Fremantle Bluetooth Keyboard Layout

Bluetooth keyboards are not officially supported on the N900, i.e. Maemo Fremantle, but it's possible to get them working with some hacking.

Devices

Device Product Link Success Reports
iGo Stowaway Keyboard Amazon: [1] [2]
Nokia SU-8W Nokia: [3] [4]

Procedure

  • Enable HID support as described here. Note that the DisablePlugins line needs to be there, but it should not include the "input" keyword.
  • As root, download the tar file from [5] and extract it:
sudo gainroot
cd /usr/share/X11/
wget http://talk.maemo.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=5221 -O xkb-chinook.tar
tar xf xkb-chinook.tar
cp -i xkb-chinook/symbols/pc xkb/symbols/.
cp -i xkb-chinook/symbols/us xkb/symbols/.
cp -i xkb-chinook/geometry/pc xkb/geometry/.
  • You need to know your keyboard ID
hildon-im-xkbtool --list

will show the device #

  • Every time the keyboard connects, you need to run setxkbmap:
setxkbmap -device 4 -I -I/usr/share/X11/xkb-chinook -rules base -model pc105 -layout us

For the Nokia SU-8W keyboard, use "nokiasu8w" instead of "pc105".

After running this command, press any key on the N900's internal keyboard, and you should be able to type numbers and symbols on the bluetooth keyboard.

References

General procedure: [6]

DisablePlugins is required: [7]

Installing the tarball: [8]

Special copy commands: [9]

Script to automatically run the setxkbmap command: [10]