Clavier MX 5000 et Linux
Ça fonctionne
Il y a de ça quelques temps j'ai écrit une petite interface graphique pour profiter de l'écran LCD de mon claiver MX 5000. Je vous livre ici les explications en anglais pour l'utiliser... Il est possible que le logiciel sur lequel est basée cette interface graphique ne fonctionne plus avec les dernières versions de linux, l'auteur ayant abandonné son maintien.
Introduction
You have a Logitech MX5000 Keyboard and would like to use its nice LCD screen ? Then you've come to the right place. Here are the steps to setting up your keyboard. The main program named mx5000-tools makes it possible to communicate with the keyboard. The other program, mx5000 checks your email IMAP or POP account and displays on the keyboard's LCD the number of new mail(s), the author and subject of the last mail you have received.
It is possible that while updating the keyboard's LCD your mouse won't work correctly. Unfortunatly I can't do anything about it. That's why I gave up the idea of using the LCD to display what song is being played under your favorite music player.
Downloading and installing mx5000-tools
First, you have to download and install mx5000-tools. This programm will let you control the keyboard'LCD. There is a README included in the archive so you should be able to install it easily.
Finding your keyboard
Once you have installed mx5000-tools, you must find the path to your keyboard. On my computer it's /dev/hiddev0 (you should have a look in /dev/input if you don't find it in /dev). Then, you should try to issue that command in a terminal :
$ mx5000-tool -d path_to_your_keyboard -b
If you hear your keyboard beeping then you're good to go, just ignore the udev part.
Setting udev permissions
It's possible that only root has access to your keyboard. To verify that just type as root :
# mx5000-tool -d path_to_your_keyboard -b
or use the sudo command if you use a Ubuntu-like distrib. If you heard your keyboard beeping then it means you have to change udev permissions. Otherwise it could mean that you did not give the good path to your keyboard or maybe you didn't installed mx5000-tools right. Now let's set up permissions as promised. First, locate your rules.d folder for udev. It should be something like /etc/udev/rules.d. If you can't get your hand on it try this :
# updatedb
# locate rules.d
Done ? Ok, then create a file named logitech.rules and copy that into it :
#Logitech mx5000 keyboard
KERNEL=="hiddev?", OWNER="your_username"
If you have multiple users on your computer and would like all of them to access the keyboard, see the udev manual.
Installing mx5000
First, you must install PyQT and PyKDE (even if you are using Gnome or XFCE). There should be a package for your distrib. Then, download the programm MX5000.v0.9e. Untar the archive. You will find a few .py files. To execute them just open a terminal, cd to the right location and type in :
$ python mx5000.py
The first time you run it it may take a few seconds before you can actually unminimize
it from tray, because it won't be able to fetch your mails !! So be patient and when it
opens up, go to the settings tab and fill-in your account information. Be aware that your
password will be stored in a file named ~/.mx5000 and people using your computer and account
could read it (it's crypted but could be uncrypted easily reading the programm sources).
Have fun !
