Is there a Linux program around, preferably part of the SuSE distribution, for testing all the keys on my keyboard? I washed one of my keyboards and it had stuck keys for a while. I want to be sure that they're all gone. And an aside: what are folks' favorite ways of cleaning keyboards? Paul
On Thursday 07 September 2006 01:16, Paul Abrahams wrote:
And an aside: what are folks' favorite ways of cleaning keyboards?
i simply rinse it really well with water (e.g., under the shower), let it try out really well (overnight), and that typically works. Don't use soap - in my experience that makes them sticky. i've successfully used this approach to wash out my laptop keyboard for three incidents: two glasses of orange juice and one cup of highly-sugared coffee. (Luckily, on that machine there is an aluminum plate directly under the keyboard, protecting the main board from such incidents.) -- ----- stephan@s11n.net http://s11n.net "...pleasure is a grace and is not obedient to the commands of the will." -- Alan W. Watts
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Wednesday 2006-09-06 at 19:16 -0400, Paul Abrahams wrote:
Is there a Linux program around, preferably part of the SuSE distribution, for testing all the keys on my keyboard? I washed one of my keyboards and it had stuck keys for a while. I want to be sure that they're all gone.
And an aside: what are folks' favorite ways of cleaning keyboards?
Complete dissassembly, water and mild soap, very careful drying, and reassembly. The drying stage is essential, they may have three or more transparent plastic "PCB" layers. They are delicate, but water in between will make the keyboard fail. Most electronic and electric parts are water resistant, contrary to common belief, provided they are not connected while wet. There are exceptions, of course. The water and soap is necessary to remove coffee... - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFE/1uOtTMYHG2NR9URAs19AJsFPU3orKEq3/G0Cn/m8UTJRFB9uQCgiaya CWQkvZe84fl/SA9PLmPH6Fk= =S33j -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Paul Abrahams wrote:
Is there a Linux program around, preferably part of the SuSE distribution, for testing all the keys on my keyboard? I washed one of my keyboards and it had stuck keys for a while. I want to be sure that they're all gone.
And an aside: what are folks' favorite ways of cleaning keyboards?
I put it in the top shelf of the dish washer. When it is done I take it out and let it air dry for 2 days. I have never had a keyboard fail using this method. Yet... Famous last words probably.
On Thursday 07 September 2006 01:59, Jim wrote:
Paul Abrahams wrote:
And an aside: what are folks' favorite ways of cleaning keyboards?
I put it in the top shelf of the dish washer. When it is done I take it out and let it air dry for 2 days. I have never had a keyboard fail using this method. Yet... Famous last words probably.
i once used a dishwasher and the keyboard (an MS Natural) was very sticky after that - unusably so. :( i believe the soap was the problem - letting it run at a cool temperature and without soap would be my suggestion. -- ----- stephan@s11n.net http://s11n.net "...pleasure is a grace and is not obedient to the commands of the will." -- Alan W. Watts
At 07:16 PM 9/6/2006 -0400, Paul Abrahams wrote:
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Is there a Linux program around, preferably part of the SuSE distribution, for testing all the keys on my keyboard? I washed one of my keyboards and it had stuck keys for a while. I want to be sure that they're all gone.
And an aside: what are folks' favorite ways of cleaning keyboards?
Paul
Gee, I've been opmputing since way before Linux was invented, and I never spilled anything on a keyboard. I'm kinda careful about that. The other thing that seems to help is to have a good KB to begin with. I have IBM's here, bought at flea markets and surely used already, and they work great. (They make a bit more noise than you might want in a shared office environment. But the touch is excellent.) Somebody made a KB called 2001, that I used to have at work. That was pretty rugged and bulletproof, too, and quieter. Neither one has Windows keys, and I don't miss them. Linux and Windows are perfectly happy with them. A bit of "Fantastik" on a damp rag will clean the tops of the keys and the surround very nicely. I have never felt a laptop KB that I was happy with, but I know some of you are stuck with that. I don't know how a reporter, who has to live on the KB, more or less, puts up with them. --doug
* Paul Abrahams <abrahams@acm.org> [09-06-06 19:54]:
Is there a Linux program around, preferably part of the SuSE distribution, for testing all the keys on my keyboard? I washed one of my keyboards and it had stuck keys for a while. I want to be sure that they're all gone.
And an aside: what are folks' favorite ways of cleaning keyboards?
