1:28 a.m.
I have a Microsoft Natural 4000 keyboard on this computer.
If anyone is looking for a nice keyboard, I can recommend this one with one
caveat: The space bar is not up to the standard of the rest of the keys --
everything else has a very nice feel but the space bar is stiff and bangs
when you use it. If it wasn't for the space bar issue, this would be a perfect
keyboard to type on.
It does, however, have those horrible dual-function F-keys where the F-keys work
normally (F1, F2, etc) when the F-lock key is on, but have different functions
(Help, Undo, etc) when the F-lock key is off.
I would like to reprogram these keys so F-lock state becomes irrelevant and I
always have F1, F2 available. I don't need or want Help, Undo, etc.
I figure the fix is to fire up xev, get the keycodes for each of the function
keys when F-lock is off, then write a little xmodmaprc file to reprogram those
keys to act "normal".
Unfortunately, F10/Spell doesn't have a keycode according to xev. In fact, xev
doesn't register any event at all when I press F10 with F-lock off. (Of course,
I get keycode 76 when F-lock is on.)
So it appears that F10/Spell isn't recognized by the keyboard driver (or
something). All the rest of the F-keys are recognized and have a keycode when
F-lock is off, with the single exception of F10/Spell.
Am I just outta-luck here?
--
MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Melville Sask ~ http://www.melvilletheatre.com
7:55 p.m.
On Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:46:56 -0700
Konstantin Svist wrote:
I think the original software that comes with the keyboard lets you
switch the default mode to f-lock.
It may. But since the software is Windows-only (big surprise; it's a
Microsoft-brand keyboard) and I don't have Windows on any of my computers, it's
irrelevant.
The keyboard actually does remember the F-lock setting across reboots, so
changing the default setting wouldn't actually accomplish much anyway.
--
MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Melville Sask ~ http://www.melvilletheatre.com
7:45 p.m.
On Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:50:08 +0930
Tim wrote:
> my old keyboard didn't appear to work through one of those
> PS/2-to-USB adapters
Did you buy an adaptor meant for that?
I didn't buy one at all. I took my keyboard to the computer store and had the
guy who assembled the computer for me try it out with the adapter that they
sell for that purpose. He told me that it only works with some keyboards, and
he was right. No action.
--
MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Melville Sask ~ http://www.melvilletheatre.com
7:46 p.m.
Frank Cox wrote:
It does, however, have those horrible dual-function F-keys where the
F-keys work
normally (F1, F2, etc) when the F-lock key is on, but have different functions
(Help, Undo, etc) when the F-lock key is off.
I figure the fix is to fire up xev, get the keycodes for each of the function
keys when F-lock is off, then write a little xmodmaprc file to reprogram those
keys to act "normal".
I think the original software that comes with the keyboard lets you
switch the default mode to f-lock.
I'm using a Logitech keyboard/mouse combo (I think model is LX300). The
keyboard has an F-lock button and I recall struggling with it when I
just got it. But at some point I booted into Windows, installed their
software and set it to default to normal mode.
The proper fix would thus be snooping the commands sent by official
software to the keyboard and write an open source equivalent for setting
these things.
Wireless keyboards also have some security which can be enabled with
that software. Though as you probably know, it's not implemented
properly most of the time - most likely they just XOR the secret key
over and over :(
7:20 p.m.
On Mon, 2009-08-03 at 15:06 -0600, Frank Cox wrote:
my old keyboard didn't appear to work through one of those
PS/2-to-USB adapters
Did you buy an adaptor meant for that? Some of the adaptors you get
with mice and keyboards aren't really a protocol adaptor, the keyboard
is dual-protocol, and the adaptor just wires the plug differently.
Those adaptors will only work with the keyboards they were meant for.
--
[tim@localhost ~]$ uname -r
2.6.27.25-78.2.56.fc9.i686
Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I
read messages from the public lists.
4:06 p.m.
On Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:03:13 +0100
Marko Vojinovic wrote:
On Monday 03 August 2009 07:28:33 Frank Cox wrote:
> I have a Microsoft Natural 4000 keyboard on this computer.
[snip]
> Unfortunately, F10/Spell doesn't have a keycode according to xev. In fact,
> xev doesn't register any event at all when I press F10 with F-lock off. (Of
> course, I get keycode 76 when F-lock is on.)
>
> So it appears that F10/Spell isn't recognized by the keyboard driver (or
> something). All the rest of the F-keys are recognized and have a keycode
> when F-lock is off, with the single exception of F10/Spell.
>
> Am I just outta-luck here?
First of all, is it a PS/2 or USB keyboard? They are handled differently at the
kernel level.
USB. I had to buy a USB keyboard because this motherboard conveniently has no
keyboard plug and my old keyboard didn't appear to work through one of those
PS/2-to-USB adapters. The marvels of modern technology.
Does F10/Spell generate a scancode sequence when pressed? If it does,
you just
need to assign a new unused keycode to this scancodes (using setkeycodes) and
go from there.
"showkey -s" gives me no output at all when I press F10/Spell.
"showkey" alone gives me keycode 432.
It appears that I have a keycode but no scancode. I don't know enough about
this to understand the implications.
If it doesn't generate a scancode, then you're out of luck, i
guess. Maybe
some way to force the keyboard to always fix the F-lock state to on?
The keyboard seems to remember the last state it was in between reboots, i.e.
if F-lock is on and I reboot the computer, it's still on afterward. So that's
one good thing.
The least the designers could have done is to put a led
indicator showing the current state of lock-ness, without having me to guess
what will happen when I press the Fn key.
This keyboard actually does have a little indicator light down at the bottom
along with the caps-lock, num-lock and scroll-lock indicators.
Ultimately, it's not as bad as it could be, but it could still use some
improvement.
--
MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Melville Sask ~ http://www.melvilletheatre.com
3:03 p.m.
On Monday 03 August 2009 07:28:33 Frank Cox wrote:
I have a Microsoft Natural 4000 keyboard on this computer.
[snip]
Unfortunately, F10/Spell doesn't have a keycode according to xev.
In fact,
xev doesn't register any event at all when I press F10 with F-lock off. (Of
course, I get keycode 76 when F-lock is on.)
So it appears that F10/Spell isn't recognized by the keyboard driver (or
something). All the rest of the F-keys are recognized and have a keycode
when F-lock is off, with the single exception of F10/Spell.
Am I just outta-luck here?
First of all, is it a PS/2 or USB keyboard? They are handled differently at the
kernel level.
Does F10/Spell generate a scancode sequence when pressed? If it does, you just
need to assign a new unused keycode to this scancodes (using setkeycodes) and
go from there.
man showkey
man setkeycodes
If it doesn't generate a scancode, then you're out of luck, i guess. Maybe
some way to force the keyboard to always fix the F-lock state to on?
Btw, i agree that this F-lock "feature" is always a big pain, I always refuse
to buy keyboards that have it, and I would certainly never recommend such a
keyboard to others. The least the designers could have done is to put a led
indicator showing the current state of lock-ness, without having me to guess
what will happen when I press the Fn key. But they don't even bother with
that. The worst design idea I saw in some time now...
HTH, :-)
Marko
8:55 a.m.
On Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:28:33 -0600
Frank Cox <theatre(a)sasktel.net> wrote:
So it appears that F10/Spell isn't recognized by the keyboard
driver
(or something). All the rest of the F-keys are recognized and have a
keycode when F-lock is off, with the single exception of F10/Spell.
Am I just outta-luck here?
A long time ago I used a console app that would return the keycode when
a key was typed. I can't remember the name of it but it might still
exist. That would give you a more direct path to the keys, and thus
might find the F10 key code. It sounds like X is filtering that key for
some other purpose, though, so that might not help in X.
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8 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
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Frank Cox -
Konstantin Svist -
Marko Vojinovic -
stan -
Tim