DrOzz

[Log in to get rid of this advertisement]

i also have this keyboard, but i am not a person that is concerned about the multimedia buttons on the top ...
although i stare at them all the time and think how convienent they seem, but never seem to use them ....
but anyways if you wish to use them you can download either :
LinEAK or Multimedia Keyboard Controller ...
these programs allow you to setup these keys for use ;)

and that goes for anyone with a multimedia keyboard

pavgust

Works (almost) fine, including multimedia buttons.

I recommend xbindkeys for the MM buttons - it picks up scancodes rather than keycodes, which allows you to skip defining keysyms with xmodmap, and it has native support for modifier keys (alt+email can do something different crom ctrl+email).

Two minor gripes - the F Lock key is turned off by default when you boot, sends no scan code, and I haven't found a way to turn it on via software... Also, some of the multimedia keys generate mouse button events rather than keypresses :S I find that very strange... it's possibly a kernel issue, since I think the relevant keys have changed slightly with a kernel upgrade. I'm using it via USB - any ideas on how to fix that would be greatly appreciated.

spacedoubtman

My ps2 ports on my motherboard died and after two weeks of looking for a usb keyboard with my prefered layout (big enter key, small backspace and ins, home, pgup where they should be) I gave in and got this one. Now a few days later I figured I'd try to get the extra keys working and found this very usefull HOWTO:

http://www.tgunkel.de/docs/logitech_extra_keys.en


Most keys work after I run hotkeys, but it says its all supported - one day I'll setup the rest of the keys.

John5788

keyboard works fine. just extra keys at the top dont work. still have to get the WINDOWS key to work in fluxbox

worldwiderob

I am using the blue and white Internet Navigator, not the black Special Edition (SE).

I use it as USB, rather than PS/2, which from what I gather from around the internet, causes a few of the extra keys not to work. This seems true -- the following extra keys are a bit funny (they get interpreted as mouse clicks):

Messenger
Webcam
iTouch
Shopping

Well, what a useless bunch of keys anyhow!

The little wheel on the side of the keyboard is cool, it is just like a mouse wheel and works very well for me.

Because I use XFCE as my desktop environment, I use:

xmodmap
xbindkeys

to bind the extra keys to programs. Some of the extra keys work only if you use the key codes, even if you define keysyms for them -- use

xbindkeys --key

to get the key codes for a specific key. Notably the media previous and next keys need this solution.

I doubt it matters, but I compiled the USB controller and HID stuff into my kernel, rather than using them as modules. Thought I'd mention it.

More details on configuring the key bindings will follow soon...

haimeltjnfg

I don't use the multimedia keys and works fine. It's connected through the ps2 port.

Cyborg16

Generally - I like the keyboard. It's not too hard to take apart and move keys about - I'm using a dvorak layout (note: the F and J keys aren't switchable with other keys).

I have most of the media keys working fine, apart from the ones generating mouse click events (Messenger, Webcam, iTouch and Shopping buttons). To bind the others, I use the logiink keyboard model (set in XF86Config file or KDE), however I created a slight variant because some of the codes on mine are different. To do this, edit the /etc/X11/xkb/symbols/inet file, copy the logiink section (rename copy to logiink2 or something), and modify as neccesary (using xev for keycodes). I also added an entry to /etc/X11/xkb/symbols.dir file, but I'm not sure if it's actually neccesary - my packaging system has replaced the file (so now it doesn't have the entry), but the logiink2 keyboard model still works. I also added entries to the rules/xfree86, xfree86.lst and xfree86.xml files, which may be neccesary (you could just modify the original logiink model and leave the other files alone of course).

As for getting the other keys working, I'm not sure how to do that yet. Check my post on it: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=324977

One software issue in KDE (or X?) I haven't worked out is how to disable the default dialogues that appear when using the volume up/down/mute buttons, which I would prefer to map myself but currently cannot.

Darin

Apparently Logitech, in their infinite wisdom, hardcoded the F lock key as part of the internal keyboard logic, not as a key event, and to be off by default with no way to modify this short of an electronics engineer tearing it apart. As a workaround you can program the media keys on the function keys to just send the appropriate F code instead, and even reverse the setup by having the F keys send media events and the media keys send the F events.

As far as the mouse codes, I guess part of that is that Logitech is a mouse maker also but I think it has to do with some events being easier to use as mouse events. To get them working you can probably modify your mouse events, possibly by manually editing xorg.conf/XFConfig's section for your mouse.

I don't use the media keys much, I'm like John5788 and really only wish I could remember how to get X/Gnome/KDE/anything to recognize the "start" key to open the menu like in winblows.

Ander

Not quite true. There is a registry hack you can use in Windows to keep F Lock on:

http://www.mvps.org/jtsang/flock.html

It's possible in Windows, why wouldn't it be in Linux?

Mizzou_Engineer

The Linux compatibility of this keyboard is good- you can map almost all of the multimedia keys to X events if you want to. I rate it only a 7 as the feel of the keyboard is pretty rotten- squishy with keys that feel like they wiggle a bunch when you push them. It is not weighted and it is easy to accidentally push adjacent keys.

I recommend an old IBM Model M keyboard or one of its clones, such as the Unicomp buckling spring ones. I have used Model Ms and they were, and still are, the best keyboard out there.

...nazgoul...

It's a very solid keyboard.
I own it now for around 3 years and had no problem with it and the Multimedia Buttons work also grat with keytouch.