From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

Hi

Is there any particular trick to getting a Bluetooth keyboard to work
with Linux?

I am trying to get a Thomann Pageturn pedal to work with my laptop. The
laptop is a Dell Latitude 7390 running Linux Mint 20.3. The Pageturn
device is a pedal that connects with bluetooth. The laptop should look
on it as a keyboard.

If I step onto the right side it should send a "right arrow" keypress to
the computer, step on the left and it should send "left arrow". Or there
are other pairs of keys that can be chosen: PgUp/PgDown or like that. So
I could make the computer switch to the next page of music without
taking my hands off the guitar.

Now, if I switch the PageTurn on, and click on the Bluetooth icon on my taskbar, the little dialog that pops up lists the Thomann Pageturn, and
I tell it to connect. The laptop says it is connected. The LED on the
Pageturn goes from flashing to just being lit, indicating a connection.
But regardless which side of the pedal I press, or which pair of keys I
select on the device, no keypresses are happening, and OpenOffice
Impress does not switch to the next slide.

Is there anything else I should do to enable that device as a keyboard
on the laptop?

Thanks

Frank
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From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On Thu, 7/23/2026 5:55 PM, FrankP wrote:

Hi

Is there any particular trick to getting a Bluetooth keyboard to work with Linux?

I am trying to get a Thomann Pageturn pedal to work with my laptop. The laptop is a Dell Latitude 7390 running Linux Mint 20.3. The Pageturn device is a pedal that connects with bluetooth. The laptop should look on it as a keyboard.

If I step onto the right side it should send a "right arrow" keypress to the computer, step on the left and it should send "left arrow". Or there are other pairs of keys that can be chosen: PgUp/PgDown or like that. So I could make the computer switch to the next page of music without taking my hands off the guitar.

Now, if I switch the PageTurn on, and click on the Bluetooth icon on my taskbar, the little dialog that pops up lists the Thomann Pageturn, and I tell it to connect. The laptop says it is connected. The LED on the Pageturn goes from flashing to just being lit, indicating a connection. But regardless which side of the pedal I press, or which pair of keys I select on the device, no keypresses are happening, and OpenOffice Impress does not switch to the next slide.

Is there anything else I should do to enable that device as a keyboard on the laptop?

Thanks

Frank

"xev" is a utility from the X11 (Xorg) era.
I don't know if there is a utility like it, for a native-Wayland yet.

You have a mouse, which can give particular windows the focus.

The keyboards work in parallel. If you press a key, there
is a "keydown" code and a "keyup" code for a particular character name.
And this shows in the output of XEV (stdout, in my terminal).

Your device could be generating no code at all, or it could
be generating a code that is not recognized or action-able.

This shows the output while debugging a query about ctrl-L and ctrl-R keys.
And you can see the codes generated by working those keys, in the picture.
Two picture sites are used, as people in Britain are blocked on one of the sites.

[Picture] check-key-press-W11-using-WSL2.jpg

https://imgur.com/a/2mfOzTG

https://i.postimg.cc/65Gn24PT/check-key-press-W11-using-WSL2.jpg

I'm using WSL2 on Windows and a bash session (with WSLg graphics)
for my test. I have a Devuan on the other machine, I can use for
native X11 test cases. There are seven Linux OSes on the SSD in the
other machine (doing MythTV test over there). Just to show the
test even works in the more obscure environments :-)

Paul
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From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

Le 23/07/2026 |a 23:55, FrankP a |-crit-a:

Hi

Is there any particular trick to getting a Bluetooth keyboard to work
with Linux?

I am trying to get a Thomann Pageturn pedal to work with my laptop. The laptop is a Dell Latitude 7390 running Linux Mint 20.3. The Pageturn
device is a pedal that connects with bluetooth. The laptop should look
on it as a keyboard.

If I step onto the right side it should send a "right arrow" keypress to
the computer, step on the left and it should send "left arrow". Or there
are other pairs of keys that can be chosen: PgUp/PgDown or like that. So
I could make the computer switch to the next page of music without
taking my hands off the guitar.

Now, if I switch the PageTurn on, and click on the Bluetooth icon on my taskbar, the little dialog that pops up lists the Thomann Pageturn, and
I tell it to connect. The laptop says it is connected. The LED on the Pageturn goes from flashing to just being lit, indicating a connection.
But regardless which side of the pedal I press, or which pair of keys I select on the device, no keypresses are happening, and OpenOffice
Impress does not switch to the next slide.

Is there anything else I should do to enable that device as a keyboard
on the laptop?

Thanks

Frank

hi kids,

it will be interesting to do a test with a html page and
javascript and see the keycode return for each keydown !

the driver is ok, so...good first step !
--
Amicalement,

Frenchy Friendly, & French touch !

german
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From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 7/23/26 11:55 PM, FrankP wrote:

Hi

Is there any particular trick to getting a Bluetooth keyboard to work
with Linux?

