Comments on: Review: IrKB101 Wireless Keyboard Module

This is a big problem. I love the PPK but I DO NOT want to spend $100 each time I buy a different PDA. It's a scam and really souring me on Stowaway.

The Happy Hacking Cradle was close, but was not universal due to it's dependence on the Palm's plug.

The Easytype adapter was more univeral, requiring only that you have a serial port plug _or_ USB plug on your cradle, but you had to build it yourself. That's out of the question for most of us.

This one (IrKB101) is so close that it just kills you they still didn't get it right. How about building on a small "wrap around" tray to create a stand. Maybe have a look at the M100 or Clie covers to get an idea of how to make it wrap around the unit when not in use. Then at a minimum you could prop the handheld up via the IrKb101 with such a built on tray above your keyboard when at a desk or other flat surface. With some "reshaping" this product would be killer. It's quite close already that if they could just implement some of the software and hardware recommendations already listed here, and make it reasonably priced, they would definitely sell a lot of these units. They just need to "fix" it _before_ they try to market it.

If you are like me and already carry a backpack with books and papers, you know that a small laptop sized keyboard wouldn't take up hardly any more room in the internal back pocket of your backpack than the GoType keyboard and you get full size keys.

I'm still waiting.

that brings up a question:
i'm not too familiar with how the palm handles IR vs serial connections, but if you can't hotsync while this driver is active, because the serial port is being used by the driver, would you be able to use a modem that uses the serial port? if so, that's great, if not, this may not be as useful as it looks.
oh, and for the guy who said that all the keyboards in your office are in use while you're in a meeting, what about yours? why not just bring it to the meeting with you, then take it back to your office when you're done? seems like the easiest solution to me.
if everybody in your office uses a different handheld, you could simply share a few of these adapters, and it would cost a whole lot less than getting everybody a different stowaway or gotype or whatever for their particular handheld.

You missed my point... (1) Why would you drag such a thing with you, when you can have a PPK at less then 1/4 the size (folded) and *far* less the weight? (2) What if you’re not at your home base? I attend many meetings in offices all over my corp. and across town. The PPK folds to 5.25x3.75x1”, weighs just slightly more than the Palm itself and has a full-size QWERTY layout with all the special keys needed by most Palm apps.

Sorry, but dragging a full-size keyboard to a meeting is not a solution for most, but I’ll admit some will find it of great use. I too think the idea of “stations” setup around a location may be a good fit. I happen to work in I/S at a large hospital system and we will be deploying some type of handheld (Palm OS driven) in the very near future. My biggest concern is how much support time and trouble shooting this will generate with my staff (I refer to the handheld, apps & any option and not this product in particular). KISS (keep it simple stupid) is our motto.

henry