Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Here's a current working version of Xkbd for the N800 only.

If you're interested in using this on a N810 I might have a few ideas for you to throw around and try. As for the N900, I wouldn't have a clue.

Install bash2 from app manager if you already haven't done so. If you launch a keyboard in Xterm, closing out Xterm will also close the keyboard as well. If you don't have bash2, sometimes the keyboard will stick on the screen.

Download, unzip, and put the Keyboards folder on your external memory card (media/mmc2/).
Attachment 5141

Open up the Xkbd install.note file in the folder, edit, select all, copy, open Xterm, edit, then paste

If for some reason you ever reboot the device or your hildon keyboard stops from showing up on the screen, open up the Restore keyboards.note file in the folder, edit, select all, copy, open Xterm, edit, then paste. This only needs to be done once as far as I can tell.

One possible issue might be if you try and use a BT keyboard, but I'm not all too sure about this. The other thing is if you want to use a Xkbd layout that's created for a different language.

Anyway, there's a backup of that base file in the Keyboards folder.

There's a Keyboards.note file that you can copy and paste to launch the various layouts that come in the folder.

Side and Garnet keyboards both need to been launched with the screen rotated.

There are right and left invisible arrow keys on the left side of Garnet VM and up and down invisible arrow keys on the right side of it. Once you try it, you'll understand how simple it is to use them.

This version also stops the keys repeating like they have done in the past which makes using Xkbd so much more manageable. :)


*Technical Details on this hack*

From a fresh reboot, running setxkbmap -print in Xterm produced this result:
xkb_keymap {
xkb_keycodes { include "evdev+aliases(qwerty)" };
xkb_types { include "complete" };
xkb_compat { include "complete" };
xkb_symbols { include "pc+us" };
xkb_geometry { include "pc(pc105)" };

Then, after running this in Xterm:
gconftool-2 --set -t bool /system/osso/af/keyboard-attached true && sleep 2 && gconftool-2 --set -t bool /system/osso/af/keyboard-attached false

It produced this result after running setxkbmap -print again:
xkb_keycodes { include "evdev+aliases(qwerty)" };
xkb_types { include "complete" };
xkb_compat { include "complete" };
xkb_symbols { include "nokia_vndr/su-8w(us)" };
xkb_geometry { include "pc(pc104)" };

So in the file
/usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base
I made two simple edits.

* = pc(pc104) to * = pc(pc105)
and
nokiasu8w * = nokia_vndr/su-8w(%I) to nokiasu8w * = pc+us

so that it would once again match the initial settings given by the setxkbmap -print output.

I think Xkbd is calling an inappropriate mode_switch command somewhere in the coding if anyone wants to take a look at it so that hacking the OS would no longer be necessary.

It would also be great if someone ever got around to figuring out why it stills gives off this error when running Xkbd.
Sorry - server Keyboard map doesn't contain either 2 or 4 KeySyms per Keycode - unsupported!

Screen shots

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Forgot to mention my easy (subjectively) setup to get Xkbd installed.

Grab all the files you need at pupnik.de throw them in a folder on your memory card named Xkbd then...

root
cd /media/mmc1/Xkbd
dpkg -i libxau0_0.1-2osso1_armel.deb
dpkg -i libxpm4_3.5.4.2-3_armel.deb
dpkg -i xlibs_6.5.4_all.deb
dpkg -i xkbd_0.8.15m-2_armel.deb

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Craps.

I did a hard reset and it's back to being stupid again. :(

Hopefully I can reproduce the results again.

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

I hate when that happens.

That's about as bad as when my touchscreen randomly started working and stopped after a reboot.

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Oh man! I'm so close on this!

I just wish I knew what the heck I was doing and I'd be there already! :D

So yeah, it's back to working again even after a full reboot.

Can someone jump on board with me on this and help me test?

