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4 Replies Last post: Nov 3, 2006 11:54 PM by doranikov

Keyboard problems inside guest OS if the host uses "evdev" driver

Oct 17, 2006 1:45 AM

Click to view zboszor's profile Lurker zboszor 1 posts since
Oct 17, 2006
Hi,

I came across a strange problem, tested on both VMWare Player 1.0.2 and
Workstation 5.5.2. I have a dual-head machine (two keyboards, two mice,
two videocards and two monitors) so two people can use it simultaneously.
I use "evdev" for both the keyboards and mice in both X servers with Option "Phys"
so the occasional change in their device files won't confuse my X setup.

Every host application work correctly, all keys on the keyboard are functional.

However, when I start a guest OS inside VMWare (tried Fedora Core 4 and WinMe)
some keys become non-functional or behave badly.

E.g. the middle section (Ins, Home, etc, and cursor keys) doesn't work at all.
My AltGr (right-Alt) behaves like Enter. It's very annoying because the Hungarian
layout uses AltGr a lot, to access | and \ and # and & many other symbols.

Is there a solution to this problem? (Besides buying two separate computers and
using the regular keyboard and mouse drivers...)

Thanks in advance,
Zoltán Böszörményi
Re: Keyboard problems inside guest OS if the host uses "evdev" driver Oct 19, 2006 8:46 PM
Click to view Roxus's profile Lurker Roxus 3 posts since
Oct 19, 2006
Sadly, *me too*
But I have a US keyboard, so it *shouldn't* be this weird !
I'm using VMware Server, with a 2-seat multi-seat system with the evdev driver.
In a Windows GuestOS, the Arrow Keys and the "middle" keys (as the previous poster calls them) all do something else. So does Right Control, Right Windows, Right Alt and Windows "menu" key

This is a Linux host, and the vmware-server-console run's locally.

I've tried adding xkeymap.fileName = /usr/lib/vmware/xkeymap/us104 to every vmware "config" file I can find.
Re: Keyboard problems inside guest OS if the host uses "evdev" driver Oct 19, 2006 9:21 PM
in response to: Roxus
Click to view Roxus's profile Lurker Roxus 3 posts since
Oct 19, 2006
By using KeyTweak (someone posted it on here somewhere) and changing the Keyboard Layout in the registry to :

00 00 00 00 // header
00 00 00 00 // version
0C 00 00 00 // 13 entries (including this counter)
38 E0 1C E0 // NumPad Enter -> Right Alt
5C E0 7E 00 // ??? -> Right Windows
1D E0 51 E0 // Page Down -> Right Control
4B E0 38 E0 // Right Alt -> Left Arrow
48 E0 37 E0 // Print Screen -> Up Arrow
50 E0 5C E0 // Right Windows -> Down Arrow
4F E0 5B E0 // Left Windows -> End
49 E0 35 E0 // NumPad / -> Page Up
51 E0 5D E0 // Context Menu -> Page Down
35 E0 52 E0 // Insert -> NumPad /
1C E0 50 E0 // Down Arrow -> NumPad Enter
00 00 00 00 // NULL Terminator

I was able to remap most of the non-correct keybindings.

But Insert, Delete, Home and Right-Arrow are still FUBAR
Re: Keyboard problems inside guest OS if the host uses "evdev" driver Oct 20, 2006 10:32 AM
in response to: Roxus
Click to view Roxus's profile Lurker Roxus 3 posts since
Oct 19, 2006
I got another utility last night to tell me that the Insert and Delete keys aren't even being registered as pressed (no BIOS code, no Windows code) and the Home/Right Arrow are both sending the NumLock code.

The keyboard works fine when I use a remote console, so I might try launching the local consoles telling them to connect to the local server via the NIC (remotely), at least it will go over the loopback device, and shouldn't be that much of a problem...

At least it will show if the local console is the problem, which I've read somewhere it can be
Re: Keyboard problems inside guest OS if the host uses "evdev" driver Nov 3, 2006 11:54 PM
in response to: Roxus
Click to view doranikov's profile Lurker doranikov 1 posts since
Nov 3, 2006
Hello. Although I was also afflicted by the same problem.
My keyboard is us keyboard, xkbdisable.
It solved (probably...).

--------------------------------------
$ cat ~/.vmware/config
xkeymap.keycode.108 = 0x138 # Alt_R
xkeymap.keycode.106 = 0x135 # KP_Divide
xkeymap.keycode.104 = 0x11c # KP_Enter
xkeymap.keycode.111 = 0x148 # Up
xkeymap.keycode.116 = 0x150 # Down
xkeymap.keycode.113 = 0x14b # Left
xkeymap.keycode.114 = 0x14d # Right
xkeymap.keycode.105 = 0x11d # Control_R
xkeymap.keycode.118 = 0x152 # Insert
xkeymap.keycode.119 = 0x153 # Delete
xkeymap.keycode.110 = 0x147 # Home
xkeymap.keycode.115 = 0x14f # End
xkeymap.keycode.112 = 0x149 # Prior
xkeymap.keycode.117 = 0x151 # Next
xkeymap.keycode.78 = 0x46 # Scroll_Lock
xkeymap.keycode.127 = 0x100 # Pause
xkeymap.keycode.133 = 0x15b # Meta_L
xkeymap.keycode.134 = 0x15c # Meta_R
xkeymap.keycode.135 = 0x15d # Menu
--------------------------------------

Your post was consulted very much.
Thanks.
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