USB keypad

[Len Lawrence]

I would like to buy a USB numeric keypad for  a Toshiba Equium or any
other laptop I might acquire in the future but hesitate to do so until
it is clear that it would work with Linux.  The web is not very helpful
- I guess it is not something many people use.  It does not appear in
any of the hardware compatibility lists as far as I can determine but
there are one or two forum messages touching on USB keypads, Ubuntu I
think.  My impression is that any such device should work if the correct
module is loaded.  usbhid has been mentioned.  Does anyone know if this
is correct?  On this system there are kernel drivers called usbhid and
usbkbd.

They do not cost much so maybe I shall pick one up at ASDA or PC World
and simply try it out.

Len

[Anne Wilson-5]

On Thursday 27 August 2009 16:01:01 Len Lawrence wrote:

> I would like to buy a USB numeric keypad for  a Toshiba Equium or any
> other laptop I might acquire in the future but hesitate to do so until
> it is clear that it would work with Linux.  The web is not very helpful
> - I guess it is not something many people use.  It does not appear in
> any of the hardware compatibility lists as far as I can determine but
> there are one or two forum messages touching on USB keypads, Ubuntu I
> think.  My impression is that any such device should work if the correct
> module is loaded.  usbhid has been mentioned.  Does anyone know if this
> is correct?  On this system there are kernel drivers called usbhid and
> usbkbd.
>
> They do not cost much so maybe I shall pick one up at ASDA or PC World
> and simply try it out.
>

I've never seen anyone say that they use one, so please, if you do go for it,

let us know how it goes.

Anne
--
New to KDE4? - get help from http://userbase.kde.org
Just found a cool new feature?  Add it to UserBase

[Anssi Hannula-3]

Len Lawrence wrote:

> I would like to buy a USB numeric keypad for  a Toshiba Equium or any
> other laptop I might acquire in the future but hesitate to do so until
> it is clear that it would work with Linux.  The web is not very helpful
> - I guess it is not something many people use.  It does not appear in
> any of the hardware compatibility lists as far as I can determine but
> there are one or two forum messages touching on USB keypads, Ubuntu I
> think.  My impression is that any such device should work if the correct
> module is loaded.  usbhid has been mentioned.  Does anyone know if this
> is correct?  On this system there are kernel drivers called usbhid and
> usbkbd.
>
> They do not cost much so maybe I shall pick one up at ASDA or PC World
> and simply try it out.

While one can never guarantee anything regarding hw support, I'd say
there is a 95% probability it will work out-of-the-box, just as normal
full-size USB keyboards do.

--
Anssi Hannula

[Eugene C. Zesch]

Len Lawrence wrote:

> I would like to buy a USB numeric keypad for  a Toshiba Equium or any
> other laptop I might acquire in the future but hesitate to do so until
> it is clear that it would work with Linux.  The web is not very
> helpful - I guess it is not something many people use.  It does not
> appear in any of the hardware compatibility lists as far as I can
> determine but there are one or two forum messages touching on USB
> keypads, Ubuntu I think.  My impression is that any such device should
> work if the correct module is loaded.  usbhid has been mentioned.  
> Does anyone know if this is correct?  On this system there are kernel
> drivers called usbhid and usbkbd.
>
> They do not cost much so maybe I shall pick one up at ASDA or PC World
> and simply try it out.
>
> Len
>
>
> Len,

I picked up a little cheapy , a Mi  KP25B,  from a discount store last
tax season.  It was completely plug and play. Hope you have similar luck.

Gene

[Michael Adams-2]

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:01:01 +0100
Came this utterance formulated by Len Lawrence to my mailbox:

> I would like to buy a USB numeric keypad for  a Toshiba Equium or any
> other laptop I might acquire in the future but hesitate to do so until
> it is clear that it would work with Linux.

Most just go for a full sized USB keyboard with a good feel. Often they
give better results than the laptop keyboard with its often sherter and
smaller keys. You can get them quite cheap. Without looking it up unit
cost may make it as cheap as your USB keypad.


--
Michael

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall
be well

 - Julian of Norwich 1342 - 1416

[Len Lawrence]

Michael Adams wrote:

> On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:01:01 +0100
> Came this utterance formulated by Len Lawrence to my mailbox:
>
>> I would like to buy a USB numeric keypad for  a Toshiba Equium or any
>> other laptop I might acquire in the future but hesitate to do so until
>> it is clear that it would work with Linux.
>
> Most just go for a full sized USB keyboard with a good feel. Often they
> give better results than the laptop keyboard with its often sherter and
> smaller keys. You can get them quite cheap. Without looking it up unit
> cost may make it as cheap as your USB keypad.
>

No I definitely do not want to lug around an extra keypad.  I picked up
a Logitech cordless keypad at ASDA (like Walmart in the US?) and tried
it out on the Toshiba with nary a problem.  Worked out of the box.  Hot
damn!

And the good thing is that it reproduces all the usual keycodes so I can
use it for single key shortcuts in emacs.  I have been using the
function keys and numeric keypad for that purpose for many many years.  
Shall report this to hardware4linux.

The device comes with a USB dongle and a couple of AAA batteries
supposed to last for two months.  It also has three extra Windows
specific keys, to launch Explorer, Calculator and Excel, which can
probably be remapped.

Len