These are basically the variables I'm working with.
Hold Caps Lock on hildon keyboard in Xterm

In xterm
gconftool-2 --set -t bool /system/osso/af/keyboard-attached true & xkbd & gconftool-2 --set -t bool /system/osso/af/keyboard-attached false

Last time I got it working was simply this I think
gconftool-2 --set -t bool /system/osso/af/keyboard-attached true & gconftool-2 --set -t bool /system/osso/af/keyboard-attached false

On that one I didn't even hold down the caps lock

There's something here but I'm not seeing it.

Come on guys, I really could use the help on this.

Thanks ahead!

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

If anyone here does help me test just do this...

Fire up Xkbd either by application menu or command prompt and press the letter "a" in like Xterm, Notes, or whatever.

If you see a capital letter "A" displayed, immediately close Xkbd. Some of the other keys will totally make your touch screen puke all over you.

Mess around with those two command lines of closing and restoring the hildon keyboard.

Once you get a lower case "a" when using Xkbd, all the other keys will work perfectly as well.

I can't really test anymore since it's working on my end so there isn't much for me to do.

Someone please post back on this.

Cheers!

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Okay. I simply tried this on my second tablet and it worked the first time.

In Xterm:

gconftool-2 --set -t bool /system/osso/af/keyboard-attached true & gconftool-2 --set -t bool /system/osso/af/keyboard-attached false


No idea why this fixes Xkbd.

Again, first test with the letter "a", if it comes up as a capital letter then it didn't work.

I'll change all of my customized, "hacked" .xkbd keyboard layouts back to normal in a day or so and post them.

It still would rock though if someone else can confirm this trick! :D

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Confirmed it works.

to simply for Diablo:
1.) become root
2.) wget http://repository.maemo.org/pool/mae...sso1_armel.deb
3.) dpkg -i libxpm4_3.5.6-2osso1_armel.deb
4.) wget http://pupnik.de/xkbd_0.8.15m-2_armel.deb
5.) dpkg -i xkbd_0.8.15m-2_armel.deb
6.) gconftool-2 --set -t bool /system/osso/af/keyboard-attached true & gconftool-2 --set -t bool /system/osso/af/keyboard-attached false
7.) xkbd

and ta-da it is fine after reboot as well. Good job Addison (and Pupnik)!

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

My first witness! :D

Many thanks linux dude for testing this!

You're the man and my new, personal hero! (sorry to all of those who I've said this to before) :D

Can't believe it took almost two years to figure this one out...

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Sounds like good news to me :D
I'll check it as soon as my tablet finishes recharging ;)
Thanks ;)

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Awesome!

Thanks for looking at testing this Nick!

You just became my new, personal *head shot*

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

It does work after rebooting indeed! :D

Oh crap, too good to be true :( It works just the first time Xkbd is executed, then everything is capslocked :(

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Okay.

If you're using any of my old keyboards, they won't work anymore. They'll be broken now.

Old keyboard layouts

If not, again, the Caps Lock flag has always carried over for some reason.

To resolve, press Caps Lock, close Xkbd and then fire it up again. That should do it.

Even if you have Caps Lock on with the hildon keyboard when you close it, it will still have the same result the next time you use the hildon keyboard.

Post a response if you're back to being golden again after doing this.

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Here what I did:
1) completely removed xkbd
2) followed linuxeventually post -> everything was capslocked
3) rebooted and launched xkbd -> no caps lock
But unfortunately every time xkbd is executed beside the first time the result is quite the same: capslocked letters with unpredictable output (ie pressing Q gives T or something like that...)
Doing what you just told me to do killed my Dpad too :(
I guess I'll start over :D

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Hey Nick, you're killing my good mood. :D

Yeah, the results you got were the way it used to be for the past two years. This is why I'm very happy to at least resolve this on my end.

Up, down, left and right on the D-Pad made outputs of the letters a,b,c and d if something went sour.

Not only that but the touch screen weirded out completely and I needed to do a full reboot to correct it.

I've had similar crashes of at least 50 times.

My suggestion was to only type the letter "a", if that turned out as a capital letter, it didn't work and you need to close Xkbd immediately.

I guess we're still testing this theory.

I don't get why you were banging on the keyboard with the letter "q" if you didn't first try with "a". The "a" key seems to be the safest to test.

Well, so far we're looking at 3 out of 4 success stories on this.

If you're a stupid idgit, I'll change those numbers back to 3 out of 3. *lol*

Edit:
Xkbd is not the problem. There should be no benefit at all from uninstalling and then reinstalling it again.
It has something to do with the hildon keyboard only.
We just need to figure out what that is.





Thanks for posting your problem though. It did seem strange that disabling and then immediately enabling the hildon keyboard had anything to do with Xkbd's ability to function correctly.

So yeah, not sure what to say on this.

It worked 3 times straight before your dumb *** arrived. :D

Hey Nick, can you write back if it works and note any changes on what you did from the previous time of testing?

Thanks

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Hmmm strange. I tested it on a clean install, what about you?

Mind you I did not open xkbd until AFTER I had run the gconftool parameter, so I don't know if there was caps lock at all in the first place. I'll try it on another install momentarily, right now I just figured out why keymouse never worked for me, so testing that now....

However, after using xkbd the hildon finger keyboard refused to come up even after passing the gconftool parameter to tell it the slider wasn't open.

I wonder also if there is something related to N810 vs N800 going on, but I sorta doubt it.

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

I'm not sure if this can be listed as success...
After having the dpad killed I pasted the gconftool command in a terminal as root and, right before pressing enter, I kept pressed the shift to have capslockenabled... and voilà: non only the dpad returned functional, but now the a in xkbd is in lower case :D
I exited right away (no q this time :D), but it seems to work...
I'm not sure I want to reboot and try again ,though :D

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Nice one Nick!

Whenever Xkbd would take a dump on me before, my only option was to reboot the tablet since killall xkbd didn't do a thing.

That took some serious courage to run those commands as root. You're a wild one! :D

Okay, here's the same keyboard layouts with the fixed coding.
Attachment 4861

Only use them if you're 100% sure Xkbd is working correctly.

There's no longer a Caps Lock button, now it's just a shift button instead.

The Notes file has the command lines on how to launch each of them.

The "Side" keyboard is for portrait mode.

Linux dude, any ideas yet on what exactly is occurring by running those two commands together?

Cheers!

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Okay! Renewed hope once again!

There's a newer version I found on the net.

All I did was
root
cd /media/mmc2
dpkg -i xkbd_0.8.16-1_armel.deb

I rebooted since I wasn't getting either the ' or " keys working both before and after the new install.

I think this new version fully works without doing that whole gconftool trick! :D

Can someone also test this?

Xkbd

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Addison - Would the installation of xkbd break the virtual key board on my N810 or I can select to use them both in tandem..
I can install and check this out, but don't want to go through the hassles of uninstallation, etc if it would break the N810's stock Virtual key board ( big finger friendly KB) I like.

- Shin

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Hey shin.

Yeah, there's no need to test this.

It only worked once on my end and it's broken in many areas.

I'll look into this some more.

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Okay. I was thinking of reflashing back to one of the earlier versions of Chinook, copying the entire X11 folder to my memory card, reflashing back to Diablo and then overwriting the X11 folder from my memory card.

Would this possibly work?

Does anyone have a few ideas on what to try in finally getting Xkbd working correctly?

I'm willing to attempt all given suggestions.

Thanks ahead.

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Just curious: For what do you use xkbd?

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Quite a lot, Gerald.

Let's see, there's Dosbox, SCUMM, telnet, open ssh, Syncterm, Angband, 5 Minute Medical Consult, AHFS Drug Information, Merck Manual, Harrison's Manual of Medicine, Labs 360, etc. through Garnet VM and Ukki's port of Scid.

So yeah, since I have a N800, I really depend on having an alternative touch screen keyboard.

Since I answered your question, now will you help me? :D

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

I'd be glad to help by trying things out. I don't code. I do Xterm (largely) by rote. Any requests?

