# help with media keys on wireless usb keyboard

## F-0_ICE

got a wireless keyboard/mouse combo for christmas and i would like to get my media keys working on it.

i have hid and evdev set up in the kernel and have set the devices in xorg.conf

the main problem is i can't get any keycodes or scancodes from the media keys.

i have tried xev, showkeys, and getscancodes from the keytouch. also dmesg shows nothing about the keys either.

keyboard is ms wireless keyboard 1000

NOTE: i have been to the gentoo wiki.

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## F-0_ICE

from what i have read this could be connected to the hid kernel driver and is a problem for other usb keyboards as well.

any thoughts?

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## devilheart

you should try acpi_listed and look to which apci events are raised by your media keys

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## F-0_ICE

you mean acpi_listen right? i just ran that but nothing came up on screen or in dmesg. am i missing something in my kernel config perhaps?

here is what i have on

```

                               [*] Power Management support                                                                    

                               [ ]   Power Management Debug Support                                                        

                               [*] Suspend to RAM and standby                                                                  

                               [ ] Hibernation (aka 'suspend to disk')                                                           

                               [*] ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) Support  --->            

 --- ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) Support

                                 [ ]   Deprecated /proc/acpi files                                                              

                                 [ ]   Deprecated power /proc/acpi directories                                           

                                 [ ]   Future power /sys interface                                                              

                                 [*]   Deprecated /proc/acpi/event support                                                

                                < >   AC Adapter                                                                                    

                                < >   Battery                                                                                          

                                <*>   Button                                                                                           

                                <*>   Fan                                                                                               

                                 -*-   Dock                                                                                              

                                < >     Removable Drive Bay (EXPERIMENTAL)                                                              

                                <*>   Processor                                                                                         

                                <*>     Thermal Zone                                                                                   

                                 -*-   NUMA support                                                                                      

                                < >   WMI (EXPERIMENTAL)                                                                           

                                < >   ASUS/Medion Laptop Extras                                                                   

                                < >   Toshiba Laptop Extras                                                                            

                                 [ ]   Debug Statements                                                                                  

                                < >   PCI slot detection driver                                                                         

                                 -*-   ACPI0004,PNP0A05 and PNP0A06 Container Driver (EXPERIMENTAL)                                      

                                < >   Smart Battery Syste

                               CPU Frequency scaling  --->                                                                         

                               [*] CPU idle PM support                                                                                 

```

is there something else i need?

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## devilheart

which keyboard do you have? if acpi_listen reports nothing (after some media keys have been pressed) then either you are missing something in kernel or your keyboard is unsupported

did you start acpid daemon?

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## F-0_ICE

mircosoft wireless keyboard 1000

i tried enabling hid and acpi debugging but nothing worked.

also if i press any character keys they just print out on screen e.g. press t the letter t comes up on screen. keys like shift and ctrl don't output anything.

i don't get any kiind of code froom acpi_listen for any key i press.

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## devilheart

you can try this http://lineak.sourceforge.net/index.php

should also be in portage

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## F-0_ICE

just tried it but my keyboards isn't listed. besides doesn't the kernel need to recognize the key before anything else can? 

should acpi_listen output something for standard keys as well?

EDIT: i am not alone

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> I also have a Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 5000, and I am having the same issue.
> 
> I found something interesting as I was using xev to see if the key events were happening. In Hardy, all the multimedia keys worked except for the 5 "My Favorites" keys in the center of the keyboard; these keys did not trigger an event in xev when pressed. Now the problem is opposite - the 5 My Favorites keys work, but _not_ the others.
> ...

 

while it is a different keyboard model we have the same situation my 5 favorites keys work as well but the others don't.

Source: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/281993

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## devilheart

 *F-0_ICE wrote:*   

> should acpi_listen output something for standard keys as well?

 no. acpi_listen will output something only for media keys

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> I also have a Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 5000, and I am having the same issue.
> 
> I found something interesting as I was using xev to see if the key events were happening. In Hardy, all the multimedia keys worked except for the 5 "My Favorites" keys in the center of the keyboard; these keys did not trigger an event in xev when pressed. Now the problem is opposite - the 5 My Favorites keys work, but _not_ the others.
> ...

 

then you should try an ubuntu livecd and see if the media keys work

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## F-0_ICE

haven't any disks at the time but i read that there is an hid microsoft driver in 2.6.28 the menuconfig search shows it but i can't see it otherwise

any idea on how to make this driver visible so i can use it?

EDIT: can't use the hid Microsoft driver yet it requires CONFIG_EMBEDDED which i can't use. why it is linked to that i have no idea  :Confused: 

hopefully it will be available in a 2.6.28-rx release for now thats all i can do is wait for it. thanks for you help thus far

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