that maybe its keyboard would be workable. I got a hold of some old units and began looking at the possibility of using one.
I put details about my progress here:
http://www.dalessio.ws/PW/I don't yet have anything working, but I believe that it can be done.
Comments and help in getting this working are welcome.
Mario