Yes there actually is, I posted the method here more then once.
I am rather busy now but I try to find it and post it again.

I am trying to get a Thomann Pageturn pedal to work with my laptop. The laptop is a Dell Latitude 7390 running Linux Mint 20.3. The Pageturn
device is a pedal that connects with bluetooth. The laptop should look
on it as a keyboard.

If I step onto the right side it should send a "right arrow" keypress to
the computer, step on the left and it should send "left arrow". Or there
are other pairs of keys that can be chosen: PgUp/PgDown or like that. So
I could make the computer switch to the next page of music without
taking my hands off the guitar.

Now, if I switch the PageTurn on, and click on the Bluetooth icon on my taskbar, the little dialog that pops up lists the Thomann Pageturn, and
I tell it to connect. The laptop says it is connected. The LED on the Pageturn goes from flashing to just being lit, indicating a connection.
But regardless which side of the pedal I press, or which pair of keys I select on the device, no keypresses are happening, and OpenOffice
Impress does not switch to the next slide.

Is there anything else I should do to enable that device as a keyboard
on the laptop?

Probably not but most likely it didn't connect/paired as it should.

Thanks

Frank

--
Once an organization gains any influence, it will be corrupted from both within and without.

Edmund
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From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 7/23/26 11:55 PM, FrankP wrote:

Hi

Is there any particular trick to getting a Bluetooth keyboard to work
with Linux?

Found it!

Follow these steps, I wasted weeks with a bluetooth mouse and keyboard
until I found this, which actually and finally worked!

-----------
Hi! I am new to this forum and to Linux but I managed to do it as follows:
1) Open terminal and type 'sudo bluetoothctl'

scan on


2) Remove and forget the device. If you have already removed it don't do anything if not just type 'remove' following with the MAC address of the device. You can also do it with the Blueman app.

remove (mouse) F2:11:B7:E4:99:3E


3) Turn on your device that you want to connect and put it on pairing mode.


4) On your terminal write 'scan on'

scan on

5) Find your device's MAC address and copy it (ctrl + shift + c)

F4:73:35:65:08:49 F4:73:35:65:08:49

6) Type 'pair' following with the MAC address of your device (ctrl +
shift + v)

pair F4:73:35:65:08:49

7) Type 'connect' following with the MAC address of your device

connect F4:73:35:65:08:49

8 ) This is tricky and I don't know how to explain it but the previous
steps have been written in terminal after '[bluetooth] #'. After you do
the 7th step you will be now writing after '[Bluetooth Mouse
M336/M337/M535]#' and then you just write 'trust' and you are good to go.

trust

Appologies for my poor knowledge in the topic I have been following the terminal's help options and they worked.

-----------

I am trying to get a Thomann Pageturn pedal to work with my laptop. The laptop is a Dell Latitude 7390 running Linux Mint 20.3. The Pageturn
device is a pedal that connects with bluetooth. The laptop should look
on it as a keyboard.

If I step onto the right side it should send a "right arrow" keypress to
the computer, step on the left and it should send "left arrow". Or there
are other pairs of keys that can be chosen: PgUp/PgDown or like that. So
I could make the computer switch to the next page of music without
taking my hands off the guitar.

Now, if I switch the PageTurn on, and click on the Bluetooth icon on my taskbar, the little dialog that pops up lists the Thomann Pageturn, and
I tell it to connect. The laptop says it is connected. The LED on the Pageturn goes from flashing to just being lit, indicating a connection.
But regardless which side of the pedal I press, or which pair of keys I select on the device, no keypresses are happening, and OpenOffice
Impress does not switch to the next slide.

Is there anything else I should do to enable that device as a keyboard
on the laptop?

Thanks

Frank

--
Once an organization gains any influence, it will be corrupted from both within and without.

Edmund
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 24/07/2026 02:31, Paul wrote:

On Thu, 7/23/2026 5:55 PM, FrankP wrote:

Hi

Is there any particular trick to getting a Bluetooth keyboard to work with Linux?

I am trying to get a Thomann Pageturn pedal to work with my laptop.

[...]

"xev" is a utility from the X11 (Xorg) era.
I don't know if there is a utility like it, for a native-Wayland yet.

[...]

Your device could be generating no code at all, or it could
be generating a code that is not recognized or action-able.

[...]

Thanks for the hint Paul. And for your kindness in posting to two image servers. I was able to see both, maybe because I don't live in Britain
(is there a Great Firewall Of Brexit or something?)

xev show me events alright, I can press the ctrl key or similar and see
events being shown. But no matter what I pressed on the Pageturn device,
there was no event. So it looks like the "Your device could be
generating no code at all" is right on the money!

