Thread: xbox360 chatpad, awsome backlit mini keyboard

Originally Posted by greatwhite

http://www.promixis.com/products.php

Ah, you're implying that one could then use that to have the controller do other things... That makes sense. There is also AutoHotKey which is a bit more affordable. I didn't compare features particularly closely, though.

That said, I'm not too interested in said automation myself, just the hacking of the device.

-Steve

Originally Posted by c0nsumer

Hey everyone... I just came across this thread after seeing all the referrers hitting my logs. I'm the person who took those photos of disassembling the 360 chat pad.

Good job Steve, any chance of a photo of the reverse (keypad) side?

Originally Posted by c0nsumer

My thoughts are that the easiest thing to do would be to just reprogram the PIC to send keystrokes out via SPI

The PS2 protocol is quite simple, basically is sends serial data (scan codes) when the a key is pressed/released whilst the host is not sending. The host sends data to set LEDs status and request settings/reset keyboard etc. The other note is that the keyboard sends a 'AA' packet when first powered.

If the PIC is wired with the SSI interface connected, it should just require reprograming the PIC (via JP1?) to get it operating as a normal PS2 keyboard.

Mungewell.

Originally Posted by c0nsumer

Hey everyone... I just came across this thread after seeing all the referrers hitting my logs. I'm the person who took those photos of disassembling...

Welcome. Thanks for the high quality teardown photos.

Originally Posted by c0nsumer

Or, if you don't want to rescan the keyboard, you could just use an SPI sniffer (or whatever) to figure out what the chatpad actually sends, then again have something else to turn that into a normal keyboard HID.

As soon as the reverse engineering of the protocol is done (likely trivial, MS has little reason to obfuscate something like this) you could even use a language as simple as mikroBasic, which has a HID library and a lookup table to throw data out as a USB keyboard. If this is your intention, at least.

I was hoping you would have knocked this out by now. PS/2 or USB would work for me.

Originally Posted by mungewell

Good job Steve, any chance of a photo of the reverse (keypad) side?

If c0nsumer has nothing on hand, I should be able to post some pics next weekend.

ok smart people. what can we do to help get this done?

Hi all,

Great site you have here. Has anyone sniffed the PC to wireless gaming receiver USB connection (or just the direct controller USB connection if not using wireless) to see if the keystrokes are obfuscated at all? Even if they aren't ascii or PS2, as long as the same code is sent as USB data for the same key each time it is pressed we are off to the races.

I'm not a car PC guy but I'd love to use a chatpad with my whole house HTPC remote control

Cheers,
CrazyIvan

Oh, sorry. I forgot to check the thread for a while...

What sort of photos are you looking for? If its the keypad side of the PCB, sorry. The keypad is held to the PCB with some adhesive, and since I want to use the keypad still, I'm hesitant to pull off the adhesive. If there are others you are looking for, I can dig them up.

I didn't actually do much of an analysis of the board, I just pulled it open to see how it works, grabbed some photos, then put it back together and used it.

If I get bored / have time this weekend I might give a go at grabbing some data from the controller. It should be pretty straightforward. I've also now got some kit which will just snag serial data, so I'll see what I can get out of the board. I've got some other electronics work to do this weekend (stuff that will pay bills), but I should have time to noodle with this as well.

Personally, I'd (if possible) write a translator to take whatever the chatpad spits out and make it PS2, that way you don't have to write something to scan the keyboard. Actually, if the data coming out of the chatpad is as simple as I suspect it is, I could probably bang this together myself...

I have just read through pages 1-8 of this thread. I might have a solution to your problems.

Uart stands for Universal Asynchronous Receive and Transmit. It is TTL logic for +5v for high and 0v for low. It is a serial interface.

Did you guys know that UART and the serial interface for the pc are exactly the same? Except you need to do voltage conversion using a max32 chip. You need to convert the +5v high to +10v and the 0v low to -10v. Then just plug the data lines into your serial port and viola.

Also, there are already converters made with drivers for convertering between spi, uart, and i2c all to usb. The links are below.

http://www.totalphase.com/products/aardvark/i2cspi/
http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/Eva...its/MM232R.htm

Those above links can the serial-usb translation inside the housing. But this next link might be exactly what your looking for. A serial to usb cord.

http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/Eva...s/TTL-232R.htm

Also, if you want to be ambitious, they make wireless ttl uart modules.

http://www.rfsolutions.co.uk/acatalo...ee_Module.html
http://www.rfsolutions.co.uk/acatalo...SB_Dongle.html

This way, you can add a battery pack and use the keyboard wirelessly by itself. Then use the usb dongle to decode the signal and translate that into commands. I hope this info i have shown you help you guys.