OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical > Hardware

Using a Corsair K70 Keyboard on a KVM under ArcaOS

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ivan:
The K95 keyboard is very simple to change to BIOS mode - there is a three position slider switch at the back.

I haven't tried it with a KVM switch - no need at the moment. 

I would like to get the 18 left-hand keys working but requires some programming and I am not a programmer even though there is linux program available.

Mark Szkolnicki:

--- Quote from: ivan on October 20, 2021, 01:07:46 pm ---The K95 keyboard is very simple to change to BIOS mode - there is a three position slider switch at the back.

I haven't tried it with a KVM switch - no need at the moment. 

I would like to get the 18 left-hand keys working but requires some programming and I am not a programmer even though there is linux program available.

--- End quote ---

Heh Ivan!

As the original tests I was doing last December were connecting the K70 directly with a test host computer, which resulted in it not being recognized or seen by ArcaOS, I was wondering if your K95 was recognized by ArcaOS, without enabling the BIOS mode switch?

I had a look at the K95 RGB Platinum XT currently available on Amazon and noted it has exactly the same configuration of specialty Corsair keys  at top, as the K70 (including WinLock), as well as 6 keys (G1- G6) on the left. Are the 18 additional left hand keys you referred to on your K95 in a bank on the left? If so, it must be one wide keyboard.

I had an Aula Gaming Keyboard prior to the keyboards I have now, and it had the same configuration of special keys G1 to G6, arranged on the left. I had them programmed under Windows with their Aula Keyboard Utility program, for use in games like The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, but could never get them to do anything under eCS or ArcaOS as well. I assume the key codes were non-standard.

Best!

M

ivan:
Hi Mark,

Like you I couldn't get any of the newer Corsair keyboards to work with OS/2 ArcaOS unless they are in BIOS mode. 

Most of their mechanical keyboards have a very similar layout and key positions.  Yes, it is wide but It is what I am used to.  I got it because my old workstation keyboard that finally fell apart had the same key layout and I assumed (silly me) I would be able to use the 18 extra keys in the same way forgetting that most new keyboards of this type are designed for windows use only and I don't use windows.  I have tested it with the linux ckb software and it works.

It appears that there are 3 separate data sections in the firmware with the two that interface with the special keys and the LEDs  neither of which our usbkbd.sys know anything about.  The bank of 18 keys have very odd keycodes which are used by the keyboard firmware and do not appear to the outside world.

Mark Szkolnicki:

--- Quote from: Martin Iturbide on October 20, 2021, 04:02:20 am ---Hi Mark

I just created this wiki page for the keyboard.

Maybe the same technique can work for the "Corsair K55 RGB Gaming Keyboard" that was reported as not working, but I don't remember who report it to ask him to try it out.

Regards

--- End quote ---

Heh, Martin!

After getting home this afternoon, I decided to try connecting the keyboard directly to a test computer, with ArcaOS installed.

I connected both the Keyboard USB-A connector to the computer USB port (still in BIOS mode, which had not been changed - probably due to the on-board memory?) and the passthrough connector to a second USB connector - and the host computer did not recognize the keyboard!

Trying both the use of an external cell phone power block (5.0 V 2.0 amp) to the USB cable, the auxiliary USB connector to another USB connector  as well as connection to the keyboard cable, I was able to get ArcaOS to recognize the keyboard.

I will say that I'm not sure what happened, or whether that could be reproduced - so I'm not quite sure if it is relevant. After that, it did not matter whether an external connector was powered or whether it woke up the BIOS but the keyboard is recognized on the keyboard cable on both direct connection to one computer and through the connection to a KVM switch.

Regardless, whether directly or through a KVM, I was able to control functions through ArcaOS through the K70 Keyboard, with BIOS Mode enabled.

BTW, I'm still having a look at what reports your wiki on the subject can produce:

https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/Extracting_Hardware_Information_from_ArcaOS_and_OS/2#lsusb

At the moment, I downloaded lsusb from Paul Smedley's site but there are a few items I have to evaluate as to what goes where ( most notably usd.ids, based on Paul's explanation)

I do have the following Vendor and Product ID's which may be appropriate to your wiki:

idVendor           0x1b1c Corsair
idProduct          0x1b38  K70 RGB Keyboard (don't know if it refers to MK 1 or MK 2)

These were derived from the Internet PCI ID lists, not from the tools like PCI.exe, DMICode.exe or lsusb.exe, so I'm not sure how relevant they would be to your wiki.

Best!

M

Mark Szkolnicki:

--- Quote from: Martin Iturbide on October 20, 2021, 04:02:20 am ---Hi Mark

I just created this wiki page for the keyboard.

Maybe the same technique can work for the "Corsair K55 RGB Gaming Keyboard" that was reported as not working, but I don't remember who report it to ask him to try it out.

Regards

--- End quote ---

Hi Martin!

I was having a look at your Wiki's today and noted that the pages for the K55 Keyboard and K70 keyboards were not in the summary table listings under the Mouse / Keyboards section - don't know if that means you haven't added a link update to the table.

Just a couple of additional items.

For the K70 - have been using it successfully for a few weeks now and it is indeed a sweet keyboard

A couple of things you might want to add to the Wiki for the Corsair K70:

1) The actual designation of the keyboard (name) is Corsair K70 RGB Mk. 2 Mechanical keyboard

2) You might want to bump up the Rating from Good to Very Good

3) I suggest you add in the comments that it works fine connected through both a KVM switch (I have 8 port Belkins) as well as directly connected to a host computer, under ArcaOS.

A couple of things you might want to add to the Wiki for the Corsair K55:

1) I can confirm that the current Corsair K55 RGB Keyboard (CH-9206015-NA) does have a BIOS mode function, enabled in the same way as the K70 however the WINLOCK button is located on the upper right side of the board instead of the upper left side on the K70.

2) You might want to add the links to Simon's blog there about enabling BIOS mode as well.

If somebody has a K55 and wants to try it, to confirm it works for that keyboard they're welcome - I don"t have one myself.

And finally, after Ivans post and because Corsair was having a sale on Amazon.ca, ($50.00 off) I purchased a new Corsair K95 RGB Platinum Mechanical keyboard, as I missed the macro buttons on the left side that were on my Aula board for games like Oblivion (the newest one has 6 macros keys as opposed to Ivan's 18 in an older model).

The key layout (with exception of the extra 6 macro keys) is exactly the same as the K70, including where the WINLOCK button is located, but the tactile feel is a lot softer (uses Brown MX gold contacts instead of the Cherry ones - and I can confirm enabling BIOS mode uses exactly the same procedure.

So I have both keyboards plugged into the KVM array - will use the K70 for my professional work as I like that snappy "click" and the K95 for gaming.

This keyboard is different than Ivan's as mentioned, so don't know if you want to create a separate Wiki but, if so,  it also should be added to the summary table, as this may help out a lot of people, as these Corsair keyboards are probably the best I've used since my original IBM PC XT keyboard, O so many moons ago ........... !

Best Sir as always!

M

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