Globlink GKM-700 under Linux

Page created: 15 January 2006.
Last updated: 15 January 2006

Keywords

Globlink GKM-700, TB-200, Targus PAKP003, Linux, Mouse buttons

Disclaimer

This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, either expressed or implied. While every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information documented herein, the author assumes NO RESPONSIBILITY for any errors, or for any damages, direct or consequential, as a result of the use of the information documented herein.

Summary

The Globlink GKM-700 wireless mouse/keyboard combo works “out of the box” with (at least) Linux kernels 2.6.14 and 2.6.15, and probably any later version of the Linux kernel.

For 2.4 and older 2.6 kernels (2.4.27 and 2.6.8 tested) everything except the mouse buttons work “out of the box”. To make the mouse buttons work apply one of the following patches:

Name Size Description Last modified (GMT)

globlink-gkm700-2.4.27-10sarge1.patch 2,66 kB Sun Jan 1 14:42:27 2006

globlink-gkm700-2.6.15-rc7.patch 3,08 kB Sun Jan 1 17:24:00 2006

Note: As indicated by the filename the 2.6 patch is against 2.6.15-rc7, but this kernel version doesn't need to be patched. It is included here if someone wants to patch an earlier 2.6 kernel.

Name	Size	Description	Last modified (GMT)
globlink-gkm700-2.4.27-10sarge1.patch	2,66 kB		Sun Jan 1 14:42:27 2006
globlink-gkm700-2.6.15-rc7.patch	3,08 kB		Sun Jan 1 17:24:00 2006

Full story

I recently bought a Globlink GKM-700 keyboard/mouse combo :

for use with my MythTV system. When I tried it with the standard keybdev and mousedev modules under Linux 2.4.27 everything except the mouse buttons (these are the two buttons on the top left corner) worked. After a bit of googling it turned out that the USB vendor:device id, 0x0a91:0x3801 was the same as that of the Targus PAKP003. It turned out that the Targus PAKP003 had the same problem under Linux: the mouse buttons weren't working, fortunately a guy named Jon Barnett had spent some time investigating why it didn't work and how to fix it: Targus PAKP003 Mouse: Making it work in Linux. It turned out that his fix also worked for the GKM-700, so the patches above are just a translation (to use the USB_QUIRK system of the Linux kernel) of Jon Barnett's solution.

My idea was originally to try to get the patch accepted in the official Linux kernel so I adapted the patch to the latest Linux kernel at the time; 2.6.15-rc7. When testing the patch I noticed that the GKM-700 worked equally well in Linux 2.6.15-rc7 without the patch.