Previously, I discussed the Adafruit Bluefruit EZ-Key module. This device comes factory-programmed to send specific key sequences via Bluetooth when one of the 12 inputs is selected. Software is available to change these key sequences, but this software runs on a host computer and requires installing an older version of a development environment called Processing.

Since it appears that the remapping is done simply by sending a text HEX sequence with a checksum to the EZ-Key, I thought it might be easier to just do this on an Arduino with a simple text user interface – no special installs needed.

I did a bit of work on this, and wanted to share my work-in-progress and maybe get some feedback on the interface.

Basically, for each of the 12 inputs you can specify a modifier (SHIFT, CTRL, ALT, etc.) plus up to 6 keycodes which will be sent out (with a Keys-Down) via Bluetooth. When the input is released, a matching Keys-Up message is sent.

To customize, you simply need to specify an input (0-11) and then a modifier (8 available choices) and then up to 6 keycodes (about 112 options available, such as ARROW UP or “k” or numeric keypad minus). I put together a very quick user interface, and here is a sample session, with comments on what is going on:

Adafruit Bluefruit EZ-Key Remapper 0.00 by Allen C. Huffman (alsplace@pobox.com)

Enter input to configure (0-11), [L)ist, [U)pdate or [Q)uit: L

* Here, I select "L" to list the current input config.
Input Key Codes:
----- ----------
 0.   ARROW_UP
 1.   ARROW_DOWN
 2.   ARROW_LEFT
 3.   ARROW_RIGHT
 4.   RETURN
 5.   SPACE
 6.   1
 7.   2
 8.   W
 9.   A
10.   S
11.   D

Enter input to configure (0-11), [L)ist, [U)pdate or [Q)uit: 6

* I select "6" to change input 7 (currently sends "1").
Editing Input 6 Configuration:

Modifier: NONE - Enter new modifier # (0-8), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: L

* To see a list of available modifiers, I select "L".
  0. NONE             3. ALT_LEFT         6. SHIFT_RIGHT  
  1. CTRL_LEFT        4. GUI_LEFT         7. ALT_RIGHT    
  2. SHIFT_LEFT       5. CTRL_RIGHT       8. GUI_RIGHT      
Modifier: NONE - Enter new modifier # (0-8), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 1
Setting new modifier value to: CTRL_LEFT

* By selecting "1", I am choosing the modifier to be "CTRL_LEFT".
Modifier: CTRL_LEFT - Enter new modifier # (0-8), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 

* It shows the Modifier line again, and by pressing ENTER, it skips and moves to the next item - Keycodes 0-5:
Keycode0: 1 - Enter new key code # (0-111), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 0

* By entering "0", I am selecting "KEY_NONW" - no key. In this example, I am making this input simply send the left CTRL key.
Setting new keycode value to: NONE

Keycode0: NONE - Enter new key code # (0-111), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 

* By pressing ENTER five more times, it skips over key codes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, leaving them to their current values of "NONE".
Keycode1: NONE - Enter new key code # (0-111), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 

Keycode2: NONE - Enter new key code # (0-111), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 

Keycode3: NONE - Enter new key code # (0-111), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 

Keycode4: NONE - Enter new key code # (0-111), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 

Keycode5: NONE - Enter new key code # (0-111), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 

Enter input to configure (0-11), [L)ist, [U)pdate or [Q)uit: L

* Now I use "L" to list the input config again, and can see that input 6 is now set to send the left CTRL key:
Input Key Codes:
----- ----------
 0.   ARROW_UP
 1.   ARROW_DOWN
 2.   ARROW_LEFT
 3.   ARROW_RIGHT
 4.   RETURN
 5.   SPACE
 6.   CTRL_LEFT
 7.   2
 8.   W
 9.   A
10.   S
11.   D

Enter input to configure (0-11), [L)ist, [U)pdate or [Q)uit: 7

* I then change input 7:
Editing Input 7 Configuration:

Modifier: NONE - Enter new modifier # (0-8), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: L

* I want to make this input send ALT-Q, but I forgot what modifiers are available so I "L" to list them again.
  0. NONE             3. ALT_LEFT         6. SHIFT_RIGHT  
  1. CTRL_LEFT        4. GUI_LEFT         7. ALT_RIGHT    
  2. SHIFT_LEFT       5. CTRL_RIGHT       8. GUI_RIGHT      
Modifier: NONE - Enter new modifier # (0-8), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 3

