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Re: [LUG] Keyboard extras and Linux

 

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?

Does anyone have any information about this please?

Neil
I have not come across too many keyboards where the "extra" keys do not
work under Linux in some capacity or other.

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.

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.

Grant.

I always disable extra keys - nothing more annoying than fishing out something from behind the keyboard to find your machine turning off cost you've brushed the power key -always happens in power phone calls too
Tom te tom te tom

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