Keycroc does not work with Cherry Keyboard

[soh_hos]

Hello,

my Keycroc does not work with Cherry Keyboards. I investigated the problem, and found in "croc_framework" a line which is checking the lsusb command for the keyword "Linux".

But the cherry Keyboard gets registered at the croc as "Bus 005 Device 002: ID 046a:0023 Cherry GmbH CyMotion Master Linux Keyboard G230", so it can't detect it. Could you please fix this issue or tell me how I can fix it? If I adjust the check for "Linux" it unfortunately still doesn't work.

 

[soh_hos]

I just realized there is also no /dev/hidraw entry created after plugging in the keyboard.

udevadm monitor gives the following output after pluging in the keyboard:

KERNEL[6362.875459] add      /devices/platform/sunxi-ohci.3/usb5/5-1 (usb)
UDEV  [6362.880792] add      /devices/platform/sunxi-ohci.3/usb5/5-1 (usb)
KERNEL[6362.883571] add      /devices/platform/sunxi-ohci.3/usb5/5-1/5-1:1.0 (usb)
KERNEL[6362.883767] add      /devices/platform/sunxi-ohci.3/usb5/5-1/5-1:1.0/0003:046A:0023.000F (hid)
KERNEL[6362.885949] add      /devices/platform/sunxi-ohci.3/usb5/5-1/5-1:1.1 (usb)
KERNEL[6362.886136] add      /devices/platform/sunxi-ohci.3/usb5/5-1/5-1:1.1/0003:046A:0023.0010 (hid)
KERNEL[6362.887399] add      /devices/platform/sunxi-ohci.3/usb5/5-1/usb_device/usbdev5.9 (usb_device)
UDEV  [6362.896844] add      /devices/platform/sunxi-ohci.3/usb5/5-1/usb_device/usbdev5.9 (usb_device)
UDEV  [6362.897077] add      /devices/platform/sunxi-ohci.3/usb5/5-1/5-1:1.1 (usb)
UDEV  [6362.901598] add      /devices/platform/sunxi-ohci.3/usb5/5-1/5-1:1.1/0003:046A:0023.0010 (hid)
UDEV  [6362.906653] add      /devices/platform/sunxi-ohci.3/usb5/5-1/5-1:1.0 (usb)
UDEV  [6362.911654] add      /devices/platform/sunxi-ohci.3/usb5/5-1/5-1:1.0/0003:046A:0023.000F (hid)

And here is the output of lsusb:
 

root@croc:/usr/local/croc# lsusb -vd 046a:0023

Bus 005 Device 011: ID 046a:0023 Cherry GmbH CyMotion Master Linux Keyboard G230
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0
  bDeviceProtocol         0
  bMaxPacketSize0         8
  idVendor           0x046a Cherry GmbH
  idProduct          0x0023 CyMotion Master Linux Keyboard G230
  bcdDevice            2.20
  iManufacturer           0
  iProduct                0
  iSerial                 0
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           59
    bNumInterfaces          2
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0
    bmAttributes         0xa0
      (Bus Powered)
      Remote Wakeup
    MaxPower              100mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass         3 Human Interface Device
      bInterfaceSubClass      1 Boot Interface Subclass
      bInterfaceProtocol      1 Keyboard
      iInterface              0
        HID Device Descriptor:
          bLength                 9
          bDescriptorType        33
          bcdHID               1.11
          bCountryCode            0 Not supported
          bNumDescriptors         1
          bDescriptorType        34 Report
          wDescriptorLength      65
         Report Descriptors:
           ** UNAVAILABLE **
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            3
          Transfer Type            Interrupt
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0008  1x 8 bytes
        bInterval              10
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass         3 Human Interface Device
      bInterfaceSubClass      0 No Subclass
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 None
      iInterface              0
        HID Device Descriptor:
          bLength                 9
          bDescriptorType        33
          bcdHID               1.11
          bCountryCode            0 Not supported
          bNumDescriptors         1
          bDescriptorType        34 Report
          wDescriptorLength      52
         Report Descriptors:
           ** UNAVAILABLE **
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            3
          Transfer Type            Interrupt
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0008  1x 8 bytes
        bInterval              10
Device Status:     0x0000
  (Bus Powered)

Any ideas?

[soh_hos]

Could it be a missing kernel setting like in this post? https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-951448.html

[lartsch]

I would really like to try and enable this kernel settings, but I am unsure how to rebuild the current kernel. Can anyone assists on that?

[Irukandji]

8 months later... It's a little bit late.

[chrizree]

Well, if it's still not solved, how can it be too late? As I understand it, there is work being done on getting the Croc to better accept different types of keyboards. It has for sure been a bit picky this far.

[soh_hos]

Is there maybe a tool to modify the kernel settings while the os is not booted? @Darren Kitchen

[lartsch]

4 hours ago, soh_hos said:

Is there maybe a tool to modify the kernel settings while the os is not booted? @Darren Kitchen

That would be perfect. With a framework/firmware that was not updated in more than a year, with plenty of bugs / missing features, it would be nice to be able to do modifications on all levels of the firmware/OS.

[soh_hos]

3 years later and still no answer by hak5 or at least a firmware upgrade for the several croc issues and the deprecated packages that are installed on it. This is how you make customers happy 👍

If anybody thinks about buying this thing please DON'T DO IT. This is no final product. Maximum an alpha version to play around and burn hours of your time if you plan to use this as an company

Edited May 9 by soh_hos

[Irukandji]

This is a community forum. It says on the tin.

[lartsch]

On 5/9/2023 at 8:39 PM, soh_hos said:

3 years later and still no answer by hak5 or at least a firmware upgrade for the several croc issues and the deprecated packages that are installed on it. This is how you make customers happy 👍

If anybody thinks about buying this thing please DON'T DO IT. This is no final product. Maximum an alpha version to play around and burn hours of your time if you plan to use this as an company

I second this. There were several statements that there will be firmware updates (of which some were posted publicly by Darren in this forum), which were never fulfilled. Users also requested the source code to be fully released, which also never happened. The firmware is buggy as hell and not everything can be fixed from the framework files alone. Heck, just drop the code on Github and everything would be fine or at least bearable.  I am heavily disappointed by the lack of support of Hak5 and we as a company have switched to other manufacturers, since we cannot rely on Hak5. You sell full-priced products that can by no means be called ready for production and then refuse to release updates or the source, even though some fixes for important bugs have been posted on this forum and on Github and there are users willing to fix your dirty work if it would be possible.

Edited May 15 by lartsch

[Olivier]

The croc is even based on Debian Jessie. There are no updates since June 2020.