Programming Makey Makey clicks to send strings

Sending a string

One way to send a string instead of a keystroke is to modify the Mouse Button Events in the makey.ino file. To make a left mouse click send 'Hello World':

1. In the Arduino IDE, open the makey-makey.ino file.
2. In the main code file, *not* the settings.h, find the lines

if (inputs[i].keyCode == MOUSE_LEFT) {
  Mouse.press(MOUSE_LEFT);
}

3. Comment out the Mouse.Press line, and replace it with a Keyboard.print

if (inputs[i].keyCode == MOUSE_LEFT) {
  //Mouse.press(MOUSE_LEFT);
  Keyboard.print("Hello World.");
} 

4. Upload the sketch. Pin A1 is the Makey left-mouse click. Touch the Ground and Pin A1 to try it.

Sending a carriage return with button click

Modify the settings.h file this time, since only one key is being modified. For example, pin A0 defaults to a right-mouse-click...change it to send KEY_RETURN.

int keyCodes[NUM_INPUTS] = {
  // top side of the makey makey board
  KEY_UP_ARROW,      // up arrow pad
  KEY_DOWN_ARROW,    // down arrow pad
  KEY_LEFT_ARROW,    // left arrow pad
  KEY_RIGHT_ARROW,   // right arrow pad
  ' ',               // space button pad
  MOUSE_LEFT,        // click button pad
  // female header on the back left side
  'w',                // pin D5
  'a',                // pin D4
  's',                // pin D3
  'd',                // pin D2
  'f',                // pin D1
  'g',                // pin D0
  // female header on the back right side
  MOUSE_MOVE_UP,      // pin A5
  MOUSE_MOVE_DOWN,    // pin A4
  MOUSE_MOVE_LEFT,    // pin A3
  MOUSE_MOVE_RIGHT,   // pin A2
  MOUSE_LEFT,         // pin A1

  // COMMENT MOUSE_RIGHT TO REPLACE IT WITH KEY_RETURN
  //MOUSE_RIGHT      // pin A0
  KEY_RETURN         // pin A0
};

Sending a carriage in sketch code

Instead or modifying the inits, you can write it in one of the Mouse.press routines. Keyboard.write(KEY_RETURN);

Using a Makey-Makey with Ubuntu

I've spent a lot of time working with software, but had never been exposed to the basic principles of electronics. The Makey-Makey is a great introduction to the world of circuitry. Its 'cool trick' is hacking just about anything into a keyboard. There's a lot of video of folks wiring all kinds of household items into input devices.

But underlying all the fun stuff is real first look at how electronic hardware works. The Sparkfun electronic hobbyist's site has an excellent collection of tutorials presenting the fundamental science and application of electronic circuitry.

Arduino is a very popular open-source electronics prototyping platform...your local RadioShack should offer a variety of Arduino-ready components. The Makey Makey is programmed using the Arduino IDE (Integrated Development Environment). Here's how to install the Arduino IDE in Ubuntu. (I used Arduino IDE version 1.0.5, and Ubuntu version 13.10.)

First, install the Arduino IDE. The one in the Ubuntu repository worked fine for me.

sudo apt-get install arduino

This will install the IDE software to: /usr/share/arduino/

To use the Arduino IDE with Makey-Makey, you'll need to install a driver. Download the zipped driver with:

 wget https://dlnmh9ip6v2uc.cloudfront.net/tutorialimages/MaKey_MaKey_QuickStart/MaKeyMaKey-13-8-12.zip

Then Unzip the driver to the IDE's hardware directory:

unzip MaKeyMaKey-13-8-12.zip -d /usr/share/arduino/hardware

If that worked properly, you should see the Makey-Makey listed in the Board menu.

To modify basic functionality of the Makey, you'll need to grab the source code.
Get and extract the source:

wget https://dlnmh9ip6v2uc.cloudfront.net/tutorialimages/MaKey_MaKey_QuickStart/MaKeyMaKey-13-8-12.zip  

Move it your home/sketchbook's

mv hardware/Makey ~/sketchbook/hardware/

Permissions

To ensure your IDE can communicate with the Makey, add your user to the following three groups, like so:

sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER
sudo usermod -a -G tty $USER
sudo usermod -a -G uucp $USER

Resolve Ubuntu ModemManager conflicts

For the IDE to be able to update the Makey settings, you'll need edit ModemManager blacklist settings. (This fix is taken from discussions here and here.) Using your favorite text editor, you'll need to create/edit a file at:

sudo vi /etc/udev/rules.d/77-mm-arduino-blacklist.rules

In your editor, append the following line to that file:

ATTRS{idVendor}=="1b4f", ATTRS{idProduct}=="2b74", ENV{ID_MM_DEVICE_IGNORE}="1"

Save the file.

Unplug your Makey. Close the IDE, Logout/Login. Plug Makey back in. From there, you'll be ready to reprogram your Makey, following along with the MaKey MaKey Quickstart Guide (Part 2).