USB Keyboard problem.

Patch461

Member
Jun 9, 2011
11
0
Hi all.
I have a great Android tablet running Gingerbread operating system, I am stumped by this problem though.
I can connect a USB keyboard to it fine & it works very well, except that every time I hold down a key for a fraction of a second too long, I get a box with the international characters popping up. This could be very useful, if I held down the key for a few seconds, but not for a fraction of a second too long. This means that I lose my concentration, when I am typing away and I have to stop and press the escape button several times in a paragraph, to get rid of this box. Very annoying!
My question is: Is there any way of increasing the time that a key, on a USB keyboard, can be held down without the international character box popping up? If I could hold down a key for 5 seconds before the box appeared, I would be happy. Even if I could dissable the international character box totally, that would be fine, but as it is now I really prefer to use my netbook for typing because it is just too frustrating to use my Android tablet.
I have been searching for an answer on the internet for hours but can't find a solution to this dilemma anywhere.
Thanks for your help.
 

jhaskins75

Member
Mar 15, 2012
17
0
. I would definitely like to know what keyboard or manufacturer you are using, as I can't get anyone make to work with my usb port connection using the supplied cable with my coby mid7012. I wish I could help with your problem, but knowing at lease you have a functioning keyboard using the gingerbread 2.3 is a start in the right direction for me. The mini usb port is functioning as it will interface with my PC but I am stumped not knowing what MOUSE / KEYBOARD will work.


I have a great Android tablet running Gingerbread operating system, I am stumped by this problem though.
I can connect a USB keyboard to it fine & it works very well, except that every time I hold down a key for a fraction of a second too long, I get a box with the international characters popping up. This could be very useful, if I held down the key for a few seconds, but not for a fraction of a second too long. This means that I lose my concentration, when I am typing away and I have to stop and press the escape button several times in a paragraph, to get rid of this box. Very annoying!
My question is: Is there any way of increasing the time that a key, on a USB keyboard, can be held down without the international character box popping up? If I could hold down a key for 5 seconds before the box appeared, I would be happy. Even if I could dissable the international character box totally, that would be fine, but as it is now I really prefer to use my netbook for typing because it is just too frustrating to use my Android tablet.
I have been searching for an answer on the internet for hours but can't find a solution to this dilemma anywhere.
Thanks for your help.[/QUOTE]
 

Patch461

Member
Jun 9, 2011
11
0
Well the answer to your dilemma is quite easy, it is a wireless USB keyboard. I too found out that Gingerbread doesn't seem to be compatable with straight USB connected keyboards, but it does work with USB wireless USB ones.
Hope this helps. :)
 

jhaskins75

Member
Mar 15, 2012
17
0
Well the answer to your dilemma is quite easy, it is a wireless USB keyboard. I too found out that Gingerbread doesn't seem to be compatable with straight USB connected keyboards, but it does work with USB wireless USB ones.
Hope this helps. :)
Okay, Thank you, But what is the manufacturers name of your keyboard so I may order one as I see within my Ebay account quite a few and the one I want is like a cover / holder with the keyboard included. I would rather purchase an exact one like yours knowing it works instead of waisting time and money fishing around for one, if you don't mine sharing the info. Thank you.
 

Patch461

Member
Jun 9, 2011
11
0
My wireless keyboard is made by Microsoft, but I also had one of those rubber roll up wireless keyboards, which also worked with Gingerbread. I am pretty sure that most USB wireless keyboards have the same wireless standard, so most will work with Gingerbread, as long as they don't have special finicky Windows drivers bundled with them (my Microsoft keyboard didn't come with any drivers, so it was totally plug & play, same with my rubber roll up wireless keyboard). Basically any USB Wireless keyboard which works with native Windows drivers should also work with Gingerbread (.ie. it should be plug & play in Windows), as the drivers are included in the Android operating system. This has been my experience.
 

jhaskins75

Member
Mar 15, 2012
17
0
My wireless keyboard is made by Microsoft, but I also had one of those rubber roll up wireless keyboards, which also worked with Gingerbread. I am pretty sure that most USB wireless keyboards have the same wireless standard, so most will work with Gingerbread, as long as they don't have special finicky Windows drivers bundled with them (my Microsoft keyboard didn't come with any drivers, so it was totally plug & play, same with my rubber roll up wireless keyboard). Basically any USB Wireless keyboard which works with native Windows drivers should also work with Gingerbread (.ie. it should be plug & play in Windows), as the drivers are included in the Android operating system. This has been my experience.
Thank you, I will give this a try and let you know my results....;)
 

geckoT2C

Member
Jan 24, 2012
316
19
is it possible that one of they keys on the keyboard is getting stuck? alternatively this could be an electronic connection problem with the keyboard.
not sure of any way of decreasing the responsiveness of the keys. maybe there is a way to change the shortcut for having the box appear in the first place?
 

Patch461

Member
Jun 9, 2011
11
0
is it possible that one of they keys on the keyboard is getting stuck? alternatively this could be an electronic connection problem with the keyboard.
not sure of any way of decreasing the responsiveness of the keys. maybe there is a way to change the shortcut for having the box appear in the first place?
No I have had this issue with a couple of keyboards now & it seems to be any key which brings up the international character box, not just one or two. Other people have had this problem too, as I have found a couple of other people complaining about this problem on the internet but no-one seems to know how to stop it, as I haven't come across any answers to this problem, even after searching on the net for hours.
Thanks.
 

eynstyne

Member
Mar 2, 2012
9
0
In an android terminal emulator or adb shell:
dmesg to find the keyboard's HID or keylayout file if it has one (plug in the keyboard and DMESG immediately after). It will use a generic one if it can't find an appropriate KL or bin.
All you have to do is have root access to /system/keylayouts and find the key (in this case i think it's SYM) in the mapping. Edit the keycode (Look at android SDK's KEYCODE constants for the numbers (Search: InputEvent)) and reassign the number.
I have done this successfully with several USB keyboards wired and wireless and it does work and even enables some functionality
that may be missing on generic keyboards.
 

Patch461

Member
Jun 9, 2011
11
0
In an android terminal emulator or adb shell:
dmesg to find the keyboard's HID or keylayout file if it has one (plug in the keyboard and DMESG immediately after). It will use a generic one if it can't find an appropriate KL or bin.
All you have to do is have root access to /system/keylayouts and find the key (in this case i think it's SYM) in the mapping. Edit the keycode (Look at android SDK's KEYCODE constants for the numbers (Search: InputEvent)) and reassign the number.
I have done this successfully with several USB keyboards wired and wireless and it does work and even enables some functionality
that may be missing on generic keyboards.
Thanks for that. It's a little bit complicated for me but I'll try to do what you say, over the next few days.
Cheers.
 

Patch461

Member
Jun 9, 2011
11
0
I have found the answer to the international character pop-up box appearing! It's an application on Android Market called "External Keyboard
Helper Pro". It enables you to remap the external keyboard keys easily, without touching the Android System files. It does this because the keys are remapped within the application, and by having External Keyboard Helper Pro running, while you are typing, it remaps the keys. It really is a great application and is easy to configure. By remapping the keys back onto themselves, that were causing the international character pop-up box to appear, the pop-up box has stopped appearing altogether!
Problem finally solved, after spending many frustrating nights searching the internet for a solution!
Cheers.
 
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