Score:2

Microsoft Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 Keyboard special keys

gb flag

I purchased a micrrosoft keyboard for its special keys such as XF86HomePage, while in my prvious model (the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000) all the keys were configurable, at the new 5000 wireless model many keys don't key mapped to anything. here's the relevant line in lsusb

045e:07b2 Microsoft Corp. 2.4GHz Transceiver v8.0 used by mouse Wireless Desktop 900

when in xev these keys show nothing. what's the lowest possible layer in which I can look for the keys been pressed?

Score:1
us flag

I think the kernel is the lowest rational layer.

The kernel will identify keys using scan codes which you can see in sudo showkey -s by pressing that key. The kernel also converts these keys to key codes which you can see in sudo showkey -k. If you want to remap some keys, you can alsodo it with the setkeycodes utility.

If you want to go even lower, wireshark can intercept USB traffic.

akiva avatar
gb flag
thanks for this answer. unfortunately - `showkey` shows nothing for these keys. didn't know wireshark can intercept usb traffic. will give it a try
sfphoton avatar
us flag
If the kernel does not notice these keypresses - but only thee keys - I think you want to check that the keys are not dead physically
akiva avatar
gb flag
there's nothing physically wrong with these key. they work perfectly when I connect them to a windows system
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