Code does not support entire Morse set as is

[JennyEverywhere]

I built the device you describe, and it works quite well, but I noticed you don't have all of the Morse Code supported. So I updated it to cover all of the alphanumerics, including punctuation. I also added an explicit backspace, since this is being used to send text to a computer, not to send code over the air. The correction (........) code works, but deletes the entire current word, which is standard procedure for sending code over the air -- you send the correction symbol and resend the entire current word. But when entering text, you may want to backspace each mistaken letter individually, instead of resending the entire word, so I picked an unused code symbol (..__) and set that for a true backspace.

I also modified the timing a bit, so it wasn't as critical between characters within a word. Since this isn't being sent over the air, timing isn't critical to delineate character and word boundaries, as actual spaces are inserted to the keyboard buffer. This makes it a bit more usable if you're not as precise as you would be sending over the air, so you don't wind up with a lot of spurious spaces between letters you can't easily delete without going back to the keyboard.

I used to have a setup with a piece of software that's no longer available called "Comax". With this software and a mouse with a TRS 1/8" socket on it, a standard iambic paddle could be used to enter text in a similar fashion to this Arduino-driven device. I'd love to figure out how to use a paddle in addition to the straight key. I have chronic pain that can affect my neurological ability to type, so having a simple method of entering text with a minimum of finger movement is extremely valuable to me. So I appreciate you creating this sketch and the accompanying hardware design.

I'm an infrequent user of GIT, so I'm not certain how to get the new code to you for your review. If you like, I can simply email the .ino to you, or upload it to the system if you'll tell me how you want it. I would have emailed it already, but can't find your email address.

[andypalmer]

Hi @JennyEverywhere,
I've made a fork of this code at https://gitlab.com/andypalmer/USB_CW
I've changed the way the characters are decoded to make it a bit more natural to read, but at the moment I've broken the correction function (delete word). You should be able to add in your backspace prosign relatively easily.

I'm kinda curious about the changes that I'd make to get this to work with a paddle, but I don't have my paddle with me (it's in another country). The main issue that I can see would be dealing with both keys pressed at the same time (which only affects the dual-lever paddles, not the single-lever type)

[JennyEverywhere]

Hi @andypalmer,
I don't really know how to use Git yet. It's a mystery to me, which is why I didn't send my own code up on this project. I have the adding a paddle to it problem neatly solved without any programming. Just hook up a cheap iambic keyer board to the thing! There's hundreds of them out there. I use one from here: https://shop.kit-projects.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=99 as I could either build it myself or pay the seller a few bucks to build it for me, saving a lot of time. He has a pre-drilled enclosure available for it, too, but if you're industrious you could put both the keyer board AND the Beetle in the same enclosure.

I still have the original 8 dits/clear the current word code working, and the single backspace wasn't that hard to add. I fleshed out the rest of the code set at the same time, so it's completely usable. It looks like @azw413's website is down at the moment, so I don't know how active he'll be in pursuing this project in the future. He might, but I have no idea. Maybe I'll pop over to your fork.