A Keyboard Question..
 

Hello!
I'm new to LQ but not to Linux and have a question regarding my use of (gasp) Microsofts Wireless Comfort Keyboard and mouse, model 1027. Purchased one for my wife's computer and liked the feel of it so bought one for myself. She uses Win2k and I'm dual booting Win2k and Mandrake 10.1 Official, Suse 9.2, latest PCLinuxOS and Gentoo. Mandrake is my main distro.

Some of the function keys do not operate in Linux as I'm used to, ie; Ctrl+Alt+F1 does not exit X to a console as it should, it does nothing.. Ctrl+Esc DOES bring up KDE System Guard, F10 does not exit CMOS, have to use the menu opts. Alt+F2 does not bring up the program executer, it does nothing. Have not found any other function key apps that DO work.

Does anyone else use this keyboard combo? and have you researched the function key problems for answers? Everything else about the keyboard seems to function normally as you would expect, except of course for the Microsoft only functions.

"Init 3" from a cosole in KDE exits X and there are other work-arounds, just wondered if anyone else has found out how to get the function keys working as Linux wants them too.

As far as I'm concerned this is a very nice keyboard, one of the best I've used.

Thanks for any advice you might give me!

-jon-

I have another MS keyboard and it has this weird F button to enable the F-keys. Unless I press it (and a LED lights up to inform me that the function keys are in F-mode) I can't do anything in Linux.

It seems as if MS has added functions to the keybard so that it by default can do all sorts of tricks in windows. This is curiously enough enable by default so whenever I need the F-keys (like at boot time for instance) I have to press the F button so I can then press the F-key I need.

I have not found a good picture of your keyboard so I can not confirm that it has this peculiar feature but I thought I should mention it.

Have you looked at a program called LinEAK?? I think it can be found at lineak.sourceforge.net, if I remember correctly.

This program has a LOT of supported keyboards and may cover the one you're interested in - or can be modified to support yours!

Good luck!
Dennis

Thank you for your response, I have this key on my keyboard. Its labeled 'F Lock' . I had pressed it before and it did nothing so I pressed it again and still nothing, but what it did was lock the function keys again. {grin} Just tried it and only pressed it once this time and BINGO it works like a charm, I suspect that like you say I'll have to activate it each time I reboot.

Thank you so much for the help. I imagine if I had RTFM I would have eventually found it, but who reads manuals or instructions, heck of a lot easier just asking questions online and get answers from people willing to help.

-jon-

I have the desktop you guys are talking about. Trick is it doesn't work at all.

It's the Microsoft Wireless Comfort Desktop 1.0A (Model 1027), works fine under windows but won't work under linux. var/log/messages shows the following:

Feb 23 14:21:48 buffy kernel: usb 2-3: new low speed USB device using address 11
Feb 23 14:21:48 buffy kernel: drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c: ctrl urb status -110 received
Feb 23 14:21:48 buffy kernel: input: USB HID v1.11 Keyboard [Microsft Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop® 2.10] on usb-0000:00:02.1-3
Feb 23 14:21:48 buffy kernel: drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c: ctrl urb status -110 received
Feb 23 14:21:48 buffy kernel: usbhid: probe of 2-3:1.1 failed with error -5
Feb 23 14:21:48 buffy kernel: usb 2-3: USB disconnect, address 11
Feb 23 14:21:49 buffy kernel: usb 2-3: new low speed USB device using address 12
Feb 23 14:21:49 buffy kernel: drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c: ctrl urb status -110 received
Feb 23 14:21:49 buffy kernel: input: USB HID v1.11 Keyboard [Microsft Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop® 2.10] on usb-0000:00:02.1-3
Feb 23 14:21:49 buffy kernel: drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c: ctrl urb status -110 received
Feb 23 14:21:49 buffy kernel: usbhid: probe of 2-3:1.1 failed with error -5
Feb 23 14:21:49 buffy kernel: usb 2-3: USB disconnect, address 12
Feb 23 14:21:49 buffy kernel: usb 2-3: new low speed USB device using address 13
Feb 23 14:21:49 buffy kernel: drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c: ctrl urb status -110 received
Feb 23 14:21:49 buffy kernel: input: USB HID v1.11 Keyboard [Microsft Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop® 2.10] on usb-0000:00:02.1-3
Feb 23 14:21:49 buffy kernel: drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c: ctrl urb status -110 received
Feb 23 14:21:49 buffy kernel: usbhid: probe of 2-3:1.1 failed with error -5
Feb 23 14:21:49 buffy kernel: usb 2-3: USB disconnect, address 13

The message just repeats over and over if you tail the log file.

Tried it on Mandrake 10.1 (Kernel 2.6.8 & Kernel 2.6.10), and Debian (2.6.9) and get the same problem. It works fine under windows.

Any help would be much appreciated otherwise it's just a comfortable paperweight :( :(

I have a *similar* MS wireless keyboard/mouse combo, and it works well for me, running Mdk 10.1 Official, 2.6.8 kernel.

Yes, I have to hit the stupid "F-Lock" key every time I boot, but that is a minor annoyance as I only reboot when I *have* to ;)

orionvc: are you plugging it in to the usb port(s)? I may have had that problem when I got mine, because I have it plugged in to my PS/2 ports. (I don't remember, it was several months ago. :) ) That might be an option for you to try.

padma: yeah it is using the usb connection and later on after posting earlier I tried it using the ps2 ports - it works fine

The problem is this, the laptop it was bought to be used with ... doesn't have PS2 ports.

*Sigh*

It looks like it's just not supported by the USB-hid driver. I'm hoping someone has been able to get it to work :-\

Same problem. It works with PS/2 port, but with USB it just connects and disconnects. I've been searching other forums and no one seems to have a solution.

Bump.
I don't suppose anyone has found a solution to get this working on USB?