The SKEYS Program

In order to control a second computer using the Eyegaze System, software is required on the second computer to translate commands from the Eyegaze System into system (keyboard and mouse movement) commands.

The Eyegaze System uses a program called SKEYS on the second computer which accepts commands via a serial port connection. SKEYS uses the General Input Device Emulating Interface (GIDEI) from the Trace R&D Center.

Click here to download the SKeys installation program. (364KB) The installer will ask you which language version you wish to install. The following languages are currently available:

• US English
  
• French
  
• German
  
• Norwegian
  
• Spanish
  
• Swedish
  

The installation program will also prompt you for which start-up option you want. The Automatic option places a short-cut in the Start-up directory. That will cause SKeys to run every time the computer is booted. The Desktop option will place an icon on the desktop. You can manually start SKeys by double clicking on this icon. The Start-menu option will place a short-cut in the Windows Start menu. You can manually start SKeys by dragging the cursor through that Start button on the lower left side of your screen and then up until you locate the SKeys entry. Click to start SKeys. (You can run the installation program more than once if you want to create more than one shortcut.)

If you receive error messages about missing DLL files when you run SKEYS, you may need some of the files in the following archive.

• Installation program with the supplemental DLLs required on some systems to run SKEYS. (784KB)

NOTE:

INSTALLING SKEYS TO CONTROL A WINDOWS COMPUTER USING EYEGAZE

Using Eyegaze connected to a Windows computer you can operate the keyboard and mouse functions of the Windows computer using only the eye-driven keyboard and mouse functions on the Eyegaze System.

Links to the different language versions of SKEYS are listed above. SKEYS is intended for use on a second PC controlled by the Eyegaze System. SKEYS is a replacement for the Microsoft Windows (Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, and 2000) SerialKeys functions. SerialKeys, which is a portion of the Accessibility Options included with Windows, has a number of known problems that are fixed in the SKEYS program.

To install SKEYS on your Windows computer:

1. Download and run the InstallSKeys.exe program. (The installation program now automatically creates a Windows shortcut to the SKEYS program.)
2. The last step of the SKEYS installation program allows you to start SKeys. You will probably want to go ahead and run it to configure Skeys for your serial port.
3. Configure the Eyegaze System to operate the second PC.

To manually run the SKEYS program and configure it for your serial port.

1. If SKeys isn't running, press the Start button, then Programs, then Startup (in the lower grouping of programs -- on Windows NT & Windows 2000, there are two startup folders), then Shortcut to skeys.exe. This will run the SKEYS program. (You can safely ignore the error messages and simply dismiss the error messages by clicking on OK.)
2. Select File, then Change Serial Port. In the following dialog you can select the serial port for SKEYS. The serial port you select should correspond to the port you have the cable connected to on the back of your Windows PC (and is unrelated to the port number you set in the HARDWARE.CFG file on the Eyegaze System.

Configure the Eyegaze System

The last thing you need to do is configure the Eyegaze System to communicate with your Windows computer and SKEYS. You do this by editing the HARDWARE.CFG program on the Eyegaze System.

1. On the Eyegaze system, press the ESCape key several times until the C:\EYEGAZE> prompt appears.
2. Type the command edit hardware.cfg and press enter.
3. Move the cursor down until it's on the line which reads 2nd PC Controller. The number on the far left of this line (the 2nd PC Controller type) should be set to a 1.
4. The serial port name should be set to the port name of the port on the Eyegaze System where the cable to the Windows computer is connected. This has nothing to do with the port name selected in the SKEYS program on the Windows computer.
5. The third number should be set to the SKEYS communication speed which is fixed at 19200.
6. The fourth item is the port interrupt and should be set to 4 if you use COM1 and 3 if you use COM2.

The line should look like one of these lines:

1. 1 COM1 19200 4 ; 2nd PC Controller:...
   
2. 1 COM2 19200 3 ; 2nd PC Controller:...
   

SKEYS serial communication speed is fixed at 19200 bps.

PLEASE NOTE: When running the SKEYS program with a Windows screen saver, when the screen saver activates SKEYS loses control of the second PC. After installing SKEYS, please disable any screen savers on the second PC.

Special thanks to Mark Novac (menovak@facstaff.wisc.edu) for creating this software for us.

Why SKEYS is better than the SerialKeys function that comes with Windows

The SKEYS program is a replacement for the Microsoft Windows SerialKeys function that ships with Windows. There are several problems with the SerialKeys function that makes it important to use SKEYS instead. None of this information is required to operate SKEYS but is provided here to explain why you will want to use SKEYS instead of SerialKeys.

In the Eyegaze "Run 2nd PC" program ("KBD2PC"), there is a mouse control mode called "Speed Mode" which repeats mouse movement commands until it is stopped by the user. These mouse movement commands are interpreted and acted upon immediately with the SKEYS program. The SerialKeys program is not capable of processing mouse movement commands faster than about 1.4 commands per second. These commands are "buffered up" on the Windows PC, causing the mouse to "run on" after the user has commanded the mouse to stop moving.

Using Eyegaze Computer Access on a Mac:

For a version of Skeys (SerialKeys) which runs on a Macintosh computer up to OS 9, please see: http://trace.wisc.edu/world/computer_access/mac/sk_soft.html.

For a version of Skeys (SerialKeys) which runs on a Macintosh computer running OS X, please see: http://www.cs.unc.edu/~gb/SerialKeysX.html.

AAC Institute produces AACKeys in versions for both Macintosh OS X and Windows. Please see: http://www.aacinstitute.org/Resources/ProductsandServices/AACKeys/AACKeys.html.

Contact Information:

LC Technologies, Inc
1483 Chain Bridge Road
Suite 104
McLean, Virginia 22101 USA

Voice:
703-385-7133 or
800-EYEGAZE (800-393-4293)

FAX: 703-288-3727
Web: http://www.eyegaze.com

Email: info0309@eyegaze.com

This address is http://www.eyegaze.com/skeys/index.htm