Arch Linux

raunz

Member

Registered: 2008-11-27

Posts: 36

[Solved] Since xorg upgrade keyboard doesnt work properly

Since my last 'pacman -Syu' and with that the upgrade of xorg I do have some trouble with it.

First X failed to start because it couldnt find the path to my rgb lib.
I "fixed" this issue by commenting the 'Section "Files" ' out.
After that X started as usual.

But after a few minutes I noticed that my keyboard had (and has) many dead keys
e.g. the 'del', 'end', 'alt gr', ... and the arrow and numblock keys wont work. (which is annoying ^^)
'shift', 'tab', 'backspace' and so on are still working.

My X cfg:
http://www.xup.in/dl,10025696/XF86Config.txt/

And I set up my gnome for
'Generic 105-key (intl) PC' for germany

So I dont see where the problem is...
Maybe you do.

rgds

Last edited by raunz (2008-12-04 01:26:03)

ghostHack

Member

From: Bristol UK

Registered: 2008-02-29

Posts: 261

Re: [Solved] Since xorg upgrade keyboard doesnt work properly

The latest Xorg (7.5) has some significant changes, see this news item on the front page and this wiki page

to solve your keyboard problem you want to create the file /etc/hal/fdi/policy/10-keymap.fdi that contains

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <!-- -*- SGML -*- -->
<deviceinfo version="0.2">
  <device>
    <match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.keymap">
      <append key="info.callouts.add" type="strlist">hal-setup-keymap</append>
    </match>

    <match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.keys">
      <merge key="input.xkb.rules" type="string">base</merge>

      <!-- If we're using Linux, we use evdev by default (falling back to
           keyboard otherwise). -->
      <merge key="input.xkb.model" type="string">keyboard</merge>
      <match key="/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer:system.kernel.name"
             string="Linux">
        <merge key="input.xkb.model" type="string">evdev</merge>
      </match>

      <merge key="input.xkb.layout" type="string">de</merge>
      <merge key="input.xkb.rules" type="string">xorg</merge>
      <merge key="input.xkb.variant" type="string" />
    </match>
  </device>
</deviceinfo>

most of this file can be got by copying /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/10osvendor/10-keymap.fdi to /etc/hal/fdi/policy/10-keymap.fdi and adding the extra lines about xkb.rules and xkb.layout

Then you need to comment out the lines for keyboard and mouse in the "ServerLayout" section of your xorg.conf (and the corresponding "InputDevice" sections).

Then restart hal and X.

raunz

Member

Registered: 2008-11-27

Posts: 36

Re: [Solved] Since xorg upgrade keyboard doesnt work properly

I found a simpler way on the Wiki page here
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xor … otplugging

If you use Gnome, and you've followed the instructions in this page (ie. you're using the evdev driver for your keyboard), you may experience problems with the special keys on your keyboard. In the Gnome system/preferences/keyboard dialog, set your "keyboard model" to Generic/Evdev-managed keyboard. This should fix most of your problems. At least it fixed mine!

I removed the InputeDevice enries and than switched the keyboard model to 'Generic/Evdev-managed keyboard'.
That way I dont have to mess with my hal.

Problem solved - thanks!