I remember trying xkbd for an alternative browser and maybe for another thing or two more than a year ago and decided it wasn't worth the hassle. I've been tempted to try some old Macintosh programs under emulation (Basilisk II), so I bought an N810 on eBay to try those out without having to depend on xkbd. (Heck, I also bought it out of curiosity -- I've never so much as seen a NIT that I hadn't bought myself, and I want to try out a hardware keyboard, and the other minor goodies.)

But if you want an N800 user to do his bit for xkbd, I'll give it a shot.

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

So, if I got this right, neither of the versions of xkbd (not even the last one you found) are bugs-free...
Let me know if my N800 can be of any use to your noble cause ;)

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Yeah, neither versions are all that safe to use.

Something happened way back when as everyone upgraded to a newer 2007 OS. Since then Xkbd input would produce random signals, some of which would force you to reboot because it caused that much chaos.

I'm slowly homing in on a fix.

I do need help with any theories people might have on what caused the sudden change between OS versions.

Here's what I think I know...
gconftool-2 --set -t bool /system/osso/af/keyboard-attached true
or
/etc/osso-af-init/keyboard.sh stop

Either of these two commands makes Xkbd function correctly again since it stops the hildon keyboard.

Only problem with this is that the ' " ~ keys no longer work, but that's the only trouble I've seen so far.

Here's the thing though, if I select the Spanish hildon keyboard, those keys will stop working on that as well. I'm not sure what that means.

Well, I reflashed to the first ever 2007 release and copied the /usr/share/X11 and /etc/osso-af-init/ folders to my memory card.

Any suggestions on what old files I should copy back to Diablo to see if this fixes anything?

Again, I'm willing to test out any ideas from you guys.

Thanks.


Edit:
And since I don't know what the heck I'm doing here, I need some ideas. :D

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Allright. After flashing way back to RX-34_2007SE_4.2007.38-2 and installing Xkbd, it works just fine.

All keys are recognized and correctly displayed when typed as expected it would. No weirdness at all.

So what might be a program, file or database that I can copy over to Diablo from the first OS version that might finally fix Xkbd once and for all?

Even a guess on this would be helpful for me. :)

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Hey Nick or Gerald, can I get one of you to try something for me?

In Xterm just like before:
gconftool-2 --set -t bool /system/osso/af/keyboard-attached true & gconftool-2 --set -t bool /system/osso/af/keyboard-attached false

Now fire up Xkbd from the application menu.

First check to see if the letter "a" is lowercase, if not, close Xkbd. Maybe try to run the command again?

Anyway, once you get a lowercase "a" press these key combinations.

' followed by the letter y
" followed by the letter y

Post back on your results.

Thanks.

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

First combination -> there's an accent on the y (I guess this means a positive result)
Second combination -> there's a diaeresis on the y (no idea if it's good or bad...)
Dpad didn't die and N800 is still in one piece :D
= works now! :D

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Sweet!!!!

Thanks Nick!

So what do you think we can make out of this result?

It seems like to me that shutting down the hildon keyboard and immediately starting it up again fixes the output of Xkbd but now the tablet acts as if we were Spaniards. (???)

I think maybe this is why the ' " and ~ keys act funny after sending the gconftool command. It defaults to perhaps some other language when doing this.

All that's left is to send a signal to the tablet saying, "Hey! We're Americans! (or worst possible case of shame, Canadians)" :D

How could this possibly be done?

Changing the language on the hildon keyboard does nothing.

Anyone with an idea or a command line to try?


Qwerty!!!!

Qole!!!!

Why aren't you smart monkeys helping out here?


Oh, and before I forget to ask, is there any touch screen keyboard app that works perfectly in Diablo? I tried getting Xvkbd from this site but all the links were busted.

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Addison I believe that xkbd stopped working ok after the OS upgrade because of some locale-related packages that were upgraded (or dropped in favour of some other) and were necessary to "sync" between the tablet locale and the xkbd one.
If I remember well the OS which you tested was the last one prior to N810 launch, and given that the N810 has a built-in keyboard that automatically disables the on-screen one when opened, it is possible that some "software switch" conflicts with Xkbd, too.

