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[MINI-HOWTO] Make ViewMate kp202 work in Linux
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blaster999
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Joined: 09 May 2004
Posts: 902
Location: Between keyboard and chair

PostPosted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 7:23 am    Post subject: [MINI-HOWTO] Make ViewMate kp202 work in Linux Reply with quote

Make all of the ViewMate extra keys work in Linux

This is a mini-howto for those who have a ViewMate
keyboard (and, probably, other multimedia keyboards with lots of additional keys).

I bought a ViewSonic ViewMate Office Keyboard kp202 yesterday. It has many additional keys (like Copy, Paste Calc and so on). You can have a look at it here: http://www.viewsonic.com/products/accessories/keyboards/kbmkp202/

So, I needed to make all those funky keys work. First, I launched xev and pressed all the keys. Every key (except the strange arrows to the left) produced some output. Not bad. Now I searched for this keyboard model in Xorg symbol files. It was not mentioned, so I had to configure it myself. This isn't too difficult. Launch your favourite text editor (as root) and open the file /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb/symbols/inet (it contains the symbol definition for Internet and Multimedia keyboards). The keyboard that was the most similar to mine was MS Natural Keyboard, so I just copied its config:
Code:

partial alphanumeric_keys
xkb_symbols "microsoftpro" {
    name[Group1]= "Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro / Microsoft Internet Keyboard Pro";

//   Multimedia Section -- Right Side
    key <I22>   {       [ XF86AudioPlay, XF86AudioPause ] };
    key <I10>   {       [ XF86AudioPrev         ]       };
    key <I24>   {       [ XF86AudioStop         ]       };
    key <I19>   {       [ XF86AudioNext         ]       };
    key <I6D>   {       [ XF86AudioMedia        ]       };
    key <I2E>   {       [ XF86AudioLowerVolume  ]       };
    key <I30>   {       [ XF86AudioRaiseVolume  ]       };
    key <I20>   {       [ XF86AudioMute         ]       };
//   Internet Section -- Left Side
    key <I32>   {       [ XF86HomePage          ]       };
    key <I6C>   {       [ XF86Mail              ]       };
    key <I66>   {       [ XF86Favorites         ]       };
    key <I65>   {       [ XF86Search            ]       };
    key <I68>   {       [ XF86Stop              ]       };
    key <I6A>   {       [ XF86Back              ]       };
    key <I69>   {       [ XF86Forward           ]       };
    key <I67>   {       [ XF86Reload            ]       };
//   My Computer Section -- Far Right
    key <I6B>   {       [ XF86MyComputer        ]       };
    key <I21>   {       [ XF86Calculator        ]       };
    key <I5F>   {       [ XF86Standby           ]       };
};

and changed the xkb_symbols to "viewmate" and name to "ViewSonic ViewMate Office Keyboard". Then I searched for the keys that are present on my keyboard but are not on MS natural keyboard, such as Standby, PowerOff, calendar and so on. That's what I got at the end:
Code:
//ViewSonic

partial alphanumeric_keys
xkb_symbols "viewmate" {
    name[Group1]= "ViewSonic ViewMate Office Keyboard";

    key <I22>   {       [ XF86AudioPlay, XF86AudioPause ] };
    key <I10>   {       [ XF86AudioPrev         ]       };
    key <I24>   {       [ XF86AudioStop         ]       };
    key <I19>   {       [ XF86AudioNext         ]       };
    key <I6D>   {       [ XF86AudioMedia        ]       };
    key <I2E>   {       [ XF86AudioLowerVolume  ]       };
    key <I30>   {       [ XF86AudioRaiseVolume  ]       };
    key <I20>   {       [ XF86AudioMute         ]       };
    key <I32>   {       [ XF86HomePage          ]       };
    key <I6C>   {       [ XF86Mail              ]       };
    key <I66>   {       [ XF86Favorites         ]       };
    key <I65>   {       [ XF86Search            ]       };
    key <I68>   {       [ XF86Stop              ]       };
    key <I6A>   {       [ XF86Back              ]       };
    key <I69>   {       [ XF86Forward           ]       };
    key <I67>   {       [ XF86Reload            ]       };
    key <I6B>   {       [ XF86MyComputer        ]       };
    key <I21>   {       [ XF86Calculator        ]       };
    key <I5F>   {       [ XF86Standby           ]       };
    key <BRK>   {       [ XF86Calendar          ]       };
    key <I63>   {       [ XF86Standby           ]       };
    key <I5E>   {       [ XF86PowerOff          ]       };
    key <I4A>   {       [ XF86LogOff            ]       };
    key <I5F>   {       [ XF86Sleep             ]       };

