Mapping keys on keyboard to corresponding characters on scr

[andrew1]

I am able to run the live DVD version of Knoppix on the XP Media edition of Windows XP. The live DVD forum version has been shut down which explained why I couldn't submit to that forum.

I have 1 irregularity - a floopy disk drive icon appears on the desktop, although this computer has no floppy drive installed.

A more serious challenge is that the SHIFT+ non alpha numeric keys do not correspond to the corresponding characters - for example, I have to press the SHIFT 8 key in order to get the left bracket character(it's supposed to be Shift 9). I also can't find the squiggly bracket keys at all. The keyboard icon on the lower right task bar is set to the US flag.

The keyboard is the stand 101 / 102 MS keyboard. Any suggestions about what I can twig to map the characters displayed on the keys to the characters displayed on the screen? Thanks!

[Harry Kuhman]

Are you talking about Knoppix? If so, why are you postng in a forum for other Live CDs? If not, what Live CD are you talking about?

Yea, the Knoppix DVD forum is closed to new posts. It was created back in the day when the only Knopix DVDs were experimental things people put together or the one Knoppix TAG DVD that was never officially released on the internet. After official releases of Knoppix on DVD it was seen that people kept posting to the DVD forum even though their problems were not DVD issues but were issues that applied to both the Knoppix CD and the Knoppix DVD (as yours is), it no longer made any sense to have a DVD forum, unless we would just add a Knoppix CD forum and give up all hope that people might actually try to arrange posts by meaningful topics.

It sounds like you have the wrong language version of whatever system you have, but that's only a guess since you didn't post the name. If it's Knoppix you can still run it by passing in a cheat code for your language of choice (which you also didn't say). You still have the keyboard mapping issue to type the = in the cheat code, but once you get past that Knoppix works fine. I would suggest instead downloading the proper version of Knoppix (assuming you want German or English).

[andrew1]

Yes, I am talking about Knoppix. I posted on this site because I thought my problem mainly involved live CD or live DVD issues. Thanks for the update that live DVD is not the issue. For information, my DVD distribution is from the "Linux All in one Desk reference for Dummies" book.

How do I ,"If it's Knoppix you can still run it by passing in a cheat code for your language of choice (which you also didn't say). You still have the keyboard mapping issue to type the = in the cheat code, but once you get past that Knoppix works fine." Where and what cheat code do I enter? Thanks.

My language is english.

[Harry Kuhman]

I'm still hard pressed to know what your problem is, but I'll try to help as best as I can with the info I have.

I'm going to move this post to the new to Linux forum since it is about Knoppix, not some other Live CD. As long as you follow the link that you get in e-mail when a response is posted you'll still find it.

It sounds like you have a Knoppix that came in an English language book, so it should hae been the English Knoppix, not the German version, and I uderstand you as saying that you want to use English as your language. Assuming that you have a US Keyboard (same keyboard as used in Canada AFAIK) , you shouldn't be having any problem. So I don't really know why you have an issue based on what you have told us.

If you follow the documentation link near the top of this page you will get to the Wiki, our collected and indexed documentation on Knoppix. Looking down the main page you'll find the section on cheat codes. The option that you would want if you did have the German Knoppix is lang=us, listed near the top of the cheat codes. The catch here is that you can't easily type lang=us on a US keyboard when Knoppix is in German mode (which it would be from the German CD when just booting), the = code is not assigned to the = key. I think, and I'm just going from memory, that = is shift-zero in this keyboard arrangement. You could try typing knoppix lang=us at the Knoppix boot prompt, this would let you determine if the keyboard mapping is as described above and in any event should not cause you any additional problem.

You might also want to read the Downloading faq in the wiki and then use BitTorret to download your own copy of the CD or DVD. As explained in the faq, if you get an iso file with EN in the name and not with DE in the name then you'll have an English version of Knoppix that will default to English at boot and no cheat code will be needed. You'll likely also have a newer version of the software. I find it hard to believe that a English speaking book would have included the German version of Knoppix, and if it did I would have extreme reservatios about the quality of the rest of the book, but unless you have very strange hardware I can't figure out any other source of your problem.

There is also a lot of discussion about keyboard mapping in these forums, which you could find with the search feature.

Let us know how you make out.

[andrew1]

The Dummy Group have promised me that "it is on its way to you now". Thanks!

In the mean time can I enter the "lang (shift 0) us" cheat code on the command line consul after loading Knoppix? Or do I need to establish the command line on bootup, before the KDE is loaded? How do I do that? I believe the consul appears only if the DVD disk itself has some flawed code.

[Harry Kuhman]

See the wiki section on cheat codes. there is a boot prompt where you enter the code. It's there every time you boot the disc. I'm not clear on what the dummy group is or why you seem to have the wrong disk, but I'm also confused on how we could have gotten this far in the discussion and you could ask about when to enter the lang=us code, seems like you have not tried it yet, and so I don't know if that's really the issue or if you have some strange hardware (like an other language keyboard) that is causing the conflict.

[andrew1]

I don't understand either why after several days of inappropriate punctuation key responses, Knoppix now seems to be working normally. Some things just seem to work themselves out. Hope it continues.

I didn't try to enter the cheat code because I didn't see any command line boot prompt opportunity while Knoppix was loading. I could have and did try the command console after loading, but that didn't seem to make any difference.

Thank you for your time and attention.