Apple keyboards

[PolyPill]

I already asked this question for windows, with no luck, and I also can't figure it out in linux either.

My company had a bunch of extra apple usb keyboards, the neat clear ones that come with G4's and IMacs. I have the usb set up and working fine, I use a program called hotplug for usb and pcmcia. As a regular keyboard it works fine, but there are 4 keys above the number pad for volume and eject. Binding the keys isn't a problem for me either. What I need to know is how to get the keys to even be detected. I don't need them to do anything, but I don't get a reading when I press them. Which means I can't bind them to anything. This isn't important, I just think it'd be nice if they worked. I'm assuming it's just a matter of which module hotplug is selecting for it's use, but i can figure out which one I should be using. Or possibly it I need to select a different keyboard for X.

I'm assuming they're something like the "one touch inet" buttons and all that crap they put on new keyboards, but I have no experience setting them up.

[XWRed1]

I use an Apple keyboard on my box, but I haven't bothered trying to do anything with the extra keys in the corner.

Maybe Apple proprietarized them or something.

[tbirdkiri]

really?
if i send the cash for shiping could you send me one?

[flounder43]

The reason you have so many extra keyboards is that they are crappy...

Most people want a better one, and a better mouse while they are at it...

[tbirdkiri]

yeah the mice are funky but the keyboards are nice

[XWRed1]

I love my Apple keyboard, I haven't seen any other USB keyboard I'd rather get.

This is the full sized pro model, not the older ones that came with iMacs and old Powermacs that was pretty much a laptop keyboard.

[sfa ok]

The pro keyboards are NICE! I love typing on them, and Apple finally woke up and moved the bumps to the right keys! I'm really tempted to get one for my pc.

[tbirdkiri]

well poly?

[David]

Do you know the scan codes?

Maybe the keys comminicate directly with the Mac mobo and the sound chip/SCSI bus?

[XWRed1]

Well, its a USB keyboard, so whatever they send, it has to go over USB, in which case Poly should be able to trap it.

[PolyPill]

For starters, I work for the government, in educational technology and office networks. So I can't give anything away.

And yes, I assumed I could capture it some how, but I have no clue how.

I know I can do a "cat /dev/input/mice" and see the raw data from a usb mouse, but I don't know what to do for a keyboard.

Also I've been using this for a week or so now and I love it. My notebook comp only has 1 usb port and with the usb hub on the keyboard it comes in very handy. Also is looks cool. The only thing I don't like about the mice is that it's 1 button with no scroll.

[tbirdkiri]

damn!
the gov only sells things on a rare basis too!

i know all about it....
like the local water distict upgraded there systems from 300s to 700 a while ago and they wont sell the systems even if the hd's are wiped.

[XWRed1]

PolyPill:

Maybe you should check this out?

Linux Keyboard and Console HOWTO (http://www.linux.com/howto/Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO.html)

[rugby]

Well, I think the cd-eject key is F12 if that helps. If I hit that or F12 the cd rom ejects on my G4 here.

Those are sweet keyboards. I stole one off our Dual G4 server and use it on my iBook at work.

[PolyPill]

I don't think they're the same as another key. I use Gnome/Sawfish and there's a key bind utility under the configuration. There's a grab option to capture keys and these extra buttons don't register anything.

I have yet to try some of the options on the webpage that XWRed1 posted, I would right now but I forgot the keyboard at home. Doh!

[David]

The scottish schools are terribel. Everything IT has to be bought through IT services. So we get crap and expensive DELL PCs which are Celly 700s but only 64Meg RAM, when a PC shop a few miles away is selling Duron 1gig PCs for less than £500!

[PolyPill]

Originally posted by penguinfreak
The scottish schools are terribel. Everything IT has to be bought through IT services. So we get crap and expensive DELL PCs which are Celly 700s but only 64Meg RAM, when a PC shop a few miles away is selling Duron 1gig PCs for less than £500!

You've got to realize that the PC shop down the road can't offer the support for 1,000+ workstations and countless servers that have to be up 24/7 or else people don't get paid. We use primarily Dell, mainly me and my co worker's choice because they've got the best tech support for educational buildings.

Aso for what's in the computer, that's not up to us, at least here. We tell them what we think they should buy, then because it's a school they divide everything in half and buy twice as many.

Last I checked we were reccomending 1ghz with 256mb ram for $1,200. Not sure what that is in £ but it's not a bad deal, especially when you know that they'll send new pieces without asking questions and sit on the phone for 8 hours until your server is running at 100%. I also like how they support Linux, which is what we're in the proccess of changing to.

[David]

dell support linux? Well I suppose their not THAT bad :)

I had set up a nice little Linux box in school, but the network admin wouldn't let me put it on the network :-(