Hardware Guru Needed...

[Spinal]

Setting the scene... I know very little.. if anything about microcontrollers...

I want to create a microcontroller that will connect (via PS/2 or USB) to a computer, pretending to be a HID:Keyboard and send a preset series of keypresses to the computer.

E.g. something that gets connected to a computer (maybe even has a button to "start the process" and then send a series of keypresses to the computer.

Now, USB I realise would be more difficult because it would need to pretend to be a slave - so I thought PS/2 would be easy (and I can always plug it into a USB port via an adapter...) so PS/2 seems to be the way to go...

Can anyone recomend either reading material or a microcontroller to start with? My soldering skills are reasonable, but a cheaper microcontroller would be best (simply because my funds aren't the greatest!)

Ideas? Comments?

</M.

 

[Shude]

Without knowing your application it's tricky but I suspect an unchallenging way to do this would be to pick up one of those pass-thru' key loggers, it can record several hundred key presses and then "replay" them either through software or a switch on the device.

I used to have a programmable joypad which in addition to using a joystick interface worked as a pass-thru' for the keyboard and could store multiple key presses per button, you pressed record on the joypad, pressed the button you wanted to programme then pressed the buttons on the keyboard. You could store menu choices, action combos or cheat sequences etc into a single button. Doubt they are still available and mine died due to cable damage (although it might still be knocking around in a drawer somewhere if you were interested.

 

[Ted]

I use this to perform a similar function.

 

[Sp!ke]

Why don't you begin by explaining what you are trying to achieve - there might be other/better ways.

 

[louisv6]

Is this for a carputer? I wonder if any mercedes drivers have one. Was quite common in the VAGs I'm used to.

 

[timskemp]

I have a man who does these things for me, PM me if we can help.

LouisV6 - I have a carputer, not installed in a car at the moment, it was in a 190E.

 

[Spinal]

Thanks everyone.

Spike - the idea is to create a password bruteforcer, but not in software, so nothing needs to be running on the client system. This way, it could crack anything from a BIOS password and up (assuming you don't get locked out after x attempts, etc).


The algorythm should be fairly simple, a couple of loops, ouput a bit every 500 microseconds with the clock, once a whole keypress is sent, start the next one.

It wouldn't be the fastest thing in the world, but would have a few applications... the hardware keylogger seems like a fantastic idea! The only challenge I see is "programming" it...typing 8!x52 (assuming no number to start, A-Z, a-z, 8 digits) would be a real pain by hand... a way of automating it would be needed....

I need to play with one and see what I can find... might pop by maplins today hoping they have one!

M.