Howto: Use kdarling's encoder method with a KE72

[Guest]

When I read Kevin Darling's post on using rotary encoders, I was amazed by how simple it was. My next thought was, I wonder if you could use the same approach with a Hagstrom KE72 keyboard encoder. Since I have both the KE72 and some of the cheap Panasonic rotaries, I had to try and IT WORKS!Simply connect the centre pin of the rotary to ground on the KE72 and the other two pins to two inputs, input xx and input yy. Then load the KE72 with a configuration file containing these two lines:(note: I've used curly brackets in this post since the square brackets that the KE72 configuration uses won't work in these forums)INXX:{SHIFT}INYY:{a} where the character assigned to input yy can be whatever you want to use. Then when the encoder is rotated one way you will get the lower case of the character assigned to yy and the other, the upper case.I haven't tried using {CTRL} instead of {SHIFT} but I'm sure it will work.Thank you, Kevin, for a great solution.Peter Holt

[Guest RichardL]

Hi Peter,Interestingg find you made. But here is the true test. Will it work with Project Magenta keyboard commands? As an example on the Airbus FCU:F1: Increase AirspeedF2: Decrease AirspeedF5: Increase HeadingF6: Decrease headingF7: Increase Vertical SpeedF8: Decrease Vertical SpeedF9: Increase AltitudeF12: Decrease AltitudeRichard

[Guest RichardL]

Another posibility. I just talked with Stan at Hagstrom Electronics. They sell a product that can convert rotary encoder pulses to an input a keyboard encoder can understand. The product is the ME-4. $34.95. Only limitation is it will only handle three rotaty encoders. You could always buy two or more for all you rotary needs.The rotary encoders are wired to the ME-4, and the ME-4 to any Hagstrom keyboard encoder. You can use the breakout board. The only other connection is a PS2 cable from the ME-4 to a computer PS2 port for power. I have not verified any of this first hand. Sounds interesting though. I know there are other rotary decoder products out there, so shop around.RichardPS: I did ask Stan about directly connecting a mechnical rotary encoder to one of their keyboard encoder boards. He felt it might work.

[Guest]

In answer to your first post, Richard, this method only works if you can assign a key and shift-key (or ctrl-key)) pair to up and down functions, it wouldn't work if you have two different keys, as in the Project Magenta example. Are the PM function key assignments changeable?With regard to other methods of doing it, yes, there are but for the price of one decoder which supports 3 rotaries you can buy enough of the Panasonic rotaries to populate an average control panel. All you need then for Kevin's original method is an old keyboard to hack. I already had the KE72 so it seemed logical to try and use that instead of hacking a keyboard.In cost terms, this method is way ahead of any other I have seen.Peter

[tigert 0]

>In cost terms, this method is way ahead of any other I have >seen. >Yeah, this is pretty darn smart :-) Wow.This might work on pretty much anything that can generate keyboard events, like FSBUS. Got to try once I get home - since those "phase shifted" encoders you can get with a pushbutton function as well.Tuomas

[Guest Salbado]

Hi Richard...I am using Peter Cos' push/pull rotary encoders...have you figured out if you can use Hagstrom's ME 4 Decoders method for the Project Magenta set-up? I was wondering if that is where you are headed?