Illuminated keyboard doesn't :)

[NikTheGeek]

Hi. I've just purchased an illuminated keyboard [if you must know, for playing Doom3 in the dark ]. Anyway, it works fine under Windows, and works ok as SuSE Linux boots up. But as soon as KDE kicks in the lights go out and the keyboard descends into darkness.

So why? I can't see what software has to do with wether the keyboard lights up or not, but it obviously does.

Any ideas for a fix?

thanks,

Nik

[smindinvern]

have you tried it under any other desktops or window managers, and what does your keyboard line look like in /etc/X11/xorg.conf?

[NikTheGeek]

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "kbd"
Identifier "Keyboard[0]"
Option "Protocol" "Standard"
Option "XkbLayout" "gb"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
EndSection


It doesn't work under other Windows Managers either.

FWIW, it uses the SCROLL LOCK key to switch the illumination off and on, which works when X isn't running or works under XP, but as soon as X is loaded the SCROLL LOCK no longer switches the lights on and if the lights were already on, they go off.

TIA,

Nik

[shalamabobbi]

You didn't mention the brand, model of the keyboard.
Mine is the Auravision elumiX which seems to work the same with Linux as it did with XP.

My keyboard section under /etc/X11/xorg.conf is almost identical to yours.
I have "pc104" where you have "pc105", and "us" in place of "gb" for XkbLayout.
Seems strange that the OS would control the lighting. Maybe you could run it with Wine? (Little humor, that last comment).

I would google on the particular keyboard to see if there is a spec for how the lighting is controlled. If not ask the company
directly through their tech support email. They might have a work around for use with Linux. Give them a chance to support
and back their product. Most reputable manufacturers will do just that.

[NikTheGeek]

I didn't mention the make coz I don't know it! It's a cheapo Ebay job and there is no model number on it or anything. I could change the numbering to 104 like yours. A long shot, but worth a go...

Nik

[NikTheGeek]

A thought: Since it uses the Scroll Lock key to switch the light off an on, and since the Scoll Lock key actually serves a purpose in Linux - locking the console (or at least it does on mine), perhaps all I need to do is to stop Linux or X looking for a signal from the Scoll Lock key?? And then maybe the switch will work??

Of course I've no idea where to start there....

Nik

[NikTheGeek]

Still no joy, but an update: If I ctrl-alt-F1 (or F2,F3 et) the scroll-lock will turn the lights off and on again from the other consoles. But as soon as I ctrl-alt-F7 back to X it stops working again.

So it's definately X that is stopping the scroll-lock working.

Any ideas?

Nik

[geeksatlarge]

I resolved the same problem by installing the pakage: xkeycaps, then re-enabling the scroll-lock key.

[psic]

Hmmm... illuminated keyboard, you say? That's not a bad idea, i'll have to look into making one /*thinking to himself... a few led's... some resistors... a usb-plug for the power...*/

Sorry for the off-topic post, but this sounds like a cool idea.

[say]

I resolved the same problem by installing the pakage: xkeycaps, then re-enabling the scroll-lock key.

Could you be a little more specific? How exactly did you "re-enable the scroll-lock key" in xkeycaps?