K90 issues on Linux (64-bit)

[Hell4You]

I have a M60 and a K90 with the US international keyboard layout and I'm using them under Linux, kernel version 3.4.5. Overall, they are working OK, but there are still some pending issues with the keyboard.

Keyboard firmware: 1.18
Mouse firmware: 1.11

Issues already been tackled:

1. Keyboard keeps being reset and enumerated on a USB2.0 (EHCI) controller.
   After extensive testing with kernel configuration options I found out I had to enable 'Improved Transaction Translator scheduling (CONFIG_USB_EHCI_TT_NEWSCHED)'.
2. Numlock, Capslock and Scrollock lights do not work.
   A forum user named swm advised to switch the keyboard mode to UTF8 with: kbd_mode -u

Blocking issues that are really annoying:

1. When typing the pipe symbol ( | ) and the shift button is released before the pipe button, an additional \ is typed ( the symbol for that button without shift ). Result: |\. This behaviour does not occur on Windows.
2. Media keys do not work when caps lock is enabled. This behaviour does not occur on Windows.
3. Occasionally keys get 'stuck', probably meaning KEY_DOWN is received but KEY_UP is not. Pressing another key releases the key that is 'stuck'. This behaviour does also occur on Windows.

Additionally, some issues I can live with not working under Linux:

1. The G keys and associated macro keys do not work.
2. It's (obviously) not possible to configure the keyboard using the Corsair software.

Does someone have a solution for any of these issues? I'm happily willing to try and test any suggestions you may have.

Thank you.

P.S.
I have some (constructive) feedback for the mechanical part of the M60 mouse:

• The build quality is rock solid and nearly indestructible.
• It looks really nice.
• I don't like the edge near the Corsair logo, because the palm of my hand is resting right there, resulting in a discomfort.
• The right click button has a very low click threshold. I cannot rest my finger on the button, because it immediately clicks. I have added a little foam underneath to prevent it.
• The screwing thread of one of the weights gets damaged really easily

[Hell4You]

Does nobody have any suggestions to offer? If i should try or test anything, please tell me!

[Jason Cone]

I have a K90 on the way to me, so I'm glad you posted this info. If I discover anything once I receive it I'll let you know.

[metcard]

I've been running fedora with Gnome or something and my capslock and scroll lock keys dont light up and Gkeys don't work.
Num Lock light works fine.
Media Keys work fine with caps enabled.
\|||| Dont know about the pipe symbol. Seems to work for me.

[jupiter]

Hello,
I got my K90 today (belgian layout). I run Gentoo Linux in 64 bits and experience the same issues as you, except | is done with "alt-gr 1" and does not seem to produce extra &.
Thank you very much for your utf8 hint, it worked like a charm.
I'll start searching for a solution for the G keys in a few days, when I've a bit of free time and will post any update here if found.

edit:
___________
I just found another real anoying bug: when I use the "alt-leftarrow" combination (like to go back in firefox), I am thrown out of X and switched to another terminal. X isn't killed however, as alt-f7 restores my graphic session where it was. I will try to investigate this later.
Does anyone have the same issue?

[faheyd]

Originally Posted by jupiter

Hello,
I got my K90 today (belgian layout). I run Gentoo Linux in 64 bits and experience the same issues as you, except | is done with "alt-gr 1" and does not seem to produce extra &.
Thank you very much for your utf8 hint, it worked like a charm.
I'll start searching for a solution for the G keys in a few days, when I've a bit of free time and will post any update here if found.

edit:
___________
I just found another real anoying bug: when I use the "alt-leftarrow" combination (like to go back in firefox), I am thrown out of X and switched to another terminal. X isn't killed however, as alt-f7 restores my graphic session where it was. I will try to investigate this later.
Does anyone have the same issue?

Just installed Linux Mint 13, caps lock key does not work. The utf8 trick did not work for me. Oh well.

Box 3.2.0-23-generic #36-Ubuntu SMP Tue Apr 10 20:39:51 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[Hell4You]

Originally Posted by jupiter

Hello,
I got my K90 today (belgian layout). I run Gentoo Linux in 64 bits and experience the same issues as you, (...)

Two questions:

• Did you test the media keys with caps-lock enabled?
• Did you had to enable the CONFIG_USB_EHCI_TT_NEWSCHED kernel option for the keyboard to work on USB2.0?

Originally Posted by jupiter

I just found another real anoying bug: when I use the "alt-leftarrow" combination (like to go back in firefox), I am thrown out of X and switched to another terminal. X isn't killed however, as alt-f7 restores my graphic session where it was. I will try to investigate this later.
Does anyone have the same issue?

I posted in the topic where i found the solution for this issue, and swm did suggest a fix, but I haven't tried so far.

[jupiter]

@Hell4You
Sorry for the lag, I spent the last 4 days fighting UEFI

Yes the media keys work with caps lock enabled - I thest with mplayer though, so I can't say for next and previous.

I don't know if I had to enable it, but I enabled it before trying the keyboard and it works indeed... I can try to compile a kernel without that support when I find some time to see if it is related.

Thanks for the meta-solution, it seems to work, although I disabled the fix for the time being: I must do an optimised static config first as I loose autodetection of everything with that solution (I'll try to get that running tomorrow and will confirm if it works).