I have a programmable 133 key gateway 2000 keyboard (dated 10-02-92) that I got with a 286 (about that time). I remove the keys, vacuum, and clean with lens solution, then air dry. Never a problem. -- Patrick Shanahan Registered Linux User #207535 http://wahoo.no-ip.org @ http://counter.li.org HOG # US1244711 Photo Album: http://wahoo.no-ip.org/gallery2
Patrick Shanahan wrote:
* Paul Abrahams <abrahams@acm.org> [09-06-06 19:54]:
Is there a Linux program around, preferably part of the SuSE distribution, for testing all the keys on my keyboard? I washed one of my keyboards and it had stuck keys for a while. I want to be sure that they're all gone.
And an aside: what are folks' favorite ways of cleaning keyboards?
I have a programmable 133 key gateway 2000 keyboard (dated 10-02-92) that I got with a 286 (about that time). I remove the keys, vacuum, and clean with lens solution, then air dry. Never a problem.
Many years ago, I used to repair video terminals (remember them?). I'd often wash the keyboards under the hot water tap. Clean water is not harmful to electronics. In fact, many circuit boards are cleaned with hot water or steam during manufacture.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Wednesday 2006-09-06 at 20:55 -0400, James Knott wrote:
Many years ago, I used to repair video terminals (remember them?). I'd often wash the keyboards under the hot water tap. Clean water is not harmful to electronics. In fact, many circuit boards are cleaned with hot water or steam during manufacture.
I remember when I "resucitated" a radio that had fallen into a swiming pool: the owner was wonderstruck, but I did nothing, really X-) - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFE/3L+tTMYHG2NR9URAn9sAJ0SPxwXOq4/or8dcrotSGIlDoZ8CACfdTRb it8fMQ+cAh/1H5bITTUck0w= =oYZR -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
At 08:55 PM 9/6/2006 -0400, James Knott wrote:
Patrick Shanahan wrote:
* Paul Abrahams <abrahams@acm.org> [09-06-06 19:54]:
Is there a Linux program around, preferably part of the SuSE distribution, for testing all the keys on my keyboard? I washed one of my keyboards and it had stuck keys for a while. I want to be sure that they're all gone.
And an aside: what are folks' favorite ways of cleaning keyboards?
I have a programmable 133 key gateway 2000 keyboard (dated 10-02-92) that I got with a 286 (about that time). I remove the keys, vacuum, and clean with lens solution, then air dry. Never a problem.
Many years ago, I used to repair video terminals (remember them?). I'd often wash the keyboards under the hot water tap. Clean water is not harmful to electronics. In fact, many circuit boards are cleaned with hot water or steam during manufacture.
James is correct. Back in the late 60's, I worked for a very large, and very savvy electronics firm, and I discovered that they cleaned test equipment under a hose! But no soap, please. Whatever is in soap tends to be corrosive. But clear water is fine, so long as it gets dry before you turn anything on. Nowadays, circuit boards may be manufactured with a solder flux that's water soluble, and the boards can be washed. Thanx to the DEP. (And finally, there is now a flux that can just be left on the pcb, and no cleaning at all is done.) Some other correspondant mentioned a dishwasher. I would think not. I've seen wooden salad bowls and the handle of a frying pan badly damaged by the hot water. I think the temperatures get up into the 130~150 degree F range. You wouldn't want to stick your hand in that. He may have lucked out, but I wouldn't try it, myself. As far as a program, what could be better than pushing all the keys? --doug
On Wednesday 06 September 2006 9:36 pm, Doug McGarrett wrote:
As far as a program, what could be better than pushing all the keys?
How would that catch a sticky shift key? Similar problem for Home and End and probably a few others. I've seen a program (don't remember the OS or anything) where you see a picture of a keyboard on the screen and press each key in turn. If the key is working properly the one on the screen darkens or something like that. Paul
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Wednesday 2006-09-06 at 21:44 -0400, Paul Abrahams wrote:
I've seen a program (don't remember the OS or anything) where you see a picture of a keyboard on the screen and press each key in turn.
There were a number of programs that did that under dos, doing a low level test. But in Linux, even 'mc' can do it. - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFE/38etTMYHG2NR9URAk5XAJ9e6uqXkJiQt6QEntOLm2XwDu3GigCgj2Zb 7/orYjL5xBU65Svj6B/OJdU= =XzlX -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
At 09:44 PM 9/6/2006 -0400, Paul Abrahams wrote:
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On Wednesday 06 September 2006 9:36 pm, Doug McGarrett wrote:
As far as a program, what could be better than pushing all the keys?
How would that catch a sticky shift key? Similar problem for Home and End and probably a few others. I've seen a program (don't remember the OS or anything) where you see a picture of a keyboard on the screen and press each key in turn. If the key is working properly the one on the screen darkens or something like that.
Paul
I guess you have been around for a while. I think that program was a DOS routine, or maybe even something from CPM! I do remember it. It does not seem to be on my machine today. However, there seem to be a whole batch of programs available on Google, probably all for M/S systems. Just type in "keyboard test" and watch what happens. --doug
* Doug McGarrett <dmcgarrett@optonline.net> [09-06-06 23:13]:
I guess you have been around for a while. I think that program was a DOS routine, or maybe even something from CPM! I do remember it. It does not seem to be on my machine today. However, there seem to be a whole batch of programs available on Google, probably all for M/S systems. Just type in "keyboard test" and watch what happens.
try "showkey -a" from kbd-1.12-62.rpm -- Patrick Shanahan Registered Linux User #207535 http://wahoo.no-ip.org @ http://counter.li.org HOG # US1244711 Photo Album: http://wahoo.no-ip.org/gallery2
On Wednesday 06 September 2006 11:30 pm, Patrick Shanahan wrote:
try "showkey -a" from kbd-1.12-62.rpm
That doesn't show anything if you just press a shift key, and pressing Pause/Break seems to freeze it. But I think I now have the answer: xev (an X program). That one shows each time you press a key -- any key -- and each time you release it. Works for all the shifts too. The one odd exception: the Pause/Break key shows an immediate release even if you're holding it down, and doesn't indicate the actual moment of release. Paul
On 06/09/06 22:43, Paul Abrahams wrote:
On Wednesday 06 September 2006 11:30 pm, Patrick Shanahan wrote:
try "showkey -a" from kbd-1.12-62.rpm
That doesn't show anything if you just press a shift key, and pressing Pause/Break seems to freeze it.
try "showkey" -- but don't run it inside X, as that conflicts with the X keyboard manager, and sometimes produces some rather strange results.
Paul Abrahams wrote:
On Wednesday 06 September 2006 9:36 pm, Doug McGarrett wrote:
As far as a program, what could be better than pushing all the keys?
How would that catch a sticky shift key? Similar problem for Home and End and probably a few others. I've seen a program (don't remember the OS or anything) where you see a picture of a keyboard on the screen and press each key in turn. If the key is working properly the one on the screen darkens or something like that.
xkeycaps does that; maybe you mean it. Though, nowadays it's yellow and not dark anymore. ;-) Joachim -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Joachim Schrod Email: jschrod@acm.org Roedermark, Germany
On Thursday 07 September 2006 11:23 am, Joachim Schrod wrote:
Paul Abrahams wrote:
I've seen a program (don't remember the OS or anything) where you see a picture of a keyboard on the screen and press each key in turn. If the key is working properly the one on the screen darkens or something like that.
xkeycaps does that; maybe you mean it. Though, nowadays it's yellow and not dark anymore. ;-)
Its list of keyboards is not very up to date, so special keys like "Mail" and "WWW" (on my Logitech keyboard) aren't handled. Paul
Paul Abrahams wrote:
On Thursday 07 September 2006 11:23 am, Joachim Schrod wrote:
xkeycaps does that; maybe you mean it. Though, nowadays it's yellow and not dark anymore. ;-)
Its list of keyboards is not very up to date, so special keys like "Mail" and "WWW" (on my Logitech keyboard) aren't handled.
That's bizarre isn't it? You'd think it would show you the keypress and say something like "unexpected keypress .... have you chosen the right keyboard?", but it just stays silent. So xkeycaps is prettier and will write a .Xmodmaprc file, but xev is still best for gathering complete information. Cheers, Dave
Doug McGarrett wrote:
Some other correspondant mentioned a dishwasher. I would think not. I've seen wooden salad bowls and the handle of a frying pan badly damaged by the I have seen stuff like that too but still my favorite and most successful way of cleaning a keyboard is the dishwasher. I cleaned a really old VT340 keyboard and it looked like new afterward. I put the parts in a basket on the top shelf and the heat was not a problem.
As far as a program, what could be better than pushing all the keys? some keys don't generate visible characters so it might be difficult to know if some keys were working correctly or not. I made a small program for Windows once to show me the chars generated by each key because I didn't have any handy list of what each key did and I wanted to use certain special keys in another program.
Damon Register
Damon Register wrote: <snip>
I made a small program for Windows once to show me the chars generated by each key because I didn't have any handy list of what each key did and I wanted to use certain special keys in another program.
od? Cheers, Colin Fraser
Is there a Linux program around, preferably part of the SuSE distribution, for testing all the keys on my keyboard? I washed one of my keyboards and it had stuck keys for a while. I want to be sure that they're all gone.
showkeys
And an aside: what are folks' favorite ways of cleaning keyboards?
