Benq and HP won't play nice (compatibility problem)

[PDANEWBIE]

I have an unusual dilema.

I have the HP 2210 Micro keyboard (thumboard) attachment on top of this I have a hacked (bottom connector moved to fit a 2215) benq game pad that plugs into the bottom of most Ipaq's. The problem is the gamepad itself does not fit alot of Ipaqs form and it is sold as only supporting a limited number of modles.

The problem however is not a modle issue its a problem with the thumboard drivers vrs the gamepad drivers. When I have installed the thumboard drivers but have the gamepad attached if I try to enable it I get an error saying the com port is in use (com port?) if I delete out the thumboard drivers I can enable the gamepad with no problem.

I have resulted in keeping the cab on a seperate media and installing it when I need the thumboard and then uninstalling it to play with the gamepad.

Is there anyway to get the thumboard and the gamepad to play nice

I have links to both items below -

Gamepad -

http://www.yomimedia.net/shop/product_info.php?products_id=98
(can't find manufacturers website)

Thumboard (Microkeyboard)-

iPAQ Micro Keyboard
FA162A
http://h30143.www3.hp.com/configure2.cfm?sid=18466&jumpid=oc_R1002_USENC-002_HP%20iPAQ%20h2215%20Pocket%20PC&lang=en&cc=us

[tchart]

since they are most likely both using the one serial port they would conflict as only one program can use a serial port at a time.

Things you could try;

1) If the thumboard driver is an executable you can probably shut it down with a good task manager.

2) Ifs its activated by the SIP menu then its probably a dll loaded into memory and it may not be easy to kill. If you change the SIP menu to be the normal keyboard does the gamepad work? Theoretically changing the input method should deactivate the driver

3) Is there an control panel item for the thumboard, if so can you not deactivate it there?

Otherwise there isnt much you can do as its a hardware limitation.

Trevor

[PDANEWBIE]

Thanks for the thoughts.

It definitely can't be killed in the task manager as when I do a soft reset its not showing up in the task list but still gives the error right off the bat.

The default input method is not the thumboard as I don't use it all the time (see above that with a soft reset and not on default on it still gives the problem).

It does have an item within the programs but I didn't see anything about disabling it (though the benq one does have an item to make it enabled). I'll have to double check this once I reload it again. Thanks.

I was hoping there could be some kind of "hardware profiles" for the PPC that you could setup different hardware configs based on what you wanted to do but I guess thats asking a little too much.

[PDANEWBIE]

Oh yeah there is an enable/disable on the micro keyboard box. And I have now installed it and it works wonderful I have to just disable it in the applet before I enable the Benq driver.

Thanks for the pointer.