HOWTO: Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 - enabling special keys

[zerwas]

How to get Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 (MSNEK4K) to work completely with Ubuntu

Please note: If you are using Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) everything will work out of the box except the zoomer.

Second note: The zoom wheel currently only works by applying another patch to the kernel. I can't test it at the moment so i need some acknowledge that it works. See Appendix[3].

= Solution 1 =

(use a newer kernel)

Upgrade to kernel 2.6.24 or higher (included in Ubuntu 8.04 already for example) which includes the drivers for MSNEK4K. In order to do that, follow this tutorial. This solution should not be riskier than compiling the kernel by yourself. You should always be cautious when it comes to the kernel, whether you use solution 1 or 2.

= Solution 2 =

(recompile your old kernel)

1. Follow the HOWTO for compiling the kernel from kernel.org. Instead of step 6 and 7 of the kernel howto, perform this:

   sudo cp /boot/config-`uname -r` .config && sudo make oldconfig

   After this command, the kernel will be patched like this:
   
   
2. Download the attachment of this post
   
   
3. Unpack the package:
   

   unzip msnek4k-patchset.zip -d /tmp

4. Patch the kernel:

   sudo patch -p1 < /tmp/msnek4k-patchset

5. Now, type

   make xconfig

   A configuration window pops up. Now, follow the performance tips. After this, go to Device Drivers --> USB, activate "HID Simple Driver Interface"" and change Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 Driver" to "m". If you can't find it in the configuration hierarchy, you can also press CTRL+F and type simple in the search box.
   
   
6. Go ahead with the howto (step 10 is the next). After all steps are done, the keyboard should work.

= Appendix =

• [1] HOWTO for Slackware 12.0 users (including nice Xmodmap file)
• [2] Launchpad bug entry
• [3] Launchpad bug entry for zoom wheel
• [4] There is a good resource for information on getting this keyboard "working" under Linux in general in the Gentoo MSNEK4K HOWTO

Thanks:

• Thank you alsuren for pointing me to the fact that 2.6.24 now supports it.
• Credit for the kernel-howto goes to master_kernel
• I'd also like to thank trantorvega for the Gentoo-Page.
• strabes for clarifying a few things.
• And, most of the work to get your keyboard working did Liyu for you! (the Patch is also available at http://lkml.org/ from liyu)

[zerwas]

This should be the correct instructions to install the patch. On my pc, the Favorites-Buttons still doesn't work with version 0.3.0. (they don't give a keycode)
Perhaps anybody has ideas or can tell me that it works for him

Greetings,
zerwas

[boom2k1]

Thanks!!!!

Question though.
When I do:

sudo patch -pl /home/charles/installing/4000/msnek4k.patch
patch: **** strip count l is not a number


What does it mean?
Thanks!

[boom2k1]

eh.. i think i forgot to change the Ergonomic 4000 to "m"

what will happen?

[zerwas]

Originally Posted by boom2k1 sudo patch -pl /home/charles/installing/4000/msnek4k.patch patch: **** strip count l is not a number What does it mean?

You typed the letter "l" instead of the number "1". That's what the program patch is complaining about
At best you copy and paste these lines into your terminal:

sudo patch -p1 < /home/charles/installing/4000/simple.patch
sudo patch -p1 < /home/charles/installing/4000/msnek4k.patch

eh.. i think i forgot to change the Ergonomic 4000 to "m"

Changing to "m" means to compile the driver for your keyboard as a module.
If you don't do this, it won't work.

[unixfudotnet]

The patches don't seem to apply cleanly anymore.

root@chris-desktop:/usr/src# ls -l total 40364 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root src 14 2006-08-11 06:49 linux -> linux-2.6.17.7 drwxrwxrwx 19 root root 4096 2006-07-24 23:36 linux-2.6.17.7 -rw-r--r-- 1 root src 41283287 2006-07-24 23:40 linux-2.6.17.7.tar.bz2 root@chris-desktop:/usr/src# patch -p0 < /tmp/simple.patch patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c Hunk #1 FAILED at 4. Hunk #4 FAILED at 49. Hunk #5 FAILED at 797. Hunk #6 FAILED at 853. Hunk #7 FAILED at 1997. Hunk #8 FAILED at 2013. Hunk #9 FAILED at 2048. Hunk #10 FAILED at 2195. Hunk #11 FAILED at 2291. Hunk #12 FAILED at 2307. 10 out of 12 hunks FAILED -- saving rejects to file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c.rej patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid.h Hunk #2 FAILED at 381. Hunk #3 succeeded at 449 with fuzz 2. 1 out of 3 hunks FAILED -- saving rejects to file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid.h.rej patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-input.c Hunk #2 succeeded at 37 with fuzz 2. Hunk #3 FAILED at 65. Hunk #4 succeeded at 853 with fuzz 1. 1 out of 4 hunks FAILED -- saving rejects to file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-input.c.rej patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-simple.h root@chris-desktop:/usr/src# patch -p0 < /tmp/msnek4k.patch patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/usbnek4k.c patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/Kconfig Hunk #1 FAILED at 326. 1 out of 1 hunk FAILED -- saving rejects to file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/Kconfig.rej patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/Makefile Hunk #1 FAILED at 44. 1 out of 1 hunk FAILED -- saving rejects to file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/Makefile.rej

[liyu]

I am "liyou", but should be "liyu".
Regarding to 5 my favorites keys, I also found they can not work under default XKB configuration (XkbModel pc105 for
me at least), in other words, I think this is a problem of XKB configuration, if you insert evbug.ko into kernel, you can see
the keycode is yield in system log or dmesg when we press and release these five keys. I still am beginner of the XKB
configuration, I will reply here at once if I configure them successfully.

I can not sure what problem the friend unixfudotnet have , this patch both should be can apply on 2.6.17.7 and 2.6.17.8
kernel code tree. but not 2.6.18.x so far. Do you eager to try new 2.6.18 kernel? if so, I also will release them.
The latest patch can be downloaded from linux-usb-devel maillist. I use them as example. Follow is my
process of playing this patch.

I recommend you use 0.3.1, the reason is not only it add force-feedback support, but also include some bugfixes.

[root@liyu tmp]# ls -l linux-2.6.17.7.tar.bz2 linux-2.6.17.8.tar.bz2
-rw-rw-r-- 1 sailor sailor 41283287 8月 5 13:23 linux-2.6.17.7.tar.bz2
-rw-rw-r-- 1 sailor sailor 41276096 8月 7 17:34 linux-2.6.17.8.tar.bz2
[root@liyu tmp]# tar jxf linux-2.6.17.8.tar.bz2
[root@liyu tmp]# mv linux-2.6.17.8 linux-2.6.17.7
[root@liyu tmp]# patch -p0 < patches/hid-simple-0.3.1.patch
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid.h
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-input.c
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-simple.c
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-simple.h
[root@liyu tmp]# patch -R -p0 < patches/hid-simple-0.3.1.patch
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid.h
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-input.c
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-simple.c
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-simple.h
[root@liyu tmp]# mv linux-2.6.17.7 linux-2.6.17.8
[root@liyu tmp]# tar jxf linux-2.6.17.7.tar.bz2
[root@liyu tmp]# patch -p0 < patches/hid-simple-0.3.1.patch
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid.h
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-input.c
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-simple.c
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-simple.h
[root@liyu tmp]# patch -p0 -R < patches/hid-simple-0.3.1.patch
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid.h
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-input.c
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-simple.c
patching file linux-2.6.17.7/drivers/usb/input/hid-simple.h
[root@liyu tmp]# LANG=C rpm -qi patch
Name : patch Relocations: (not relocatable)
Version : 2.5.4 Vendor: Red Hat, Inc.
Release : 19 Build Date: Wed Feb 18 00:12:33 2004
Install Date: Mon Feb 13 15:06:14 2006 Build Host: tweety.devel.redhat.com
Group : Development/Tools Source RPM: patch-2.5.4-19.src.rpm
Size : 102492 License: GPL
Signature : DSA/SHA1, Fri May 7 05:33:41 2004, Key ID b44269d04f2a6fd2
Packager : Red Hat, Inc. <http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla>
URL : http://www.gnu.org/software/patch/patch.html
Summary : The GNU patch command, for modifying/upgrading files.
Description :
The patch program applies diff files to originals. The diff command
is used to compare an original to a changed file. Diff lists the
changes made to the file. A person who has the original file can then
use the patch command with the diff file to add the changes to their
original file (patching the file).

Patch should be installed because it is a common way of upgrading
applications.


I hope this can help you a bit.

[liyu]

You can find this patch for 2.6.18-rc4 here:

http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linu...7610700839&w=2

[Lunar_Lamp]

I had the same problem as previously when trying to get the patch to apply...

[skaramanger]

Originally Posted by liyu You can find this patch for 2.6.18-rc4 here: http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linu...7610700839&w=2

Greetings Liyu,


I too get patch errors. So, I cut and pasted the text from the above link. I am attempting to compile the 2.6.17.7 kernel. Do I need to modify the diff line before I proceed? The comments in the post state that file is also a patch for my kernel. I have come over from Mandriva earlier this year, I have compiled my own kernel before just not used/modified patch files. I just know enough to be dangerous :>.

diff -Naurp linux-2.6.18-rc4/drivers/usb/input.orig/hid-core.c linux-2.6.18-rc4/drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c
--- linux-2.6.18-rc4/drivers/usb/input.orig/hid-core.c	2006-08-19 15:53:28.000000000 +0800
+++ linux-2.6.18-rc4/drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c	2006-08-19 15:49:24.000000000 +0800

Thanx