Laptops have flat keys, it's hard to get them off and even harder to put them back on. There is most likely no cleaning every in their lifetime. With high keys (opposed to flat ones), like, http://www.cherrycorp.com/english/classic-line/classic-line_g81-3000.htm I pull all keys off using a empty-PCI-slot-metal-blade (pop the keys from under - flying all around in the room :-) then vacuum it and then use cotton-wool tips to clean whatever remains. Mostly hair and cookie crumbs :p No water. Jan Engelhardt --
Am Mittwoch, den 06.09.2006, 19:16 -0400 schrieb Paul Abrahams:
Is there a Linux program around, preferably part of the SuSE distribution, for testing all the keys on my keyboard? I washed one of my keyboards and it had stuck keys for a while. I want to be sure that they're all gone.
And an aside: what are folks' favorite ways of cleaning keyboards?
Paul
Try the "xev" program. I've been using that to test my Mac keyboard for a bug in the layout. As to cleaning, I use compressed air to clean the keyboard on a regular basis, then a screen-wipe to keep the keys clean (using a white Mac keyboard with clear perspex case, so it shows up dirt and dust very easily! A friend is a heavy smoker and drinks coke over the machine, so his keyboards get filthy! He either puts them in the shower or in the dishwasher - he did that with his Siemens keyboard for years with no problems. I think heat might be a problem on cheaper/low component quality keyboards - which seem to be the norm these days :-( Avoid normal soaps (washing up liquid etc.), the same as you would never use them to clean a motorcycle or anything chromed. Normal washing up liquids, tabs etc. contain salt as part of their cleaning agent, which, of course, is very corrosive to bare metal, so should be avoided! Use the special cleaning fluids for electronic goods, then rinse of with water an dry, if water on its own isn't going to do the trick. -- David Wright Wright Information Services Europa "I got to go figure," the tenant said. "We all got to figure. There's some way to stop this. It's not like lightning or earthquakes. We've got a bad thing made by men, and by God that's something we can change." - The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Thursday 2006-09-07 at 09:21 +0200, David Wright wrote:
Avoid normal soaps (washing up liquid etc.), the same as you would never use them to clean a motorcycle or anything chromed. Normal washing up liquids, tabs etc. contain salt as part of their cleaning agent, which, of course, is very corrosive to bare metal, so should be avoided!
I have used hands or bath soap, ie, mild soap, with good results. Of course, rinsing with clear water is important! - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFE//1YtTMYHG2NR9URAhAwAJ9wmZmIflr4MBvokcHDTr2n8IYzIACghSOz iOVUcTiyH6SBhlze+ERZtic= =EUro -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
On Thursday 07 September 2006 00:16, Paul Abrahams wrote:
Is there a Linux program around, preferably part of the SuSE distribution, for testing all the keys on my keyboard? I washed one of my keyboards and it had stuck keys for a while. I want to be sure that they're all gone.
And an aside: what are folks' favorite ways of cleaning keyboards?
Paul
I have always just takenh the complete thing to bits and give em a good washing with hot water and washing up liquid then rinse everything in hot running water dry with lint free cloths ect and reassembe and bingo good as new again have one this so many times now and never had a single problem The entire thing get a hot wash PCB as well first machine i did this on was an old Amstrad PCW thing it was quicker and more productive than trying to get a replacement from Amstrad . Pete .
On Wed, 2006-09-06 at 19:16 -0400, Paul Abrahams wrote:
Is there a Linux program around, preferably part of the SuSE distribution, for testing all the keys on my keyboard? I washed one of my keyboards and it had stuck keys for a while. I want to be sure that they're all gone.
And an aside: what are folks' favorite ways of cleaning keyboards?
I favor air cans and if its really bad I pull the keys keeping them in order and use simple green on a qtip to clean the open space, then scrub the keys on a green scratcher. My cat Brian has a lot of dander. -- ___ _ _ _ ____ _ _ _ | | | | [__ | | | |___ |_|_| ___] | \/
participants (16)
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Carl William Spitzer IV -
Carlos E. R. -
Colin Fraser -
Damon Register -
Darryl Gregorash -
Dave Howorth -
David Wright -
Doug McGarrett -
James Knott -
Jan Engelhardt -
Jim -
Joachim Schrod -
Patrick Shanahan -
Paul Abrahams -
Peter Nikolic -
stephan beal