Arch Linux

Sapphire56

Member

Registered: 2007-06-28

Posts: 8

Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

hi

The multimedia and shortcut keys on the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000 keyboard does not work, i found this guide on the gentoo wiki, but it seems rather old:
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Microsoft_ … board_4000

Is there a easier way to get the extra keys working? i dont know if i dare mess around with kernel patching and things like that

pressh

Developer/TU

From: Netherlands

Registered: 2005-08-14

Posts: 1,719

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

There are numerous ways to get your multimedia keys to work. Some of them are discussed in the wiki here and here

Last edited by pressh (2007-07-08 14:53:59)

Usul

Member

Registered: 2007-05-17

Posts: 31

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

Maybe there is something about multimedia keys in the wiki, but the mentioned keyboard is a little bit special. With the programs from wiki you get only about the half of the keys working. Some times ago I read something about a kernel patch for this keyboard, but I lost the focus on that. Is someone out there who has this keyboard (and not just only another multimedia keyboard) and got all keys working?

Sapphire56

Member

Registered: 2007-06-28

Posts: 8

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

Some times ago I read something about a kernel patch for this keyboard, but I lost the focus on that.

The kernel patch v5.1 is here: http://lkml.org/lkml/2007/4/30/34 (i think it's the latest one)

I really want to try to make it work with the patch, but im a little afraid of screwing up my system I'll try to get the multimedia keys working with lineak as described in the wiki (never used the favorites-keys anyway)

EDIT: okay, lineak did't work that well. i got some of the keys working. but the volume up button does not work with it. it is recognised by "xev" though...

Anyone hwo knows how to apply the patch in Arch? The gentoo wiki didn't help me much (then again, I have never done anything like this before )...

Last edited by Sapphire56 (2007-07-09 19:32:38)

bneate

Member

Registered: 2005-08-21

Posts: 36

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

I have the same keyboard.  The only buttons that I havn't got working with the default kernel are the favourite keys and the zoom slider.  I'm using e17 and can just map the keys using the keymapper.  What DE are you using...You can also just map the keys in gnome using the gnome key mapper.

Sapphire56

Member

Registered: 2007-06-28

Posts: 8

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

I have the same keyboard.  The only buttons that I havn't got working with the default kernel are the favourite keys and the zoom slider.  I'm using e17 and can just map the keys using the keymapper.  What DE are you using...You can also just map the keys in gnome using the gnome key mapper.

Im using KDEmod

As i mentioned i tried lineak, but it didnt work well. I also tried to apply LiYu's patch as described in the gentoo wiki but it didnt work either

Last edited by Sapphire56 (2007-07-10 13:15:16)

bneate

Member

Registered: 2005-08-21

Posts: 36

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

Well I have also had luck with XBindKeys.  You could give it a try...if xev can recognize the buttons any keybinding program should work...kde should have default key bindings in the control panel you can use

sjmorgan

Member

Registered: 2007-01-26

Posts: 27

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

Is this any newer than the one posted to the LKML?

Any chance of it getting included with the Arch kernel?

Sapphire56

Member

Registered: 2007-06-28

Posts: 8

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

I found another guide for this keyboard, it's for slackware 12.0 though, but it was more understandable for me than the one on the gentoo wiki :
http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/ans … kware_12_0

The howto also contains the patch for the 2.6.22 kernel. My machine crashed on me (damn HDD ) but ill try to see if it works when i get a new HDD

sjmorgan

Member

Registered: 2007-01-26

Posts: 27

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

I built the vanilla kernel.org 2.6.22.1 with the HID patch I posted a link to earlier applied and can confirm that all the keys now work (that is, they generate keycodes in xev).

Sapphire56

Member

Registered: 2007-06-28

Posts: 8

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

I built the vanilla kernel.org 2.6.22.1 with the HID patch I posted a link to earlier applied and can confirm that all the keys now work (that is, they generate keycodes in xev).

Do you think you can post a little howto on how you did that?

sjmorgan

Member

Registered: 2007-01-26

Posts: 27

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

Do you think you can post a little howto on how you did that?

There are a ton of good guides out there, including one on the Arch wiki, and I don't think I could do any better. If you have any problems or are confused about anything then hit me up, either on here or Jabber, and I'll try and help. As long as you have the unmolested kernel26 package installed, the worst that can happen is you have to reboot.

The one thing that did bite me and I would warn you about is having support for both the IDE and PATA subsystems enabled. I did and the PATA support trumped IDE and so all my device names changed and I got a lovely kernel panic. I don't know which is currently default in Arch but, if like me, you only have IDE drives and their device nodes are named hd* then you should probably disable all all the PATA/SATA stuff.

