26 February, 2017

g180 Orion Spectrum

Got this Logitech keyboard. Looking for Linux drivers for the keys. A workaround used by many: configure the keys via Windows. Perhaps wine? So far I'm looking for a better solution than Redmond's.

Installation on Ubuntu

Install this library: https://github.com/MatMoul/g810-led

Make sure, that dependencies are met. I had to:

# sudo apt install libhidapi-dev
# make
# sudo make install

Then g810-led ran by:

# g810-led

Load a profile

#g810-led -pp < /etc/g810-led/profile

This will load a profile. You can write your own. Here's a bash file:

# Profil: 20170227
# Tastatur G810 Orion Spectrum
#
g810-led -g logo 330033
g810-led -g indicators 4c9900
g810-led -g fkeys 990000
g810-led -g modifiers 990000
g810-led -g multimedia 4c9900
g810-led -g arrows 003300
g810-led -g functions ffffff
g810-led -g keys 4c0099
g810-led -g numeric ffffff
#
# save settings
g810-led -c

But it's more elegant to load a profile, the format is:

# Vars
var brun 993300
var groen 009933
var blaa 330099

# All green
a 006600

# Groups
# Set key groups
g logo $brun
g indicators $groen
g mute $brun
g multimedia $brun
g fkeys $blaa
g arrows $brun

# Keys
k space $brun
k win_left $brun
k alt_right $brun
k num5 $brun

# commit
c

The last c is important. It will execute the orders. Note the usage of variables. It's quite handy.


Load the g810-led keyboard on boot

This can be done in sevearal ways. It may be deprecated, but creating:

/etc/rc.local

With this content does the trick:

g810-led -pp < /etc/g810-led/profile

You can even restart the file as a service:

sudo service g810-led restart

So basicly this is all you need in order to have a cool layout at the boot time.


Issues

The library works .. that is sort of. Sometimes a key or two will miss. Restarting the service helps. So the library is still in a process of development.

Solution

I started the programs by rc.local. But that's a bad idea. Using the same code in the Ubuntu menu for upstart programs work like a charm!

g810-led -pp < /etc/g810-led/profile

Ubuntu's Startup Application.


Using the keyboard

It's high quality. You'll get addicted pretty fast. I really like this keyboard.

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