Retropie Travel Keyboard

KN4THX

Does anyone take their Retropie setup on the road and what portable keyboard do you use? I like to be a minimalist away from the house whether on vacation or camping and want a portable keyboard that isn't so big that I would've been better off hauling around my laptop. I'm tempted to start using the Pixel desktop to make it an all-in-one and so this has been on my mind lately. I've seen 1byone folding keyboards, laser projection keyboards, etc., but am curious what actually worksand not just WOWs. Also, how reliable/cmpatible is the bluetooth vs a 2.4ghz dongle for peripherals?

Shadowron

@thedatacereal I'm very happy with my Rii (X1). They have a few small keyboards with different options and specs. Most of them are quite cheap and the build quality isn't to great (atleast the X1), but with a bit of care it stays fine. The mousepad is a pain to work with.

You also have the choice between Bluetooth and WiFi in terms of connectivity (some even have both). The X1 uses WiFi and i didn't have any issues with that. Range is good enough and no input lag or so. Another pro is that the battery won't seem to run emtpy, charged mine once back in February and it's still going (not a heavy user btw). I can't compare it to a Bluetooth keyboard as i don't have one of those.

For actual gaming it's not the perfect solution, depending on the situation. Because the keyboard is so small, you will often press the wrong button. Especially with games that are fast paced this could cause a headache. For games that are not that rushed, or things like Kodi it works surprisingly good.

KN4THX

@shadowron Awesome, I'll take a look at that one. I bought a Rii keyboard that's a media remote on the other side and aiming it at the screen moves the mouse like a wand but it's not accurate whatsoever and the keyboard is very awkward and the caps/number lock gets engaged and it doesn't tell you so typing passwords is near impossible.

tpo1990

If you want something a bit bigger i suggest you to take a look at the Rapoo 8000 bluetooth keyboard and mouse set. This works great for FPS gaming such as Doom and Quake ports.

That's what i use for my RetroPie in my living room and bed room. It's not too big and not too small.

Rapoo, the brands quality is just as comparable as Logitechs.

UDb23

Using an Iclever foldable bluetooth keyboard. Works great both with Retropie and my Ipad ;-)

diablo

I had a nightmare today finding a keyboard in my collection that would work with a new zero. I ended up using a bluetooth spectrum keyboard to at least get connected to the internet (dont even consider that as any kind of option, I only bought the speccy keyboard as it was cheap at the time and I liked the retro aspect, but very limited keys and awful to actually use). Lack of a tab key on the speccy and no other options prompted me to tip the house upside down to find my old portable keyboard that I used to use with my ipad. Its an iGo portable folding keyboard. when open there are no real gaps between the keys worth mentioning, the key spacing is uniform across the board. It folds up to a nice small size. the keys are a joy to use unlike some portables I have tried (better than a few full sized in fact). for gaming though, no idea. todays its first use with a pi. it is 'just' a keyboard though, so no mouse/trackpad/pointer options.

KN4THX

The Rapoo looks good but is more than I want to take when I travel unfortunately. I do like the idea that it's 2.4 as that plays nice with my PS3 controllers right now.

The folding keyboards may be where it's at as I can shove those in my backpack and not worry about damage to the keys. Thank you for all of the good ideas to look at and research.

diablo

I should have said, the iGo is a bluetooth keyboard. Sorry, I forgot to mention it in my earlier post.