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    Recommendations for bluetooth keyboards?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General Discussion and Gaming
    bluetoothkeyboard
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    • J
      jell
      last edited by

      I'm looking to get a full-size (or close to) bluetooth keyboard to use with the Pi 3. Any recommendations on ones that work well and are easy to setup?

      FruitybitF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • FruitybitF
        Fruitybit @jell
        last edited by

        @jell I've got a full sized ex-work Microsoft keyboard/mouse combo plus one of the tiny hand held ones. Both just plug and play. No setup needed!

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • L
          LowRes
          last edited by

          Logitech K380

          Works really good and easy to connect. I'm using this on retropie 4.3 and really glad I got it

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • F
            flynn
            last edited by

            I have had some luck and some disappointment with various BT keyboards working properly with RetroPie. The first two I bought worked perfectly, so I ordered a couple more from the same vendor, while they did pair successfully, the function keys wouldn't work. I noticed even through they looked identical, the model numbers were different, so I requested the model numbers that I knew specifically worked. Long story short and 8 keyboards later, they were unable to deliver any fully functioning keyboards... so I widened the net and ordered eight more from various vendors, four of which provided me with compatible keyboards. Here they are on Amazon:

            $14 CyberTech Bluetooth Ultra-Thin
            $15 Fintie Ultra Slim Wireless Bluetooth
            $20 Anker Bluetooth Ultra-Slim
            $18 Jelly Comb Universal Backlit

            Clearly most of these are the same models from China with company branding, but it seems the programming or on-board drivers are slightly different per company too.

            Also, if you're having difficulty pairing your keyboards, here is a little CNET article on how to setup bluetooth directly in Linux (vs. the RetroPie setup GUI). The GUI method was spotty for me but the Linux method worked 100% of the time! (note: it was sometimes necessary to slip a "trust xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx" between the "pair" and "connect" commands)

            My work/fail test was to be in EmulationStation and hit the F4 key. If it doesn't exit EmulationStation it was a fail. (some keyboards required a two key press of FN and F4). If you are already in the Linux shell you can type "showkey -a" and then press F4, compare the result with a USB wired keyboard press of F4. If they are not the same, fail the keyboard.

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