Wii Keyboards?

[Drewman21]

Howdy all.  Just looking for a way to get a keyboard to work on a Wii and just looking at some options that maybe some people haven't thought of or tried. Sooo.. here I go, and please feel free to add any info or ideas.

Basic idea number 1.  Using the Phantasy Star keyboard made for Gamecube.  Uses 2 of the controller ports on the gamecube. One for the controller part and the other for the keyboard part.

Idea number 2.  There is a Gamecube controller adapter for a PSX/PS2 and a PS2 keyboard adapter for playing Phantasy Star.

Any ideas or any ideas?

[Hojo_Norem]

Why not try a USB keyboard or a PS/2>USB adapter?

[kendrick]

As the Wii does have standard USB ports, a USB keyboard would likely work. But to me, this is a software problem and not a hardware problem. Whatever you connect to the Wii, the game or the application has to be coded to look for that input. I don't know if the browser is looking for a keyboard at the USB port, and I can't imagine that it would be watching the Gamecube ports either. Any game that has a keyboard input option has the same restriction.

-KKC, cleaning his gaming area again.

[Blaine]

I've tried a myriad of USB devices in my Wii, including mouses, keyboards, drawing tablets, hard drives...anything and everything.

The Wii just ignores them.

All the USB ports are good for right now is drawing 1.5volts.

[Drewman21]

I was pretty sure that any and close to all usb devices wouldn't work with the Wii.  I was asking about the Phantasy Star keyboard for the gamecube as it has a native gamecube connector that could plug into the standard controller port.  Also I saw that there are keyboard to Gamecube adapters also for Phantasy Star.
The idea i was getting at would be that both ways would go though the controller port natively.  A friend way back had used the PSO keyboard with Animal crossing for typing in the letter modes.  I was wondering if it could be possible also with the Wii.  Just my thinking about it.

[Blaine]

In that case the answer is a simple 'no'.

The extended answer kendrick added is correct - it's conceivable that Wii software could be designed to listen to the Gamecube control ports for a keyboard device like the PSO controller, but seeing how Gamecube controllers aren't intended to work with the Wii outside of VC and GC modes... no one would try to implement that, which distills back down to...

No.

Odds are unless Nintendo makes a Wiiboard or a firmware update, you won't see one.

[FM-77]

You're going to have to wait for the homebrew applications to pop up. It'll happen soon, no doubt. There's a couple of modchips on the way as well.

[phreak97]

again with me replying to old threads..

the wii has now had a system update which enables use of a regular usb keyboard in the wii menu, the internet browser, and in the everybody votes channel (though i couldnt figure out where).

i guess game designers are free to implement keyboard usage if they want..