Think this device might be going back where it came from...

Frank
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 24/07/2026 08:20, Edmund wrote:

On 7/23/26 11:55 PM, FrankP wrote:

Hi

Is there any particular trick to getting a Bluetooth keyboard to work
with Linux?

Found it!

Follow these steps, I wasted weeks with a bluetooth mouse and keyboard
until I found this, which actually and finally worked!

[...]

1) Open terminal and type 'sudo bluetoothctl'

[...]

trust

[...]

Thanks Edmund. You're very good to look it up, I doubt I would have been
able to find it, I've not been on Eternal September long so Thunderbird
would not have it cached anywhere.

I followed the steps, and got as far as the trust step, and bluetoothctl reported success.

Unfortunately there was still no response when I pressed the pedal. I
tried a couple of apps including xev as mentioned by Paul, and if the
device is sending keypress events, they are not getting as far as the computer.

After bluetoothctl said "Changing 0D:7D:EE:69:CA:E9 trust succeeded", it
went "ServicesResolved: no" -> "Connected: no" -> "Connected: yes" -> "ServicesResolved: yes". But then whatever I press on the device, there
are no more messages until I power the device down, then it's "ServicesResolved: no", then "Connected: no" and the prompt changes back
from "[Thomann Pageturn]" to "[bluetooth]". That makes sense.

But there were no other messages, no keyboard events in xev, no cursor movement or changing the slide in OpenOffice Impress. AND to put salt in
it, after connecting and disconnecting the device, the laptop no longer
wakes up if the screen is closed and opened again.

Returning the device and going for another option is looking like the
most attractive option at this point!

Thanks again

Frank

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 7/24/26 11:47 PM, FrankP wrote:

On 24/07/2026 08:20, Edmund wrote:

On 7/23/26 11:55 PM, FrankP wrote:

Hi

Is there any particular trick to getting a Bluetooth keyboard to work
with Linux?

Found it!

Follow these steps, I wasted weeks with a bluetooth mouse and keyboard
until I found this, which actually and finally worked!

[...]

1) Open terminal and type 'sudo bluetoothctl'

[...]

trust

[...]

Thanks Edmund. You're very good to look it up, I doubt I would have been able to find it, I've not been on Eternal September long so Thunderbird would not have it cached anywhere.

I followed the steps, and got as far as the trust step, and bluetoothctl reported success.

Unfortunately there was still no response when I pressed the pedal. I
tried a couple of apps including xev as mentioned by Paul, and if the
device is sending keypress events, they are not getting as far as the computer.

After bluetoothctl said "Changing 0D:7D:EE:69:CA:E9 trust succeeded", it went "ServicesResolved: no" -> "Connected: no" -> "Connected: yes" -> "ServicesResolved: yes". But then whatever I press on the device, there
are no more messages until I power the device down, then it's "ServicesResolved: no", then "Connected: no" and the prompt changes back from "[Thomann Pageturn]" to "[bluetooth]". That makes sense.

But there were no other messages, no keyboard events in xev, no cursor movement or changing the slide in OpenOffice Impress. AND to put salt in
it, after connecting and disconnecting the device, the laptop no longer wakes up if the screen is closed and opened again.

Returning the device and going for another option is looking like the
most attractive option at this point!

Thanks again

Frank

Sorry to hear that, strange.
--
Once an organization gains any influence, it will be corrupted from both within and without.

Edmund
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 24/07/2026 22:47, FrankP wrote:

Returning the device and going for another option is looking like the
most attractive option at this point!

I don't know how keen you'd be on DIY. I put together a homebrew
solution: a rpi pico with wifi and a set of switches sends broadcast
packets to mark switch events. A program on the PC listens for these and converts to X events using xdotool (I found F5 to F8 convenient).
Written in python and perl respectively.
--
Mike Scott
Harlow, England
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From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On Fri, 7/24/2026 5:47 PM, FrankP wrote:

On 24/07/2026 08:20, Edmund wrote:

On 7/23/26 11:55 PM, FrankP wrote:

Hi

Is there any particular trick to getting a Bluetooth keyboard to work with Linux?

Found it!

Follow these steps, I wasted weeks with a bluetooth mouse and keyboard until I found this, which actually and finally worked!

[...]

1) Open terminal and type 'sudo bluetoothctl'

[...]

trust

[...]

Thanks Edmund. You're very good to look it up, I doubt I would have been able to find it, I've not been on Eternal September long so Thunderbird would not have it cached anywhere.

I followed the steps, and got as far as the trust step, and bluetoothctl reported success.

Unfortunately there was still no response when I pressed the pedal. I tried a couple of apps including xev as mentioned by Paul, and if the device is sending keypress events, they are not getting as far as the computer.

