Simulating a keyboard's output (making a computer pose as another computer's keyboard)

Question

I want to be able to connect a computer A's USB port to computer B's USB port so as to make computer A act as computer B's keyboard.

Any idea how I would go about doing that?

I'm not looking for a ready-made solution (though if one already exists and is open-sources I would not object), but for a starting point or a good resource.

I imagine I'd need to write a driver that simulates the keyboard's protocol, and I would also need to sort out the entire USB master/slave scenario.

Anyway, any help would be appreciated.

P.S. I want to do it with the mouse as well, but I imagine it will be a very similar process, and I think (but I might be wildly mistaken) that starting with the keyboard will be easier.

Answer 1

I am really excited to have found something that will do this from Hagstrom Electronics. It take a serial input and sends a USB keyboard output to another PC. If you combine this with a readily available USB to serial adaptor, then you are golden.

http://www.hagstromelectronics.com/products/usbkm232.html

I have been searching for weeks to find this, so I decided to go back to some forums and share the discovery.

Answer 2

Linux has support for USB gadget mode, but I think you need special hardware for that. I.e. the USB port in a normal PC can not do gadget mode.

An alternative is to wire an LPT port to a PS/2 keyboard input, this is technically simpler.