Amiberry : Functions keys not working

JEG

Hello,

I connected a Microsoft All-in-One Media Keyboard to the Retropie, all the keys seems to work, except the function keys.
I need them to exit game, save state and so on....

Can you explain me what to do, to make it work ?

Thank you very much,
JEG

edmaul69

@jeg you need to open up the file /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg and find the line that should be something like

# input_enable_hotkey =

And remove the hashtag and add the hotkey button. I use ctrl. So using ctrl it would look like this:

  input_enable_hotkey = "ctrl"

JEG

@edmaul69 said in Amiberry : Functions keys not working:

input_enable_hotkey

Hi

Sorry for the delay.

I don't have "input_enable_hotkey", but I have "input_enable_hotkey_btn".
I don't know if it is the same thing.
Anyway I tried to remove the "#" and set it to input_enable_hotkey_btn = "ctrl".
I reboot the raspberry... but it sounds that it does not work better, whatever I do with the "ctrl" key.

caver01

@jeg Add it. The entry with _btn implies that the input is coming from a joystick/gamepad controller.

caver01

@caver01 Also, make sure you are not editing the text files with a fancy editor that adds "smart" curly quotes. It needs to be "ctrl" not “ctrl”. The second version won't error, but it also won't work.

JEG

Hi again,

Ok, I found this option.

I copy/paste what I have from the file :

# Enable stdin/network command interface.
# network_cmd_enable = false
# network_cmd_port = 55355
# stdin_cmd_enable = false
input_enable_hotkey = "ctrl"
auto_remaps_enable = "true"

I reboot.... and in an amiga game (for example Chaos engine, where the trainer ask to press "F1", "F2", ...) this don't work, even if I press "ctrl" before.
F12 is not working either (should switch to emulator, right ?)

edmaul69

@jeg are you using a libretro emulator?

caver01

@jeg Ahh, afraid we missed the whole point. . . amiberry emulator is not a retroarch libretro core. It's standalone, and will therefore ignore anything/everything in /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg because it is not used by that emulator.

What you need is an amiberry expert to respond. Have you tried contacting the creators of that emulator, or maybe they have a forum for answering questions? Just a thought.

JEG

Ah ok :)

In fact, I am novice in Retropie...
I just know that I am using Amiberry, anything else is new for me.
I don't know where to contact who.
Since amiberry was installed by the retropie distribution, maybe other people have faced this kind of problem and have solved it.

caver01

@jeg said in Amiberry : Functions keys not working:

Since amiberry was installed by the retropie distribution, maybe other people have faced this kind of problem and have solved it.

That's the spirit! But, have you even tried searching this forum for info? In all of about 4 seconds I found this link which is similar. Do try to find an answer here using search before asking everyone. Chances are someone before you has asked the same questions and there are already answers. Nobody wants to repeat themselves.

I also found that RetroPie versio 4.1 "Added Amiberry (an Amiga emulator), which is an updated fork of uae4arm, with more features." So, if you went into the DOCs section of this website under Emulators and dug around in there for Amiga emulators there is plenty of goodies for you to research.

JEG

@caver01
Hello, sure that an answer may certainly somewhere over the Internet, I googled a lot before posting.
Sometimes the answers are a little bit complicated for a novice in emulation and raspberry.
Until now, they does answer completely to the issue, that is to say : the function keys are not only working as hotkey, but also they are not working inside amiga programs. (for exemple, I cannot activate trainers that require pressing "F1", "F2", etc...)
So , after some research and experiments, I had no other ideas than to ask for help or expertise.

caver01

@jeg That is a bummer. I wish I had an answer. As it is, I don't run the Amiga emulators, but perhaps someone on here does. However, if the answer is that F-keys don't work yet, you may be at the mercy of the emulator developers who might have answers or they may welcome some testing assistance.

HoraceAndSpider

Hi

I am working on an update to Amiberry at the moment, so I am keen to check that this is resolved.

Did your f-keys work using uae4arm before upgrading to Amiberry?

F12 is the default key to get into the emulator menu, and f1-f10 should work inside emulation. Tou can change the key to enter emulation by adding /changing the value of:
key_to_quit = xx
(Inside any .uae Config file. (Xx is a number I think to correspond to a keyboard button) It might be worth trying this just to see if you can get to the emulator menu.

Your keyboard... does it have any Fn or other multiplier key which needs to be pressed in order to use the F-keys? I recall I once own a cheap Bluetooth keyboard that had the same problem ... to use f12 I had to press Fn-F12 to get to a menu

I also recommend any issues with Amiberry are reported through the official GitHub page :)

HoraceAndSpider

Just re-reading that this is a "Microsoft all in one media keyboard " I expect there is some kind of keyboard setting that makes the f keys work since it has "customisable media hotkeys" which I suspect are placed where the f keys are.

....

Now Reading online reviews for this keyboard reveals that this is certainly an issue with the keyboard and not Amiberry:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/d/Microsoft-All-in-One-Media-Keyboard/8TTD9J9JNSF0

"1 star:Antonio
Incredible, a keyboard without usable function keys
And I can't believe that it can't be resolved via a software update of the Microsoft Keyboard and Mouse Center, which already let you configure the behaviour of some of the keys"

Some posts suggest that this can be fixed with "Fn lock" but this has to be done every time you boot ;

" There is a fix... you can push Fn + Caps to turn of 'function lock', or I guess in this case, turn it on... But this has to be done every time you turn on the keyboard. The reason for the 1* reviews"

JEG

caver01, edmaul69, HoraceAndSpider

Thank you very much.
That's it....
It was a specific feature of this Keyboard : Like you said, I have to switch on Fonction Keys by typing "Fn" + "Caps Lock".
Now Everything works fine in Amiberry !
Thank you very much for your assistance, since I doubt I would have found quickly that it was a keyboard problem.

JEG

caver01

If it is any consolation, I have seen Fkeys that are dependent on the FN key being used on Apple keyboards as well, namely, the aluminum USB, full-sized keyboard (with function keys, numeric keypad etc.). Some of this functionality is dependent on localization settings, but in my experience, even with the right keyboard selected, I had to enter the following command:

echo 2 > /sys/module/hid_apple/parameters/fnmode

Then, to make it permanent, I had to edit /etc/modprobe.d/hid_apple.conf to include the following line:

options hid_apple fnmode=2

I wonder if there is something similar you can do with that MS keyboard.

JEG

Thank you very much caver01.

Pressing the "fn"+ "caps lock" is sufficient for me currently.
But maybe if one day I begin to be fed up with this, I know what to search for ;)