After bluetoothctl said "Changing 0D:7D:EE:69:CA:E9 trust succeeded", it went "ServicesResolved: no" -> "Connected: no" -> "Connected: yes" -> "ServicesResolved: yes". But then whatever I press on the device, there are no more messages until I power the device down, then it's "ServicesResolved: no", then "Connected: no" and the prompt changes back from "[Thomann Pageturn]" to "[bluetooth]". That makes sense.

But there were no other messages, no keyboard events in xev, no cursor movement or changing the slide in OpenOffice Impress. AND to put salt in it, after connecting and disconnecting the device, the laptop no longer wakes up if the screen is closed and opened again.

Returning the device and going for another option is looking like the most attractive option at this point!

Thanks again

Frank

In a Google check, multiple brands of pageturn devices stop working.
Sometimes it is the application that receives an update, that stops
it working. In the description here, it is an Accessibility setting
that affects it.

https://forscore.co/kb/full-keyboard-access/

So of all the places to check for a setting, you would check
the Accessibility interface, to see if there is anything which
affects keyboards in general.

Some people in music forums, have bought two pedals, only
to have them both malfunction the same way. It's not
necessarily the pedal doing this.

For Bluetooth devices, sometimes the Pairing procedure
is recorded in flash, and that is the part that stops
it from working. Yours does not show symptoms of that
necessarily, and that might not be it. But in past
cases of Bluetooth malfunction, that's a root cause.
That's for devices that support multiple pairings
at the same time.

Paul

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From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 25/07/2026 08:16, Edmund wrote:

On 7/24/26 11:47 PM, FrankP wrote:

On 24/07/2026 08:20, Edmund wrote:

On 7/23/26 11:55 PM, FrankP wrote:

Hi

Is there any particular trick to getting a Bluetooth keyboard to
work with Linux?

Found it!

Follow these steps, I wasted weeks with a bluetooth mouse and
keyboard until I found this, which actually and finally worked!

[...]

1) Open terminal and type 'sudo bluetoothctl'

[...]

trust

[...]

Thanks Edmund. You're very good to look it up, I doubt I would have
been able to find it, I've not been on Eternal September long so
Thunderbird would not have it cached anywhere.

I followed the steps, and got as far as the trust step, and
bluetoothctl reported success.

Unfortunately there was still no response when I pressed the pedal. I
tried a couple of apps including xev as mentioned by Paul, and if the
device is sending keypress events, they are not getting as far as the
computer.

After bluetoothctl said "Changing 0D:7D:EE:69:CA:E9 trust succeeded",
it went "ServicesResolved: no" -> "Connected: no" -> "Connected: yes"

"ServicesResolved: yes". But then whatever I press on the device,

there are no more messages until I power the device down, then it's
"ServicesResolved: no", then "Connected: no" and the prompt changes
back from "[Thomann Pageturn]" to "[bluetooth]". That makes sense.

But there were no other messages, no keyboard events in xev, no cursor
movement or changing the slide in OpenOffice Impress. AND to put salt
in it, after connecting and disconnecting the device, the laptop no
longer wakes up if the screen is closed and opened again.

Returning the device and going for another option is looking like the
most attractive option at this point!

Thanks again

Frank

Sorry to hear that, strange.

I found that it does give keyboard events IF it is connected with a USB
cable rather than bluetooth.

So I tried using it on Sunday. Borrowed a long USB cable from my
daughter -- the cable that came with the device only reaches up to my kneebone, which is not great for operating the computer with my toes.
Turns out it goes to sleep to save the battery -- at inconvenient times.
Maybe it would have more patience when connected with Bluetooth, but I
think mine has run out; I am not expecting to have a long-term
relationship with this device :-/

Frank

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From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On Mon, 7/27/2026 6:40 PM, FrankP wrote:

I found that it does give keyboard events IF it is connected with a USB cable rather than bluetooth.

So I tried using it on Sunday. Borrowed a long USB cable from my daughter -- the cable that came with the device only reaches up to my kneebone, which is not great for operating the computer with my toes. Turns out it goes to sleep to save the battery -- at inconvenient times. Maybe it would have more patience when connected with Bluetooth, but I think mine has run out; I am not expecting to have a long-term relationship with this device :-/

Frank

If it is running off a USB cable and giving data events,
then it should be able to draw current continuously from
USB VBUS and not use the battery at all. It should run
forever that way.

It is understandable, that on Bluetooth, it will have a sleep
behavior, after enough minutes have passed.

I have a Bluetooth speaker, and the solution they use there, is
an old fashioned switch. If you don't want it wasting the battery,
you can switch it off. Inside, it has a 3.7V single cell, and a
boost converter makes 5V from that.

Paul


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