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Thanks for still sticking around Nick. :)

I replaced the following Diablo files from the first OS release.
/usr/bin/locale
/usr/share/X11/locale/en_US.UTF-8/
/usr/share/locale/en_US/

I don't believe that did anything. Sure it worked here and there, but if I reboot I can get Xkbd fully working once or twice before it breaks without running any commands first.

I did find that replacing just this one file only along with the gconftool command, I can get all keys to work correctly.
/usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base

I've tested this quite a lot and it seems to do the trick.

Only problem is the DPad no longer functions yet all of the other hardware keys do.

Now if I can get the DPad active again, this should be a reasonable solution.

I tried the trick you posted before but I'm not get the same results with the DPad, it's still dead on my end.

Here's the base file.
Attachment 4970

Any clue on what to try next and will you test that base file by overwriting your current one?

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

I'll gladly do it tomorrow (here in Italy is almost midnight :D), I just hope keeping a backup copy of the "original" diablo base file will be sufficient to revert back to a working dpad :D
Did you already compare the content of the two files? Maybe there's some sort of subsection needed to define the Dpad behaviour that is missing on the older one you attached to your post ;)

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

I can't read code Nick but there is a difference in size between the original and old file.

The thing is, even without replacing that base file I still had issues with the Dpad after running the gconftool command.

Sometimes it would come back but it would no longer repeat the movement in all 4 directions.

So like up and right might repeat but for left and down I needed to keep tapping the button.

Well, I look forward to hearing from you again tomorrow on this. :)

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Commendable persistence, Addison!

xkbd or xvkbd or some equivalent *are* *needed* for some emulators (even on n810 and N900, due to special keys).

The layouts you created are very useful to show what is possible here. Lets keep this discussion active, at the very least.

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Worst case is to still use Xkbd from before but replace the Caps Lock key with a Shift key instead.

It works pretty well, at least better than the Caps Lock key since that would constantly toggle the character output and was very frustrating to use.

I've now got a perfectly working Xvkbd 3.0 thanks to ukki and I'm currently looking at hacking it up.

It's so much more stable than Xkbd, but to edit it's layout, could takes months for me to understand. :(

Anyone willing to team up with me on this?

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Addison, sorry for being so late, but i really screwed up my tablet (lost the Dpad and any mean of input swapping the files you suggested :()
Maybe it was a human error (mine), maybe not, still I think changing random system files is not a good solution :(
I reflashed yesterday, now I have to restore my previous backed up state, and then I'll try again one more, so wish me luck ;)

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

Heya Nick!

Don't bother messing with that base file, you're probably right about not using OS files from previous versions of Chinook.

Well, I've got another idea.

Could you install Xmodmap?

Try running in Xterm once before and then again after the gconftool command:
xmodmap -pk

This will display the assigned codes for all of the keys.

I noticed that the D-Pad changed on where it was located after changing that base file and running the gconftool command.

Only problem with comparing before and after is that it's not showing all of the keys for me but rather keys 55-255. I think maybe Xterm can't retain that lengthy of an output.

Any suggestions?

Also, any guess as to what the key "mode_switch" might do?

I've seen it assigned to key 255 before, but not right at this moment. I'm wondering if this could be a cause for some of the problems we're seeing.

Re: Xkbd *Diablo*
 

One step closer I think. :)

Here's the same directories comparing Chinook's version (on the right) with Diablo.
/usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/nokia_vndr/
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/5...9121112554.png

After typing this in Xterm...
gconftool-2 --set -t bool /system/osso/af/keyboard-attached true && sleep 2 && gconftool-2 --set -t bool /system/osso/af/keyboard-attached false

I think that somehow changes the key symbols language it receives thereafter.

I'm not sure if this is possible, but is there a way to see what value or string the variable xkb_symbols has in Xterm?

I don't know the command line for this.

Thanks.