* "3" is the left ALT key.
Setting new modifier value to: ALT_LEFT

Modifier: ALT_LEFT - Enter new modifier # (0-8), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 

* Then I press ENTER, and it goes to key code 0, which is currently the "2" key. I want to change that.
Keycode0: 2 - Enter new key code # (0-111), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: L

* But since I don't know what key codes are available, I choose "L" to get a huge list of all of them.
  0. NONE            28. 2               56. F2              84. KEYPAD_PLUS    
  1. A               29. 3               57. F3              85. KEYPAD_ENTER   
  2. B               30. 4               58. F4              86. KEYPAD_1       
  3. C               31. 5               59. F5              87. KEYPAD_2       
  4. D               32. 6               60. F6              88. KEYPAD_3       
  5. E               33. 7               61. F7              89. KEYPAD_4       
  6. F               34. 8               62. F8              90. KEYPAD_5       
  7. G               35. 9               63. F9              91. KEYPAD_6       
  8. H               36. 0               64. F10             92. KEYPAD_7       
  9. I               37. RETURN          65. F11             93. KEYPAD_8       
 10. J               38. ESCAPE          66. F12             94. KEYPAD_9       
 11. K               39. BACKSPACE       67. PRINT_SCREEN    95. KEYPAD_0       
 12. L               40. TAB             68. SCROLL_LOCK     96. KEYPAD_PERIOD  
 13. M               41. SPACE           69. PAUSE           97. EUROPE_2       
 14. N               42. MINUS           70. INSERT          98. APPLICATION    
 15. O               43. EQUAL           71. HOME            99. POWER          
 16. P               44. BRACKET_LEFT    72. PAGE_UP        100. KEYPAD_EQUAL   
 17. Q               45. BRACKET_RIGHT   73. DELETE         101. F13            
 18. R               46. BACKSLASH       74. END            102. F14            
 19. S               47. EUROPE_1        75. PAGE_DOWN      103. F15            
 20. T               48. SEMICOLON       76. ARROW_RIGHT    104. CONTROL_LEFT   
 21. U               49. APOSTROPHE      77. ARROW_LEFT     105. SHIFT_LEFT     
 22. V               50. GRAVE           78. ARROW_DOWN     106. ALT_LEFT       
 23. W               51. COMMA           79. ARROW_UP       107. GUI_LEFT       
 24. X               52. PERIOD          80. NUM_LOCK       108. CONTROL_RIGHT  
 25. Y               53. SLASH           81. KEYPAD_SLASH   109. SHIFT_RIGHT    
 26. Z               54. CAPS_LOCK       82. KEYPAD_*       110. ALT_RIGHT      
 27. 1               55. F1              83. KEYPAD_MINUS   111. GUI_RIGHT      

Keycode0: 2 - Enter new key code # (0-111), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 17

* Since I want to send a "q" key, that is 17.
Setting new keycode value to: Q

Keycode0: Q - Enter new key code # (0-111), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 

* Above, it confirms that key code 0 is now "Q". I can then press ENTER to skip the next five optional key codes for this input.
Keycode1: NONE - Enter new key code # (0-111), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 

Keycode2: NONE - Enter new key code # (0-111), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 

Keycode3: NONE - Enter new key code # (0-111), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 

Keycode4: NONE - Enter new key code # (0-111), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 

Keycode5: NONE - Enter new key code # (0-111), [L)ist, [ENTER)Skip or [Q)uit: 
Enter input to configure (0-11), [L)ist, [U)pdate or [Q)uit: L

* Back to the main menu, I do an "L" to list the current input config.
Input Key Codes:
----- ----------
 0.   ARROW_UP
 1.   ARROW_DOWN
 2.   ARROW_LEFT
 3.   ARROW_RIGHT
 4.   RETURN
 5.   SPACE
 6.   CTRL_LEFT
 7.   ALT_LEFT + Q
 8.   W
 9.   A
10.   S
11.   D

Enter input to configure (0-11), [L)ist, [U)pdate or [Q)uit: U

* And they look good. Input 6 is now left CTRL, and input 7 is now left ALT + the Q key. Cool. Selecting "U" will update the EZ-Key to use this new config.

...update device here...

…and there you have it. A very simple and easy-to-use “BIOS-like” interface to remap the Adafruit EZ-Key directly from an Arduino, without touching a line of source code or installing anything special.

Does this seem useful? Should I polish it up and post it? I just created it because I was too lazy to download stuff and writing my own seemed more fun.

Let me know what you think in the comments…