Any hardware builders out there?

[skoshi]

First time I have ever been here... been a multi-boxer for sometime... maxed out at 3 due to the way I play and the distractions I have... and budget constraints etc....

But anyway... been thinking of what my "dream multi-boxing interface" would be for quite some time.

These applications that switch control from 1 PC to the next IMHO don't quite cut it... I don't have the time I need to slide from PC 1 to PC3 and then hit some keys to heal... if I take that time I lose aggro on the tank etc.

Here is what I have wanted for quite some time.

1 keyboard... with 2 USB ports on it.

I want a mouse and a foot pedal to plug into the keyboard.

The mouse and most of they keyboard would be controlled by the foot pedal swapping between screens.... none pressed would be my middle screen... left would be my left screen.. right would be my right screen...and both could be a 4th screen.

I would then want that keyboard to be pretty much a standard keyboard... except that the CTRL and ALT keys work going to all the PCs all the time.

Behind the standard keyboard would be 2-3 number pads... in different colors.. so like grey scale or something nothing to flashy (and the original being black) they would be perfectly lined up with the existing number line. each one of those would have a seperate USB cable feeding to it's corresponding PC.

The reason for this is... if I have a healer, a tank, and a DPS... they need to be doing 3 different things at the same time.... I dont multi box 3 wizards... and every encounter is different so I don't want to only heal when I taunt by broadcasting key strokes... and I don't want controls to cause me extra millisecs of interface time on every action.

So basically I would use the foot pedal on rare occasion... the BULK of my controlling would be via just the hotkey bars and the shared ctrl and alt keys.... hotkeys are made because they trigger time sensitive abilities... key point "time sensitive" I need these to be accessible in the same manner as a regular action when single boxing.

Currently I have 3 full size keyboards because although I have a Saitek pro gamer and a belkin nostromo n50 I don't feel like they quite do what I need them to do.... mostly movement issues for when /follow fails... and the fact it's hard to reach anything behind my keyboard or futher to the right or left due to the number of mice and keyboards I need for the stuff the game pads can't handle.

So has anyone actually ever built a USB device from scratch? or know of a company that would be willing to look into the gamer market for a device that can be used to multi-box better using existing cheap usb keyboard technology as a foundation... not this "LCD on each key" type stuff that really desn't add anything to multi-boxers.

[Scribbler]

KVM, just wire the switch up to some pedals.

[Xzin]

You can kind of do that with PS/2 X-keys. They all act as one giant keyboard as they have pass through ports. You can daisy chain a foot pedal set to it and use those as modifier keys. I don't exactly understand what you want but it seems like what you want to do is already doable with the modular X-keys setup and/or some USB multicasters if you want to go the USB route.

[skoshi]

KVM, just wire the switch up to some pedals.

a Straight KVM even with foot pedals wouldn't give me the ability to use the numbers on all 3 PCs at the same time for instant hotkey usage.

Nor would it allow all 3 to use the same ctrl and alt keys.

But it would be a step in the right direction I think. I have an old KVM at home and one here at work I could just have (was being thrown out and I saved it from the scrap heap)

[skoshi]

You can kind of do that with PS/2 X-keys. They all act as one giant keyboard as they have pass through ports. You can daisy chain a foot pedal set to it and use those as modifier keys. I don't exactly understand what you want but it seems like what you want to do is already doable with the modular X-keys setup and/or some USB multicasters if you want to go the USB route.

I will have to read up more on X-keys.... I have to admit I never really looked at that.

[hapiguy314]

Can you program X-Keys to switch between computers with your Vetra KM? Say one of the keys in X-Keys keyboard would be Scroll Lock (press)>> 1 >> Scroll Lock (depress)+ , Scroll Lock (press) >> 2>> Scroll Lock (depress) etc so that switching between keyboards is more instantaneous? Sometimes I press my scroll lock + number pad and it doesnt always act as fast as I would like them to be.

PS
I know you have to press scroll lock then simultaneously press the number, then depress it before you let go of the scroll lock. :)

[skoshi]

X-keys look cool... $100 a piece though (ouch)

If they were 100% what I wanted I could find a way to come up with the like $300 I would need for 2 bars and a pedal... but unfortunately it's not.

The issue is that the pedal wouldn't switch my keyboard and mouse around unless I was running like synergy which is more CPU overhead than I would want for a simple switch.

