Arch Linux

jurreh

Member

Registered: 2013-05-12

Posts: 3

Separate numlock status for different keyboards: possible?

I own a Rii i8+ wireless bluetooth keyboard. It is recognized by the kernel as an "Apple" keyboard, and seems to behave as such. In particular, the keyboard is only usable when numlock is off, see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Apple_Keyboard

The only significant difference between the i8+ and a "real" Apple keyboard that I find, is that pressing Fn+F6 to switch off numlock does not work.
Now, to use the wireless keyboard, I first need to switch off numlock on my main (wired) keyboard. I do not like this.

Therefore, I am wondering if there is a way to set (and keep) the numlock state for each keyboard separately.
Then, I could have numlock enabled for my main wired keyboard, while having it off for the wireless keyboard as necessary.

Is such a thing possible? Or is there perhaps another workaround in order to use the wireless keyboard without switching off numlock?

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,652

Re: Separate numlock status for different keyboards: possible?

You might try re-mapping keys in one place or the other.  https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ex … board_keys

Edit: Oh, Welcome to the Arch Linux forums

Last edited by ewaller (2018-01-05 15:59:38)

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jurreh

Member

Registered: 2013-05-12

Posts: 3

Re: Separate numlock status for different keyboards: possible?

I was initially thinking the same. Of course the difficulty is that, before numlock is switched OFF, most keys on the wireless keyboard do not even register. So re-mapping them in the usual way did not seem possible.

However I discovered that with numlock ON, some of the F-keys on the wireless keyboard register as various multimedia keys... So I might try giving up one of the multimedia keys by remapping it to something that switches numlock off.

jurreh

Member

Registered: 2013-05-12

Posts: 3

Re: Separate numlock status for different keyboards: possible?

I feel stupid.

While using xev to look for possible keys to remap, I discovered that on this Rii i8+ keyboard, I need to press F6 (as opposed to Fn+F6) to switch off numlock.

Problem solved...