Introduction
In the old times, when we had a physical phone, it was easy to answer a call, just pick the phone.
Since the migration to software which substitue the phone, I want to recreate the workflow to answer a call: no need to find some button in some window just to answer a call.
Using a numeric keypad it is possible to replicate the workflow… bind a key to answer the call, and more buttons, more actions we can automate.
Keyboard
First we need a dedicated keyboard for this function, and any keyboard should do.
Laying arround I just have full size keyboard, so I bought a new MITSAI Q20 from a local shop.
I like it, because the keys are squared and low profile. Easy to customize with stickers.
pluging keyboard the first time
In systemd journal, you will find information about the keyboard. As you can see, the brand name from my local shop do not show up anywhere.
kernel: usb 1-1.4.3: new low-speed USB device number 15 using xhci_hcd
kernel: usb 1-1.4.3: New USB device found, idVendor=1a2c, idProduct=0e24, bcdDevice= 1.10
kernel: usb 1-1.4.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
kernel: usb 1-1.4.3: Product: USB Keyboard
kernel: usb 1-1.4.3: Manufacturer: SEM
kernel: input: SEM USB Keyboard as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.4/1-1.4.3/1-1.4.3:1.0/0003:1A2C:0E24.000B/input/input29
kernel: hid-generic 0003:1A2C:0E24.000B: input,hidraw5: USB HID v1.10 Keyboard [SEM USB Keyboard] on usb-0000:00:14.0-1.4.3/input0
System configuration
udev
udev will allow us to do some setup and start actkbd service.
My udev rule file is:
ACTION=="add", \ # match the event, device and parent device
SUBSYSTEM=="input", \
ATTRS{name}=="SEM USB Keyboard", \
MODE="0666", \ # set mode to other read from the device, without root
SYMLINK+="macrokeyboard", \ # create a nicer symbolic link
TAG+="systemd", \ # this will used systemd to start actkbd
ENV{SYSTEMD_USER_WANTS}="actkbd.service"
To reload the configuration, we can use
udevadm control --reload-rules
To check if the udev rule file is working
udevadm test /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.4/1-1.4.3/1-1.4.3:1.0/0003:1A2C:0E24.000B/input/input29
To create an udev rule can be hit and miss. Doing the wrong filters, can lead to diferent devices be found, but is is possible to get all information
udevadm info --attribute-walk --path /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.4/1-1.4.3/1-1.4.3:1.0/0003:1A2C:0E24.000B/input/input29
In case of problems, read Writing udev rules to learn how to write it.
systemd
As configured in udev rule, this unit will start the service.
[Unit]
Description=Actkbd: Daemon for X-independent shortcuts
ConditionPathIsSymbolicLink=/dev/macrokeyboard
[Service]
Environment=DISPLAY=:0
ExecStart=actkbd --device /dev/macrokeyboard --daemon --pidfile /tmp/actkbd.pid
Type=forking
PIDFile=/tmp/actkbd.pid
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=1
X
Without instrcut XOrg to ignore this numeric keypad, when we press a key, it will send that key code the application.
So we need to place a file in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/, with:
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "Ignore macro keyboard"
MatchProduct "SEM USB Keyboard"
Option "Ignore" "on"
EndSection
To test this, it is needed to restart X server…
actkbd
Warning, by project author:
…but here’s the catch: actkbd (a) is single-threaded and (b) uses system() in the same thread to execute commands. Yes, I know, not nice; the whole program is basically a hack - it just worked well enough for me and a few friends back when I wrote it.
It can be an hack, but actkbd have work without problems for me.
After installation we need to find the keycodes from our keyboard.
KeyCodes
I’ve found two ways to do it…
using actkbd
$ actkbd --showexec --showkey --noexec --device /dev/macrokeyboard
Keys: 79
Keys: 80
Keys: 81
Keys: 96
or using showkeys
$ sudo showkey
press any key (program terminates 10s after last keypress)...
keycode 28 release
keycode 79 press
keycode 79 release
keycode 80 press
keycode 80 release
configuration
The default location for the configuration file is /etc/actkbd.conf
I opted by send all keycodes to a single script…
#1st line
172:::/usr/bin/keyboardScript.sh 172 &
15:::/usr/bin/keyboardScript.sh 15 &
155:::/usr/bin/keyboardScript.sh 155 &
140:::/usr/bin/keyboardScript.sh 140 &
Each line can execute any command, but I decided to have a script which will deal with all of it… it is easier to reuse code and maintain it. Also, I can change the script without to bother to restart actkbd to reload new actions.
testing
actkbd --showexec --showkey --device /dev/macrokeyboard
It should show somethig like
Keys: 76
Executing: /home/fcarvalho/bin/keyboardScript.sh 76 &
Keys: 69
Executing: /home/fcarvalho/bin/keyboardScript.sh 69 &
The Script
My script, is a giant case, something like:
case $1 in
79)
# xdotool key U1f600
xdotool type 😀
# slow https://github.com/jordansissel/xdotool/issues/10
;;
71)
mpc status | grep playing 2>&1 > /dev/null
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
# it is playing
mpc --quiet stop
dbusSend Pause
else
mpc --quiet play
dbusSend Play
fi
;;
76)
# take a area screenshot
flameshot gui &
;;
(...)
and several tools were used
xdotool
Without xdotool it cloud not do the automations.
xdotool lets us programmatically simulate keyboard input and mouse.
As example, pressing a key to toggle video in MS Teams.
82) # mute unmute video
WID=$(xdotool search --onlyvisible --name "Microsoft Teams") ①
if [ $WID ]; then
xdotool windowfocus --sync $WID ②
xdotool key --window $WID "ctrl+shift+o" ③
fi
;;
where:
- ① Search for Teams window
- ② Put the window on focus
- ③ Send the Teams shortcut to Toggle video
mpc
My music is streamed from other machine, where I’ve mpd running, so I use mpc to control it remotelly.
dbus
dbus-send + MPRIS allow to abstract which music player I’m using, as long as they support it.
note use d-feet to explore dbus
Final Result
Besides the software, the final touch was to print in photo papper some nice icons. Then with double face tape and a scissor, convert them to little stickers.
All the files are in Building a macro keyboard.
Future
Most of this work was done with xdotool, on top X… which is being substituted by Wayland.
So, it is time to look into xdotool replacement options: