Logitech G15

This article is written for the Logitech G15 but it should work with other keyboards in the G-series produced by Logitech.

Installation

Kernel

g15daemon requires user level driver support.

KERNEL

Device Drivers --->
  Input Device support --->
    [*]   Miscellaneous devices --->
            <*>   User level driver support

Portage

To get other applications to know about the G15 keyboard, add the following to /etc/portage/make.conf.

FILE /etc/portage/make.conf

LCD_DEVICES="g15"
USE="g15 lcd"

Emerge

Install app-misc/g15daemon for the multimedia keys and LCD display, and app-misc/g15macro for the M^ and G^ keys.

root #emerge --ask app-misc/g15daemon app-misc/g15macro

Configuration

After installing g15daemon and g15macro, check the g15daemon configuration file before starting the service. Normally the default values should work.

Note
Note the 24-hour clock format in /etc/g15daemon.conf

FILE /etc/g15daemon.conf

# G15Daemon Configuration File
# any items entered before a [section] header
# will be in the Global config space
# comments you wish to keep should start with a semicolon';'

[Global]
Use MR as Cycle Key: Off

[PLUGIN_LOAD_ORDER]
0: g15plugin_uinput.so
1: g15plugin_clock.so
2: g15plugin_tcpserver.so
TotalPlugins: 3

[PLUGINS]
Linux UINPUT Keyboard Output: Load
Clock: Load
LCDServer: Load

[Keyboard OS Mapping (uinput)]
device: /dev/input/uinput
Lkeys.mapped: 0

[Clock]
24hrFormat: On
ShowDate: On
Digital: On

Xorg

Optionally add the following to /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

FILE /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Option         "XkbModel" "logitech_g15"

Service

OpenRC

Configure the g15daemon service configuration file:

FILE /etc/conf.d/g15daemon

# Key to switch the client-screens. Default is the MR key,
# Set to "yes" to use L1 key instead (black round key below the LCD, above the multimedia keys).
CLIENT_SWITCH_L1="no"

# Set to "yes" to switch off the lcd backlight when stopping g15daemon.
BACKLIGHT_OFF="no"

To start g15daemon:

root #rc-service g15daemon start

To start g15daemon at boot:

root #rc-update add g15daemon default

If everything worked correctly a clock should be visible on the G15 LCD display.

Usage

Multimedia keys

To have the new keys working in X11, create a specific xmodmap in your home directory or edit an existing one.

Create the xmodmap:

user $cp /usr/share/g15daemon/contrib/xmodmaprc ~/.Xmodmap

Adding keycodes to an existing xmodmap:

user $cat /usr/share/g15daemon/contrib/xmodmaprc >> ~/.Xmodmap

To get the new keys you might need to restart your session or run:

user $xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap

To check if your keys have been mapped correctly you can test them with x11-apps/xev.

G & M keys

To get your G^ and M^ keys to work you need to start up g15macro, preferably you should make it start automatically with the rest of your desktop.

user $/usr/bin/g15macro &

Your extra keys should now be working and you should be able to record macro keys by pushing the MR key.

External resources

LogitechG15 - Ubuntu Community Wiki