Oh yeah, assuming you don't want to be messing with initrd files, don't forget to compile support for the subsystem you decide to use directly into the kernel (not as a module) along with support for whatever filesystems you use.

dwbell

Member

Registered: 2007-08-09

Posts: 11

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

hi

The multimedia and shortcut keys on the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000 keyboard does not work, i found this guide on the gentoo wiki, but it seems rather old:
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Microsoft_ … board_4000

Is there a easier way to get the extra keys working? i dont know if i dare mess around with kernel patching and things like that

I don't know if you've tried it yet but it would be worth giving keytouch a try before patching the kernel. Works much better than lineak IMHO.

iphitus

Forum Fellow

From: Melbourne, Australia

Registered: 2004-10-09

Posts: 4,927

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

hi

The multimedia and shortcut keys on the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000 keyboard does not work, i found this guide on the gentoo wiki, but it seems rather old:
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Microsoft_ … board_4000

Is there a easier way to get the extra keys working? i dont know if i dare mess around with kernel patching and things like that

I don't know if you've tried it yet but it would be worth giving keytouch a try before patching the kernel. Works much better than lineak IMHO.

lineak and keytouch still depends on the kernel being able to receive the events from the keyboard in the first place. For many keyboards, there needs to be some level of kernel support for those events to be received.

Sapphire56

Member

Registered: 2007-06-28

Posts: 8

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

Do you think you can post a little howto on how you did that?

There are a ton of good guides out there, including one on the Arch wiki (...)

Alright, ill try to build my own kernel then, but will that mean i'll have to do it again every time there is a kernel26 update when i do "pacman -Syu"?

sjmorgan

Member

Registered: 2007-01-26

Posts: 27

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

Alright, ill try to build my own kernel then, but will that mean i'll have to do it again every time there is a kernel26 update when i do "pacman -Syu"?

No.

Sapphire56

Member

Registered: 2007-06-28

Posts: 8

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

ok i have downloaded the vanilla 2.6.22 kernel now, and extracted it in /usr/src/linux as described in the wiki/howtos but when i try to apply the patch i get an error:

[root@xxx-desktop linux]# patch -p1 < hid-msnek4k
patching file include/linux/hid.h
Hunk #1 FAILED at 407
Hunk #2 FAILED at 446
patch: **** malformed patch at line 40: *report); etern int hidinput_connect(struct hid_device *);

What have i done wrong now?:/

sjmorgan

Member

Registered: 2007-01-26

Posts: 27

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

What have i done wrong now?:/

Assuming you aren't already, try using the patch I linked to on ubuntuforums.org earlier in this thread.

Sapphire56

Member

Registered: 2007-06-28

Posts: 8

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

What have i done wrong now?:/

Assuming you aren't already, try using the patch I linked to on ubuntuforums.org earlier in this thread.

Seems to be something wrong with the one mentioned in the slackware howto then

The one you posted worked just fine

Alrigt then, lets see if i can compile the kernel then

Last edited by Sapphire56 (2007-08-12 19:23:31)

dninja

Member

From: Sheffield, UK

Registered: 2006-04-29

Posts: 374

Website

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

Has anyone tried these patches with the 2.6.19-beyond kernel?

Assuming that they work, what does the zoom button do when it is working? Is it just assigned to a keypress so you can do what you want or is it more like a mouse action? I think I would like to have it scroll like the mouse wheel.

dninja

Member

From: Sheffield, UK

Registered: 2006-04-29

Posts: 374

Website

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

Oh yeah, assuming you don't want to be messing with initrd files, don't forget to compile support for the subsystem you decide to use directly into the kernel (not as a module) along with support for whatever filesystems you use.

Slightly off topic, but what do you mean by the subsystem? It took me ages to get a custom kernel working because the wiki fails to mention creating the initrd file. I had the filesystems built in but was obviously missing the subsystem.

sjmorgan

Member

Registered: 2007-01-26

Posts: 27

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

Oh yeah, assuming you don't want to be messing with initrd files, don't forget to compile support for the subsystem you decide to use directly into the kernel (not as a module) along with support for whatever filesystems you use.

Slightly off topic, but what do you mean by the subsystem? It took me ages to get a custom kernel working because the wiki fails to mention creating the initrd file. I had the filesystems built in but was obviously missing the subsystem.

The type of device the root filesystem is actually stored on. IDE, PATA, SATA, SCSI etc. Sorry, it was a bit vague.

You don't need an initrd if everything that's needed to boot the machine is compiled into the kernel. I would have updated the wiki myself but I'm sick of signing up for Yet Another Account.

dninja

Member

From: Sheffield, UK

Registered: 2006-04-29

Posts: 374

Website

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

Ok, thanks for that. I'll give it a try

titopoquito

Member

Registered: 2007-08-30

Posts: 2

Re: Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard

What have i done wrong now?:/

Assuming you aren't already, try using the patch I linked to on ubuntuforums.org earlier in this thread.

Seems to be something wrong with the one mentioned in the slackware howto then

No it isn't, just tested it again with the current 2.6.22.5 vanilla kernel. The patch applies flawlessly From the error you posted I suggest you didn't save the patch right, looks like line breaks have been altered compared to the original patch.