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On 29/03/11 21:59, Grant Sewell wrote:
On Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:42:05 +0100 Neil Winchurst wrote:I am due a new computer soon so I have been looking around at keyboards, mainly because I think a wifi, cordless keyboard would be a good idea. Anyway, looking at the various reviews etc I notice that there is often talk of getting some of the buttons to provide some shortcuts. When I look at the photos I see several extra keys at the top of some of them. It seems that most of them will just work as a normal keyboard on Linux very easily. However I am wondering about these extras that are mentioned. Can I assume that these will work in Windows but not in Linux? Any software provided on a CD will be Windows only, right? Or are there ways around this, and is it worth the bother?I have not come across too many keyboards where the "extra" keys do not work under Linux in some capacity or other.
Yes. My keyboard has 10 "extra" keys, ranging from volume controls to mail to a "calculator" button. I presume that the software on Windows sets them up to do something related to the symbols they show, but on Linux they're freely configurable through your desktop manager.
I think the volume control keys were mapped by default (I guess they're common), but others needed configuring.
Typically these extra keys merely identify themselves to the operating system as scancodes that are not mapped to any event yet. There are plenty of documents around on the Internet on how to get these extra scancodes to be recognised and be usable.
Under KDE you can configure them like any other key in System Settings/Shortcuts and Gestures.
Your last point, however, about the software on the disc being for Windows only is almost certainly correct. But just because the supplied software is not Linux-accessible does not mean necessarily that the hardware will not be Linux-accessible.
Agreed. Anthony -- Author of C++ Concurrency in Action http://www.stdthread.co.uk/book/ just::thread C++0x thread library http://www.stdthread.co.uk Just Software Solutions Ltd http://www.justsoftwaresolutions.co.uk 15 Carrallack Mews, St Just, Cornwall, TR19 7UL, UK. Company No. 5478976 -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq