[Leaplist] Compaq keyboard

[Fred Moore]

I just had my old trusty keyboard die with a stuck key.  Feels like I
lost an old friend.  Dissemble didn't show any mechanical problems.  
Didn't know which one was down.  So booted with a good keyboard via a
kdm started xev switched off and replaced it with the bad keyboard. 
When I switch back xev  shows a constant stream scan code of 68 so guess
its the space key..  Anyway replaced the keyboard with a compaq
keyboard.. you know the one with the special keys above the normal
F1-F12 keys.. same keyboards we have at the school anyway I thought it
would be nice to hook these up to things like Thunderbird, Firefox
Openoffice etc..  My initial thought this is easy.. So reached for the
big read Staples button.. note to Staples.. "your big red button is
broken on some subject" 

When I run xev it shows no key codes being generated by these keys which
leave me to believe that a  program must be loaded into keyboard ram at
bootup to get them to work.  Most likely a Microsolop thingy.   Didn't
see anything in the bios about this..  Couldn't find anything about this
on Compaqs site.   Google was not my friend on this keyboard..linux xorg
etc..  anyone have any hints or know anything about this subject.. I
think this is most likely a dead horse, thoughts??  Thanks in advance.. Fred

-- 
"Everyone has a right to his own opinion, but not his own facts"
Fred/WD8KNI