Using the Zoom slider on Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 for scrolling

I got the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 a while back, and thought about using the zoom slider for scrolling quite early on. After a bit of googling, it was clear that I wasn't the only one who had that idea. It did seem quite complicated though... so I kept putting it of. Now I decided to finally give it a real try, and due to some changes, it turns out to be quite simple :)

To be honest, this is not true scrolling, I'm mapping the zoom in and out to page up and down. Those buttons already exist, so some might think it redundant, but I find that the zoom slider is nicely placed in the middle of the keyboard, so it works for me. Also, you could, using this method, map it to just about any function.

The changes that have been made in Linux, in particular, the integration of systemd and udev, means that a lot of the older solutions you might find do not work. The keymap command no longer exists, for example.

1. Create a file: /etc/udev/hwdb.d/61-keyboard-local.hwdb
2. Paste the following text (exclude the "1."):
1. # Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
   keyboard:usb:v045Ep00DB*
    KEYBOARD_KEY_c022d=pageup
    KEYBOARD_KEY_c022e=pagedown
3.  In terminal, rebuild the HW DB index: sudo udevadm hwdb --update
4. Reboot
5. Your zoom in/out slider should now function as page up/down.

In case anyone is interested in how I came to this...

The reason I didn't need to fiddle about with evtest and event numbers etc, is that the work has already been done. If you look in  /lib/udev/hwdb.d/60-keyboard.hwdb, there is already an entry for this keyboard, and for these keys:

# Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
keyboard:usb:v045Ep00DB*
 KEYBOARD_KEY_c022d=zoomin
 KEYBOARD_KEY_c022e=zoomout

Now, you could just change it in that file, but that means that it will stop working if it is updated, better to add a separate file. So all that is needed is a hwdb file with a higher index (under etc rather than lib, to keep it separate). The point is that we can use the syntax, including VID, PID, and keycodes, in our new config file.

As I said in the beginning, you could map them to pretty much anything you like. I tried, but did not get scroll up/down to work for some reason... Anyway, if you feel like trying other things, here is a link to the list of key-mappings that you could use to map it to.

 

Ice Cream Cones

Here is the recipe for the cones that I made in the last post.

There was a recipe that came with the waffle iron, but it's a fair bit more complicated than this one, and I didn't have all the ingredients at the time. I might give it a try later, but for now, this is a very simple recipe for waffle cones, and it's still delicious.

This recipe makes about 5-6 ice cream cones, but you can of course double it (or more) if you like.

Ice cream cone

Ingredients
1 Egg
0,5 dl sugar
1 dl Flour
1 tbsp Vegetable oil (something without a lot of flavor, like rapeseed oil)
0,5 tsp Vanilla powder


Whisk the egg and sugar until it's fluffy (a couple of minutes at least).

Whisk in the other ingredients.

Cook in the waffle maker, and roll into cones immediately, before they harden.



 

Wilfa CC-1 Review

The Wilfa CC-1 is a waffle cone maker. It's basically the same as a waffle iron, but it produces much thinner waffles that become crisp, to make ice cream cones.

Wilfa CC-1

Having never used another waffle cone maker, I don't really have anything to compare it with. That said, it seems to work quite well. The waffles come out fairly evenly cooked, and look nice.

The problems I have with this piece of kit don't really have anything to do with the device itself.

1. The manual, it's poor. A waffle iron is a pretty simple thing, to be sure. Still, there are 2 features that stand out on the device, the red and green lights on top, and the dial in the center. Neither of these things are even mentioned in the manual that comes with it! It's not that hard to figure out (I really hope I got it right after saying that), the lights indicate if the iron is up to temperature or not, and the dial is to set the temperature. It would be nice though, to have some indication of what temperature to use! I just set it in the middle, and that seems to work quite well.
2. Do you really need to make your own waffles? It's fun and all that, but unless you plan to experiment to find the perfect recipe for your cones, or you go through a, frankly, ridiculous amount of them, I'm not entirely sure I see the point of this as compared to just buying some.

As I said though, If you are after a waffle cone maker, then this is quite a good one.

Oh, and it has a "Österdalsmönster" (this is the pattern on the waffles). Some seem to rave about this, but to be honest, personally, it doesn't really matter to me.

Cone

Actually rolling the cones turned out to be quite tricky. You have to be fast, before the waffle cools enough to harden (this happens quite quickly), meanwhile you're trying to get the cone shape without burning yourself to much... I'm sure this gets easier with practice though.

I'll come back with a recipe for the cone shown above soon.

Time for a new Distro

I've been using Linux Mint Debian Edition for a while now, and I've been pretty happy with it. But when Linux Mint 17 came out, I noticed that the version of Cinnamon that I was using was actually lower than the one used in LM17. We can't have that now can we?

I looked a little bit at Linux Deepin, which has had some press recently. It's a good looking distro, no doubt about it. In fact, I think it just might take over, from the now defunct Pear OS, as the best looking Linux distro. However, after trying it on a live USB, I came to the conclusion that it would drive me nuts in a matter of days. it's a little to Windowsey for me, and I really don't like the way the dock works.

In the end I went with Linux Mint 17. It's a safe bet, but/and it's really good.

Simple Chocolate Sauce

This is a chocolate sauce for ice cream or other desserts. It's simple, quick and delicious.

When I say that it's simple and quick, I mean that it contains 3 ingredients, and takes just a few minutes to make!

Basically... I'll never buy ready-made chocolate sauce again.

I like my chocolate sauce quite bitter, so I only use about a tablespoon of sugar, but if you like it sweeter, just add more sugar.

Chocolates sauce (over vanilla ice cream)

Ingredients
100g Dark chocolate (70%)
1 dl Water
1 tbsp - 1 dl Sugar (according to taste)


Break the chocolate into pieces, and add it and the other ingredients to a pot. Heat on a medium heat, while stirring, until the chocolate and sugar has melted and the sauce becomes even.

Tip#1: If the sauce seems a bit thick, just add a small amount of water.

Tip#2: If you have sauce left over, put it in an airtight container and place in the fridge. It'll keep for about a week. When you want it, just reheat in the microwave to re-melt it.