Bert Coules wrote:
Chris Green wrote:

You have actually tried it on a different system have you?

Sorry, but I don't know what you mean by a different system. A
different PC? I don't have one.



Boot a Linux DVD and test the keyboard there, in a textedit window.
That way, your outlay is limited to writing to a DVD for test materials.
Typically, a single layer 4.7GB DVD is sufficient for stuff like this,
and if the DVD is re-writeable, you can use it over and over again.

Something from here should suffice. You need broadband (not a
dialup modem) for tasks like this. The reason I picked 18.3, is
slightly better integration with Windows (SAMBA works decent).
Support for this will be done soon, and newer versions have
more rough edges.

https://www.linuxmint.com/release.php?id=31

Cinnamon (32-bit)
Cinnamon (64-bit)
KDE (32-bit)
KDE (64-bit)
MATE (32-bit)
MATE (64-bit)
Xfce (32-bit)
Xfce (64-bit)

If you're on Windows, look at the "System" control panel, to see
if you're using a 32 bit or 64 bit OS. Choosing 32 bit from the above
should always be safe. Using 64 bit helps from the above, if you
had gobs of RAM (3GB) and needed to be able to use all of it - for this
task, we don't care about that particularly.

On the mirror link I would use for this (I've already done one of these),
the sizes are listed. These images are all in the vicinity of 2 gigabytes,
so will take a number of minutes to download. Then, use Imgburn or similar,
to convert the ISO file into a bootable DVD. Then boot from it, and
test the keyboard.

http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/li...t/stable/18.3/

linuxmint-18.3-cinnamon-32bit.iso 24-Nov-2017 17:00 2G
linuxmint-18.3-cinnamon-64bit.iso 24-Nov-2017 13:26 2G
linuxmint-18.3-kde-32bit.iso 13-Dec-2017 15:24 2G
linuxmint-18.3-kde-64bit.iso 13-Dec-2017 15:59 2G
linuxmint-18.3-mate-32bit.iso 24-Nov-2017 18:08 2G
linuxmint-18.3-mate-64bit.iso 24-Nov-2017 14:47 2G
linuxmint-18.3-xfce-32bit.iso 13-Dec-2017 14:56 2G
linuxmint-18.3-xfce-64bit.iso 13-Dec-2017 11:48 2G
sha256sum.txt 13-Dec-2017 16:15 774
sha256sum.txt.gpg 13-Dec-2017 16:16 819

The XFCE version, might not need quite as much RAM as the others,
as the display elements are simpler. Generally today, a computer
needs at least 1.5GB RAM to stand a chance of running random distros like that.

I don't think your keyboard is broken. Time will tell.

Note: Nothing will be installed on your computer. *Do NOT* click the
INSTALL icon typically found on the upper left of the screen
when the Linux DVD boots.

Note2: Linux distros come in LiveDVD, InstallOnlyDVD, NetworkInstall,
and this one is a LiveDVD. A LiveDVD can install, but only if
you honk on that icon. The InstallOnly flavor and the NetworkInstall
flavor, start to install right away. I am pointing you at a
collection of LiveDVD.

They make books for this. If someone asks you whether they make
books, they do. I don't really know what the current version of
this is, as these are quite old. Of these two, the first is year 2006,
the second is year 2009.

http://index-of.co.uk/Linux/Linux%20...207th%20Ed.pdf

https://www.iiitd.edu.in/~amarjeet/F...mies%209th.pdf

Paul