Switchable Onscreen keyboard

Hatman · 23 May 2019, 21:30

I have been working on a small living room PC hooked up to my TV to scratch my retro itch from time to time.
I use LaunchBox (or rather BigBox) as a frontend and already set up a lot of system. Some with Retroarch,
some using standalone emulators.

My one requirement for adding anything to the box is that it has to be controllable purely with my SF30Pro Gamepad.
No Mouse, no keyboard. And i knew adding Amiga games would be a challenge because of that. But Amiga is just too good to leave out.

So i am limiting myself to games wich only require a Joystick to be played on this box, and that is still a lot of great games.
The frustration sets in when you encounter a great game, wich itself is perfectly controllable by a gamepad, but still requires
actual keyboard input to get past a menu or entering a level code.

Flashback is a prominent example. It's easy enough to map Enter/F1 to aditional buttons on my gamepad. But when it comes to
entering a level code, i'm stuck. Because unlike "Another World" Flashback doesn't offer an ingame letter selection but requires
actual keyboard input. For these situation it would be IMMENSELY helpfull if FS-UAE would feature a switchable onscreen keyboard
wich could be navigated with joystick/fire.

Yes, virtual keyboards get in the way.
But it doesn't matter in these situations because all you wanna do is get past that menu and then turn it off again.

Fruit for thought.... and i am very open for alternative solutions ....

Goingdown · 24 May 2019, 07:52

Would it be possible to use some kind of virtual keyboard offered by operating system? I have no idea how well that would work with FS-UAE though.

Hatman · 24 May 2019, 10:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goingdown

Would it be possible to use some kind of virtual keyboard offered by operating system? I have no idea how well that would work with FS-UAE though.

I had that thought too, tried out multiple 3rd party virtual keyboards aswell. But i couldn't find a single one that is controllable by a joystick/gamepad. They all aim at touch-screen users..

FrodeSolheim · 01 June 2019, 11:34

On-screen keyboard was actually planned from the start. It just hasn't happened yet

Hatman · 01 June 2019, 11:41

That's good to hear.

I've been fiddling with AHK in the meantime and it should be possible to write a script for it but my kung fu isn't strong enough at the moment.

Mikerochip · 01 June 2019, 19:37

I use one of these:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/WESO...796104709.html

Just flip it over, the keyboard becomes active, type, and flip it back.

23 May 2019, 21:30	#1
Hatman Registered User Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Hamburg / Germany Posts: 14	Switchable Onscreen keyboard I have been working on a small living room PC hooked up to my TV to scratch my retro itch from time to time. I use LaunchBox (or rather BigBox) as a frontend and already set up a lot of system. Some with Retroarch, some using standalone emulators. My one requirement for adding anything to the box is that it has to be controllable purely with my SF30Pro Gamepad. No Mouse, no keyboard. And i knew adding Amiga games would be a challenge because of that. But Amiga is just too good to leave out. So i am limiting myself to games wich only require a Joystick to be played on this box, and that is still a lot of great games. The frustration sets in when you encounter a great game, wich itself is perfectly controllable by a gamepad, but still requires actual keyboard input to get past a menu or entering a level code. Flashback is a prominent example. It's easy enough to map Enter/F1 to aditional buttons on my gamepad. But when it comes to entering a level code, i'm stuck. Because unlike "Another World" Flashback doesn't offer an ingame letter selection but requires actual keyboard input. For these situation it would be IMMENSELY helpfull if FS-UAE would feature a switchable onscreen keyboard wich could be navigated with joystick/fire. Yes, virtual keyboards get in the way. But it doesn't matter in these situations because all you wanna do is get past that menu and then turn it off again. Fruit for thought.... and i am very open for alternative solutions ....

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24 May 2019, 07:52	#2
Goingdown Registered User Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Finland Posts: 162	Would it be possible to use some kind of virtual keyboard offered by operating system? I have no idea how well that would work with FS-UAE though.

01 June 2019, 11:34	#4
FrodeSolheim FS-UAE Developer Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Førde, Norway Age: 43 Posts: 4,043	On-screen keyboard was actually planned from the start. It just hasn't happened yet

01 June 2019, 11:41	#5
Hatman Registered User Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Hamburg / Germany Posts: 14	That's good to hear. I've been fiddling with AHK in the meantime and it should be possible to write a script for it but my kung fu isn't strong enough at the moment.

01 June 2019, 19:37	#6
Mikerochip Registered User Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: Ireland Posts: 304	I use one of these: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/WESO...796104709.html Just flip it over, the keyboard becomes active, type, and flip it back.

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