};


The job isn't finished yet. I had to edit /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb/rules/xorg, locate the section
Code:

! $inetkbds = airkey acpi scorpius azonaRF2300 \
              brother \
              btc5113rf btc5126t btc9000 btc9000a btc9001ah btc5090\
              cherryblue cherrybluea \
              chicony chicony9885 \
              compaqeak8 compaqik7 compaqik13 compaqik18 armada presario ipaq \
              dell inspiron dtk2000 \
              dexxa diamond genius geniuscomfy2 \
              ennyah_dkb1008 \
              hpi6 hp2501 hp2505 hp5181 hpxe3gc hpxe3gf hpxe4xxx hpzt11xx \
              hp500fa hp5xx hp5185 \
              honeywell_euroboard \
              rapidaccess rapidaccess2 rapidaccess2a \
              ltcd logiaccess logicdp logicdpa logicink logiciink \
              logiinkse logiinkseusb logiik itouch \
              mx1998 mx2500 mx2750 \
              microsoftinet microsoftpro microsoftprooem microsoftprose \
              microsoftoffice microsoftmult \
              oretec \
              propeller \
              qtronix \
              samsung4500 samsung4510 \
              sk1300 sk2500 sk6200 sk7100 \
              sven symplon toshiba_s3000 trust trustda yahoo

and add "viewmate" somwhere in the middle. After that, I edited /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb/rules/xorg.lst and added "viewmate ViewSonic ViewMate Office Keyboard" in the !model section and added the following code to /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb/rules/xorg.xml:
Code:

    <model>
      <configItem>
        <name>viewmate</name>
        <description>ViewSonic ViewMate Office Keyboard</description>
      </configItem>
    </model>

The last step I did: I edited my xorg.conf and changed Option "XkbModel" to "viewmate".
Restart the X.
Now the keys can be bound to anything. I use KDE, so I launch the KontrolCenter and go straight to Regional & Accessibility -> Keyboard shortcuts (or KHotKeys if you need some special actions bound to your keys). BTW, Konqueror didn't use the Back, Forward and Stop buttons by default, so I had to manually set the shortcuts by going to Tools -> Configure shortcuts in konqueror.

Now what I did to make the multimedia keys (play, stop, next song, prev song, etc) work in xmms:
I've emerged xmms-itouch, launched xmms, entered config dialog, configured the itouch plugin (configured the needed keys), then exited xmms and edited the ~/.xmms/config (deleted all keys from section iTouch except:
vol_increment=8
vol_decrement=8
play=162
stop=164
prev_track=144
next_track=153
). This is imortant - or xmms will crash! Then I re-run xmms, enabled the itouch plugin - and the keys work like a charm.

TODO:
Power Off button still doesn't work
LogOff is recognized as "return"
I need to figure out what exactly is the strange round key with arrows.
_________________
60s: sex, drugs, rock'n'roll
90s: sux, bugs, drag'n'drop
---
Some multimedia keys refuse to work? See my mini-howto:
https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?p=1896734#1896734
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yofreaksharma
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Joined: 27 Sep 2004
Posts: 9
Location: orlando

PostPosted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 9:29 pm    Post subject: xev not registering keystrokes Reply with quote

can you post the keyboard section of your xorg.conf file? because when i try to hit the other keys on the keyboard xev doesnt register anything.
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blaster999
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Joined: 09 May 2004
Posts: 902
Location: Between keyboard and chair

PostPosted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 5:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If xev doesn't register keys, it means that the key doesn't have a keycode assigned. Press the key and see the tail of dmesg. You'll see something like:

Quote:

atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0x8b on isa0060/serio0).
atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e00b <keycode>' to make it known.


So, you'll have to do exactly as it says, substituting <keycode> with an unused keycode (you might add the command to your local.start).
_________________
60s: sex, drugs, rock'n'roll
90s: sux, bugs, drag'n'drop
---
Some multimedia keys refuse to work? See my mini-howto:
https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?p=1896734#1896734
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View user's profile Send private message
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