keyboard woes

[Richard Wilson]

Lynn,

For an alternate "solution" try checking out synergy on sourceforge -- I
use it constantly to use a single keyboard and mouse on my Linux and XP
workstations.  It's also a big plus to me to be able to cut and paste
from one environment to the other.

With Synergy you define one system to be a "server", and others are
"clients".  The server's keyboard and mouse can control all the others
and switching is automatic -- it follows the mouse.  The server and
clients can be practically anything -- Windows back to 95, any Linux
flavor and most Apple releases.

HTH,

Richard Wilson

On Thu, 2007-02-08 at 18:37 -0700, Lynn David Newton wrote:
> Esteemed Gentlemen (and Ladies),
> 
> This is not strictly a Linux problem, though a computer
> running Linux is involved. Bear with me as I explain it:
> 
> o Computer A is an iMac 1GHz PPC G4 running Mac OS X 10.4.8.
> 
> o Computer B is a home built AMD64 based PC running SuSE
>   Linux 9.2. I use this machine 95% of the time.
> 
> Years ago I purchased two identical Logitech wireless
> mouse/keyboard duos, one for each computer. They worked
> flawlessly until about a month ago.
> 
> o The keyboard on computer B (the PC) suddenly went dead
>   after a couple of hours of intermittent flakiness, and was
>   not able to be revived by replacing batteries,
>   reconnecting with the receiver, rebooting, testing it on
>   computer A, etc.
> 
> o I took the keyboard off computer A and put it on computer
>   B. It works fine. I'm using it now.
> 
> o The next day I bought a new Logitech wireless duo, one of
>   the ergonomic models.
> 
> o When I attached it to computer A, at first the keyboard
>   seemed to work, but the mouse would not connect. I tried
>   following the instructions a dozen times. Connecting a
>   keyboard is not rocket science.
> 
> o When I took the new keyboard off computer A and attached
>   it to computer B, the mouse would connect to the receiver,
>   but not the keyboard.
> 
> o As a stopgap measure I dug the original iMac USB keyboard
>   and mouse out of a drawer. These worked, except that
>   several keys on the lower right - keypad and arrow keys -
>   do not work due to a coffee spill long ago, part of the
>   reason I replaced it. At least the system is functional.
> 
> o I took the recalcitrant new device back to Fry's today and
>   bought a different Logitech model duo combination, one
>   that is $20 cheaper (without ergonomic features).
> 
> o With this USB-only new device (i.e., no PC-type adapter),
>   the keyboard connects, but the mouse does not. I can't try
>   to use it on my PC because there my USB bus is currently
>   broken. (Sigh. Another problem.)
> 
> o I found to my surprise that I could plug the Logitech
>   receiver into one USB port and my original iPod one-button
>   stupidest-device-ever mouse into another - by plugging it
>   into the port on the keyboard unit because of the
>   connector size, and putting that through to a second USB
>   port. So I now have a bizarre new wireless keyboard and
>   old one-button corded mouse combination, technically with
>   a second keyboard on the bus (and *yes* I can type from
>   either one), but the system is functional.
> 
> o To complicate matters, it seems to be throwing signals at
>   the completely different model receiver on computer B,
>   because with the receiver plugged in on computer A, typing
>   is erratic on the keyboard on which I'm now working. A lot
>   of keypresses don't respond, then suddenly I'll get a half
>   dozen of a single letter. This went on for twenty minutes,
>   and when I unplugged the receiver on computer A, it
>   stopped.
> 
> To summarize: I had two identical wireless keyboard/mouse
> duos that worked perfectly for years until one wore out. 
> 
> I've since replaced it with two different model
> keyboard/mouse combinations, the first of which works on
> neither machine, then the second of which does not work on
> computer A and cannot even be tried on computer B.
> 
> I think that covers it. Anybody got any ideas on this? I
> don't have time to make a career out of changing keyboards.
>