From 0d58b658a63f4ec3e938deffee22763131a816b8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: rekado Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2015 05:15:04 +0200 Subject: Convert articles to skribe format. --- ...1-23-upgrading-trulyergonomic-firmware.markdown | 88 ---------------------- 1 file changed, 88 deletions(-) delete mode 100644 posts/2014-11-23-upgrading-trulyergonomic-firmware.markdown (limited to 'posts/2014-11-23-upgrading-trulyergonomic-firmware.markdown') diff --git a/posts/2014-11-23-upgrading-trulyergonomic-firmware.markdown b/posts/2014-11-23-upgrading-trulyergonomic-firmware.markdown deleted file mode 100644 index 25f470c..0000000 --- a/posts/2014-11-23-upgrading-trulyergonomic-firmware.markdown +++ /dev/null @@ -1,88 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: Upgrading the TEK's firmware on GNU/Linux -date: 2014/11/23 -tags: keyboard, virtualbox ---- - -I'm using the Truly Ergonomic Keyboard (model 209) for most of my -typing, because it's a pretty comfortable keyboard (when it works). -One of the greatest features of this keyboard is that the layout can -be customised and flashed to the hardware with a firmware upgrade. -Unfortunately, the application used to flash the firmware is only -available for Microsoft Windows. - -As a GNU/Linux user I find this to be very inconvenient. I simply -don't have access to a machine running Microsoft Windows (not even at -the office). Luckily, Microsoft provides -[free virtual machine images](http://modern.ie) of various versions of -their operating system for browser evaluation purposes. I -occasionally use them to verify that a web page works all right in the -proprietary and often quirky Microsoft browsers. Although these -images could be used in KVM, converting and tweaking them takes a -little too long and is a bit annoying. For the quickest results these -images should be imported with Virtual Box instead. - -Truly Ergonomic recommends not to use virtualisation software to -update the firmware of the keyboard, but as I was out of other options -I decided to give it a try anyway. You probably should not be doing -this if you don't feel you would be able to perform a -[manual reset](https://www.trulyergonomic.com/store/troubleshooting--truly-ergonomic-mechanical-keyboard#Reset) -of the controller in case something goes wrong. - -## Preparation - -- a recent version of Virtual Box -- a virtual machine image of Microsoft Windows -- a user account that is a member of the group *vboxusers*; required - to access any host USB devices from within a Virtual Box machine. - If you have just added your account to this group, remember that you - need to log off and on again before the changes come into effect. -- enable USB 2.0 support, provided by the *Oracle VM VirtualBox - Extension Pack*. The extension pack has to be installed through the - preferences menu in the VirtualBox client. Note that you may have - to run the client as root to have sufficient permissions to install - the extension pack. -- a USB device filter configured to pass host USB devices through to - the virtual machine - -If everything is set up properly you should be able to forward USB -devices from the host system to the virtual machine. Try setting up a -USB device filter in the USB settings menu of the virtual machine. -You should be able to create a filter for the Truly Ergonomic Keyboard -right there. If you cannot see a list of USB devices at all at this -point check that your user account is a member of the group -*vboxusers*. - - -## Performing the upgrade - -Inside the Windows machine start the official firmware upgrade tool, -load the firmware you want to flash to the keyboard, and click on -*Upgrade*. This will result in an error message, but that's okay: -don't panic! The reason why this error occurs is that the USB -identifier of the keyboard will have changed from something like this: - - ID 0e6a:030c Megawin Technology Co., Ltd Truly Ergonomic Computer Keyboard - -to something like this: - - ID 0e6a:030b Megawin Technology Co., Ltd Truly Ergonomic Computer Keyboard (Device Firmware Update mode) - -Since the USB identifier has changed, VirtualBox may no longer forward -this device from the host to the virtual machine guest system. All -you have to do is add a filter for this new USB device in the guest -settings and resume the upgrade by clicking on *Upgrade* again. This -will again lead to another error, but I found that by that time the -upgrade has already been performed successfully. - -Note that while the USB device is being forwarded to the guest system -you cannot use it in the host. To test if the new firmware works as -expected in your system, disable the USB filters in the guest -settings. - - -## Next steps - -It should also be possible to flash the firmware directly from a -GNU/Linux system. I suppose one could sniff the USB communication and -build a little tool that performs the upgrade natively on GNU/Linux. -- cgit v1.2.3