Problems with wireless keyboard

Tariella · Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 10:25 am Post subject: Problems with wireless keyboard

I got myself a wireless keyboard for my media-pc so that I don't have to connect/disconnect a wired keyboard for configuring/updating all the time. Unfortunately it doesn't work out of the box.

The keyboard issues start already on login in the console.
Sometimes keypresses are not registered, then one key repeats mutliple times. This seems to be a kernel issue, since it is not only in xorg but already in console mode on login before I start up x.
Also my usb connected remote control seems to have the same issue.

I have usb hid support in the kernel and the wireless mouse and other usb devices are working. Latency is set to 1000.

The keyboard is a usb microsoft wireless optical desktop 700 but I don't think this is a model specific problem since my remote has this problem too.

Any ideas?

eccerr0r · Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:42 pm Post subject:

I found a lot of wireless keyboards/mice range tend to be fairly short and the receiver needs to be within a couple feet from the mouse/keyboard for reliable operation (4ft or so). I've yet to find one with longer range, several worse ones with shorter range....

I have a Microsoft, a CompUSA/FMI, and a another noname-brand wireless combo, none of the three have really good range before it starts missing keystrokes. Mouse operation tends to work better for longer ranges though.

On the other hand, I had a keyboard that worked fine with OHCI USB ports but not with UHCI, unless a special driver is loaded (which apparently Windows does). I got rid of that keyboard and haven't seen another that won't work with UHCI since then.
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Tariella · Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 11:00 am Post subject:

Thanks for the info.
Indeed it seems to work if I'm very close to the reciever.
This is not very practical for use with a media-pc though.

What good is a wireless keyboard if I have to be closer than with a wired keyboard.

Sade · Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:14 pm Post subject:

I've bought many wireless keyboards for my multimedia system and here's my 2 cents:

IR (infra red) keyboards have plenty range, and low costs, but performance is bad, these keyboards are good for hitting a key occasionally, but not for something like messaging. If they incorporate some mouse functionality expect very poor performance for the mouse. Such a keyboard will suffice to select a movie, or some music, but not for anything which requires every key-press to be noticed or very direct mouse movements.

The next option would be RF (Radio Frequency) or Bluetooth, both come in short range versions and long range versions, I've experienced that you should take half the distance listed in the specs, so a 1.5m (5ft) range is only 3 feet in reality. Usually sets that are sold for desktop use have the short distance. I'm very happy with my Cherry Barracuda set, which has exceptional range (10m), also the logitech mice with the nano receiver tend to have similar ranges, but then you need an extra keyboard. The advice here is to really look for the keyboards with 10m in the specs.

Also as a tip, i'm very happy with my microsoft MCE remote control (yes i know) which works beautifully with MythTV, i can imagine that one of the many remotes made by different companies would also work well or probably better.
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