[jupiter]

I confirm the meta-solution by swm works perfect once you've got the xorg.conf right ;)

[jupiter]

Re,

I might have found a possible way to get our K90 to work with pinguins: this is my path of reflexion, it is based on the
gentoo wiki

First of all, when I tried to scan the keycodes with xev, I saw that all keys don't seem to have codes.
While all "normal" keys have; only three of the 18 G keys do actually send back codes (G9=107, G17=162 and G18=164)

This is interesting because it spawned the idea that as the device uses 2 USB cables to connect to the computer, it might actually be seen as two devices.

I thus checked it in my /dev/ filesystem :

# ls -al /dev/input/by-id/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Aug 31 08:18 usb-Corsair_Corsair_Vengeance_K90_Keyboard-event-if01 -> ../event14
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Aug 31 08:18 usb-Corsair_Corsair_Vengeance_K90_Keyboard-event-kbd -> ../event13
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Aug 31 08:18 usb-Corsair_Corsair_Vengeance_K90_Keyboard-if02-event-kbd -> ../event15

Bingo: It seems to be seen as 3 devices (not sure what is what yet.

Now to get some keycodes ^^
I found part of the keytouch utility named getscancodes at http://sourceforge.net/projects/keytouch/files/
uncompressed and compiled, then ran it with root to check some keycodes:

JuPiTeR getscancodes # ./getscancodes /dev/input/event14
didn't give anything interesting

JuPiTeR getscancodes # ./getscancodes /dev/input/event15
Gives me control codes when I type on the regular keys, but nothing when I type on the GXX keys

JuPiTeR getscancodes # ./getscancodes /dev/input/event13
Gives me control codes when I hit the GXX keys and letters and numbers when I hit the keyboard.

Here are the codes I found for the G keys through event13

G01 - 458960
G02 - 458961
G03 - 458962
G04 - 458963
G05 - 458964
G06 - 458965
G07 - 458966
G08 - 458967
G09 - 458968 + Buggy Codes
G10 - 458969
G11 - 458970
G12 - 458971
G13 - 458972
G14 - 458973
G15 - 458974
G16 - 458975
G17 - 458984 + Buggy Codes
G18 - 458985 + Buggy Codes

As you can see, the 3 GXX keys with buggy codes are the ones that worked natively with xev

==> I am quite sure we can use the GXX keys simply by linking those codes to behaviours with lineakd or keytouch.

I don't know what the event14 is used for, maybe for multiplexing entries of event 13 and event 15...

[jupiter]

Re,

Searching a bit more about the keyboard,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE0c1...ture=endscreen
Seems to indicate there is a 360k memory in the keyboard that can store macros so they would work on a computer without the software.

If this is the case, it might be possible to program the macros on a windows computer and then use them on a Linux comp.

[jupiter]

It's a bit of a patchwork, but I have a functional proof of concept that allows some use of the G keys with linux \o/

At the moment I'm trying to put everything together nicely, I should have something usable in the next few days.

[Hell4You]

Good Job jupiter!

While you're at it, did you perhaps find a fix for the "|\" problem?

I'm watching this thread more actively the next few days.

[jupiter]

This is going way faster than expected, I know have an 80% functionnal framework to use the keyboard with Linux... It is probably not the nicest way to tackle the problem, but is works like a charm... so far

So far these are my main objectives. The app is running at the moment on my computer, but I'd rather complete and test it a bit before posting it.

I hope I'll be able to send a first alpha version by tonight (count 8 to 10 more hours), as I'm quite bad at writing scripts, constructive help and improvements will be very welcome ;)

My implementation allows to bind some scripts to the G1-G18 keys.
The main downside, compared to the windows app, is that there is no app, just a bash script to adapt to your needs.
Also to mention, I didn't work out yet how to emulate keyboard inputs in bash, so that I could code inputs (like a gaming keyboard) - but it should be possible, probably with xmacro or xsendkeycode.

The main upside, is that I managed to run scripts, based on key inputs... This what I'm actually working on:

- Mute button enable/disables all other custom keys (handy to avoid errors if somebody else uses your keyboard) (this still doesn't work at all)

- M1 does a system update (to tune according to your system)
- M2 does a X restart
- M3 reboots the machine
- Lock/unlock=start/stop SSH (or firewall... what you prefer)
- Launch a backup
- Launch an app
- Flash a raspberri pi image on an sd card
- backup or sync android sd card
- mount /boot /boot/efi and upgrade my kernel
- play the latest avi/mkv/mp4 in a given folder

Of course, some of these features should be used with card, which is why I'm implementing some confirmation procedure.

Please let me know your thoughts ;)

[Hell4You]

Nice!

I have some questions though:
- Is it possible somehow to use the G-keys for binds in games?
- Is there a keycode for the 'disable windows-key'-key, or is it handled internally in the keyboard?
- How do you estimate the chance of getting to control the keyboards backlight and other features?
- Did you adjust swm's xorg.conf much to fix the ALT issue (switching terminals)? If so, could you post your edits please?
- Do you experience any other out of the ordinary issues on Linux?

To be honest, I don't really mind the G-keys don't work as I don't use them very much. But it sure would be a nice addition! If only I had some more time ... I would love to sort of reverse engineer the protocol to control the keyboards special functions and write some kind of libusb(?) wrapper to access them.

The only issue I would really like to have a solution for is "|\". Do you maybe have some suggestions where to look? I just don't know where to start.

Thank you for looking into the Linux support for the K90!