Updated Palm Universal Wireless Keyboard Driver

Posted By: Kris Keilhack Monday, June 12, 2006 12:21:59 PM

Palm has released new drivers for their Universal Wireless IR keyboard. This new driver, dated June 2, is available for both Palm OS and Windows Mobile OSes. It adds some compatibility fixes, as well as support for the Treo 700p.

Palm's support web site states that the following issues have been addressed:

  • Provides Support for the Palm Treo 700p.
  • Includes fixes for Bluetooth wireless compatibility issues seen on the Palm TX handheld with the 1.08 version of the driver installed.
  • Completely replaces driver version 1.10 that was released for use on TX only

This version is recommended only for downloadfor use with Treos, the LifeDrive, the Palm TX and Tungsten E2. Older Palm handhelds as well as the T5 should use the 1.08 version of this driver.

Also important to note is that the new driver is for use only with the Palm Universal Wireless keyboard. Older Palm/PalmOne keyboards are not compatible with this driver release.

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Oh, yeah, and 1.08 was so great, too.

hgoldner @ 6/12/2006 9:16:52 PM # Q
What is particularly annoying about this news is that T|5 and below users are supposed to suck it up and continue to deal with the 1.08 driver which is a pitiful bit of code.

Until you learn about the problems in the Palm forums, you think that by clicking on the driver you can configure it. WRONG! You have to 'just use it' and simply start typing with the Palm in the keyboard. If you click on the driver, you get a fatal exception! (Now *that's* intuitive programming!)

I use a T|3 which is still, IMHO, one of the best Palm units ever made (lousy battery life aside), and there wasn't a smartphone comparable until the 700p came out 2 weeks ago.

Palm won't fix this buggy driver because it doesn't make sense economically. We're supposed to throw our PDA's away every 18 months and buy new one's, even if they're not as good as what went before.

That's what's so annoying --- it's symbolic of the entire planned obsolesence thing.

End rant.

Harold


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my UWKB driver experience

genoahaus @ 6/13/2006 12:14:59 AM # Q
FWIW - I run 1.13 on my T3 with no ill effects (same goes for 1.10)...

I didn't have Fatal exceptions with 1.08, but I did have WSOD with 1.05.

WSOD - White Screen OF Death, i.e. where hard reset does not even work - cure for my T3 was PDA disassembly to disconnect then reconnect battery. Some with this malady caused by bad UWKB driver returned their PDAs to Palm(One) for repair.

RE: my UWKB driver experience
hgoldner @ 6/13/2006 11:09:40 AM # Q
Can you actually CLICK on the driver and configure it on your T|3 with 1.13?

Harold

RE: my UWKB driver experience
genoahaus @ 6/14/2006 1:45:34 AM # Q
I've had no problems launching UWKB driver and changing settings on my T3 with 1.08, 1.10 and 1.13.

Then again I'm NOT running with Palm(One) WiFi SD drivers, which I hear used to be problematic when UWKB driver also installed.

I just rememberd ONE "Fatal Exception" problem I DID have with 1.08... The T3 6/14/05 "Phone Link Update" conflicted with 1.08 Causing "Fatal Exceptions". So I uninstalled it, as I don't need it. Maybe this is what's biting you? Some have figured out that a partial install of this update works for them and does not cause FE.

NOTE: I have NOT tried 6/14/05 "Phone Link Update" with UWKB drivers 1.10 or 1.13.



RE: my UWKB driver experience
hgoldner @ 6/15/2006 4:57:17 PM # Q
Thanks. 1.13 runs just fine on my T|3 and is now completely configurable with out the fatal reset.

Harold

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Quality on a Treo 650?

rentalkarma @ 6/13/2006 9:31:27 AM # Q
I purchased a Palm Universal Wireless Keyboard for my Treo 650 a couple of months back, and ended up returning it. There was a horrible lag, and I had to frequently type keys multiple times for them to appear on the screen, as though the Treo stopped "listening" to the keyboard, and needed to reawaken.

It was a huge letdown, after the great Stowaway days in years past.

If the keyboard can't keep up with me (and I'm by no means a stenographer) then it's not worth my time or money.

So... my question is: has this situation improved? Is there a good keyboard for the Treo? The IR port seems to be completely ill-suited for the task; is there a keyboard to which the 650 docks in a cradle and works without fault? Or am I just a hopeless dreamer in this crazy world?


RE: Quality on a Treo 650?
jbhardy @ 6/13/2006 7:26:28 PM # Q
Treo 650 works with the Universal Wireless Keyboard now. Palm released an IR patch a few weeks ago that patched 1.08 and allowed the keyboard to work as it should. This new version merely incorporates the patch, hence the version number change.
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Driver from Thinkoutside.com

spiros @ 6/19/2006 8:09:40 PM # Q
Usually Palm Universal Keyboards are just keyboard manufactured by ThinkOutside (www.thinkoutside.com) which are just branded with the Palm logo.

I use the drivers made for ThinkOutside Stowaway Infrared Wireless Keyboard for my Palm IR keyboard and they are excellent. No crash whatsoever.

You can download them from: http://www.thinkoutside.com/support/Drivers.asp?ManufacturerID=25&ModelID=129 (last update 4/19/2006 - Version 4.0)

RE: Driver from Thinkoutside.com
genoahaus @ 6/21/2006 2:57:05 AM # Q
That was true of the older Palm(One) keyboards, but the driver you point to may not work as this is the NEW Universal Wireless Keyboard Model 3169WW.

What model is your Palm keyboard? If it's not 3169WW then this driver WON'T WORK for others.

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1.10 driver on a Tungsten E

Stanley Krute @ 1/21/2007 12:55:41 AM # Q
This problem -- erratic operation of the universal wireless keyboard on a Tungsten E -- has been bothering me since day 0 of owning the keybd.

Since I've got nothing to lose, I delete the 1.08 driver and installed the 1.10.
Despite the warning not to.

So far, it's working well. I'll report back in a few days.

-- stan


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