Keyboard Troubles.

Hardware description:

-Pi Model B (I assume it’s one of the earlier variants).
-OS, RC14
-SD Card, 16GB PNY

(I’m not aware of any conflicts, but I put that down to be sure).

-Keyboard, Unicomp “space saver”

(Unicomp is a company that owns the rights to the iconic IBM Model M keyboard. They make a generic reproduction of it that uses USB instead of the old PS/2 connector).

Issue: Keyboard doesn’t work in RISC OS. It does however work in pretty much every other operating system I’ve used.
*Linux (x86 and PPC)
*BSD
*Open-Indiana
*OS9
*OSX 10.3, 10.4, 10.5(PPC)
*Windows, 95,98,2000,xp,Seven (32 bit and 64 bit)
*Haiku
*AROS
*eComstation
*FreeDOS
*Android X86 (except for the Number Pad…)

So far it doesn’t work in:

*Morph OS (PPC, Mac Mini G4)
*Risc OS Open (Pi Model B)

My other peripherals, the Monitor, Mouse, Headphones, and network connection all work well.

Naturally, I’ve found this frustrating. However, I’m also the type of person that loves problem solving, therefore I’m not upset. I’m more curious than anything else. So this is what I’ve tried:

-Unplugging it and plugging it back in
-Spraying compressed air in the USB slots
-Trying the other USB slot.
-Changing the keyboard layout to US (I’m in the US, and keyboard was made in the US so I figured it might be some weird regional thing)
-The folks at the Morph OS forums suggested using a USB Hub, I haven’t gotten around to trying that, but it’s a good idea.

-Unfortunately I have no other keyboards at hand, but I’m confident the keyboard is not at fault.

Now, is there anything at all I have overlooked? Some sort of driver, setting, or button combination I need to hold while the Pi is booting? Maybe a kind of safe mode? If I cannot sort this problem out, is there a virtual keyboard function I can use?

Aside from no keyboard Risc OS works really well and is quite robust in comparison to the previously mentioned operating systems. It got the resolution right on first boot and aside from the keyboard everything “just worked”. Which is more than I can say about several of those other ones (I’m looking at you eComstation, Haiku, AROS, and Linux [PPC]).

The folks at the Morph OS forums suggested using a USB Hub, I haven’t gotten around to trying that, but it’s a good idea.

You basically cannot use a high end keyboard under a raspberry pi without a powered usb hub.
Same problem here with my Filco. Solved with a simple DLink USB hub.

David nailed it: the IBM Model M keyboards are infamous for being rather power hungry by today’s standards. Something like 300mA vs 80mA. Try a powered hub and it should work!

300mA should not be a problem if your Pi’s power supply is worth its salt. Have you tried your keyboard on the Pi with a different OS? Raspian? Is the keyboard detected as a USB device on RISC OS?

I see, I didn’t expect power to be an issue for a keyboard, powered HUB it is then, I’ve just gotta find the time to try that.

The power supply is just a regular cell phone charger, I doubt they make those things out of high quality parts on account that they expect people to lose them and wanna buy another cheaply. But, it always worked on every device I’ve thrown at it.

I didn’t get a chance to try any other OS on my Pi, truth is, I got it just for RISC OS. The Keyboard isn’t detected at all under RISC OS as far as I can tell, at least without a powered HUB, I still have to get around to trying that out. I’ll have to find my HUB and try it out. I’ll post here if it works or not.

David, Steffen, Patric, Thanks for the help.

Bad news, the powered hub made no difference.

Must be something about Unicomp keyboards that make it invisible to RISC OS (and Morph OS too)

I’ll have to wait until I find a cheap USB keyboard at a garage sale or something.

Must be something about Unicomp keyboards that make it invisible to RISC OS (and Morph OS too)

Thats a real bummer – I briefly owned a Unicomp keyboard but had to return it as faulty (all the way from the UK), when it came time to get the replacement I passed (because of the import duty) but I did plan on getting a replacement for it. Now I’m not so sure…

They keys were excellent but I suppose I’ll have to stick with some cherry keys for now.

If you are looking for a cheap USB keyboard then try eBay, but if you’re used to typing on a proper keyboard I’d urge you to save some pennies (or…dimes?) and get something with mechanical switches… At least in the US you have more choice of manufacturers.

I’d check out mechanicalkeyboards.com where you can get one with Cherry Blue switches for $64 (not sure about the overall quality) or you can go for a Ducky keyboard – I bought the Ducky because it was the cheapest in the UK at the time and found it to be excellent build quality.

Unicomp’s USB implementation on the non-pointing stick boards is known to be buggy re: initialization: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/model-m-troubleshooting.html#_usb_unicomp_issues

Is RISC OS using boot mode for USB keyboards (simpler), or properly parsing the descriptor? IIRC, it’s boot mode where the Unicomp boards have issues.

Personally, I use an IBM 6110345 terminal keyboard (a 122-key Model F) with Soarer’s Converter, through the USB hub on my Dell 2001FP (the thing takes too much power for my original batch RPi (and I haven’t done the power mods that the later batches of the original revision had) to reliably power it). I could actually check to see whether it’s using boot mode or parsing the descriptor tonight, as Soarer’s Converter supports N-key rollover when the descriptor is properly parsed.

RISC OS uses boot mode for keyboards. For mice it parses the descriptor.

Out of curiosity, I bought a cheap USB keyboard. Lo and behold, it worked.

If anybody’s maintaining a hardware compatibility list of some kind, might want to take note of this.

Sorry for posting here yet again, but curiosity got the better of me and I tried Raspian on my Pi. The keyboard did not work there either. Make of that what you will.