The 16 key strips themselves I am not sure would respond to having a ctrl key programmed to 1 key and the rest of the keys working in response to it being pressed or not.

So if the ctrl and alt key didn't work I would need either 6 hotkey bars at $99 each... or 2 of the large units... and if I can stand having 2 of the large units within range of my hands... might as well just keep the keyboards I got.

I'm half temped to try and buy 2 cybersnipers
http://www.cybersnipa.com/us/products/cyber_snipa_game_pad.php

snap off the wrist rests... and try and make do with the poor ctrl-and alt placement and missing the - and = keys off all 3 hotbars where I would be expecting them (which I would try and remove like /attack and /assist to other locations on the pad so that the - and = were used but not for spells and therefore the placement would seem logical.

What I like about those ones are that the WASD keys will not care which hand I use... where as most game pads do... I am not left handed but when you 3 box you learn you use both hands ALOT more and it's pretty random....

I could get 2 cybersnipers for less than 1 x-key bar.

problem is... the x-key bar is able to be labeled... and the buttons are bigger.

I probably sound like a whiner at this point... but you know how it is when you know what you want... and it's not availible. It just kinda sucks.

There are way too many FPS player keyboards and not enough MMORPG gamer ones... let alone muti-boxing MMORPG gamer.

[pengpong]

actually i have spend some thoughts about a little gadget for the last days.
I've found a little library for the atmel microprocessors that implements the USB stack via software. Creating a simple HID USB device seems quite easy with it, and since you can program the atmel any way you like, there are many possible ways of using it.
Currently i'm thinking about hooking up an old keyboard and adding 2 USB connectors to the atmel, which would result in a Y-connection for the keyboard.
And yes, i know that there are easier solutions for that, but it's a completly different thing if you can build/customize the tools yourself =)

I'm still missing some parts, but when i have them i will start playing around, and will post my progress on the forum.

[Scribbler]

I probably sound like a whiner at this point... but you know how it is when you know what you want... and it's not availible. It just kinda sucks.


Chances are someone else wants it too ;)

Now stop talking about it and start drawing up plans!

[Xzin]

Can you program X-Keys to switch between computers with your Vetra KM? Say one of the keys in X-Keys keyboard would be Scroll Lock (press)>> 1 >> Scroll Lock (depress)+ , Scroll Lock (press) >> 2>> Scroll Lock (depress) etc so that switching between keyboards is more instantaneous? Sometimes I press my scroll lock + number pad and it doesnt always act as fast as I would like them to be.

PS
I know you have to press scroll lock then simultaneously press the number, then depress it before you let go of the scroll lock. :)

Yes, xkeys can easily do that.

[skoshi]

I probably sound like a whiner at this point... but you know how it is when you know what you want... and it's not availible. It just kinda sucks.


Chances are someone else wants it too ;)

Now stop talking about it and start drawing up plans!

Problem is I can build systems and I can fix things mechanically but I never bothered to learn anything about building my own electronics. Plus I am on a limited "My Wife Hates Computers and Online Gaming" budget.

So basically although I have plenty of money to buy Three 24" Widescreen LCDs and 2 x-key pads... and special monitor mounting hardware and a new desk... I can't do it without getting stuff thrown across the room at me for a few years or a divorce... her choice.

I'm willing to do all of it with 1 more 20" and a 24" widescreen LCD using my existing desk and try and get my "controls" cost to about $100... but even that is going to take me time since my 3rd PC can't handle widescreen and is not worth upgrading only part way... I need new MB, RAM, CPU, and vid card to get that thing to where it should be.

Basically without a fancy set of controls I am looking at $1200-$1500 to get to the minimum of where I think I should be... so new controls have to be cheaper than X-keys and cheaper than paying some dude to design it for me... but i could follow a "how-to" guide if it was easy.. I have touched a soldiering iron before and I know what the parts on the circuit boards are and the basics of what they do... just the big picture part of what they all do when put together in certain patterns is what I am missing... you know the important part ;-p

I wish I had picked a cheaper hobby.

[sps_lokesh]

Hi,I am sp lokesh.I have the issues of MaxPC that go into detail on this topic, but I'm curious to hear from people who have done it recently, and have some ideas on some good hardware. I'm not against building it with AMD or Intel's Pentium M, so if you have ideas, toss it my way plz.......