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. 

Vanilla Ice Cream

I know it's basic, but at the same time, a really good vanilla ice cream, is just about the greatest thing there is...

And of course, it works as a basis of other flavors (I used this as a basis for my recipe for Earl Greay Ice Cream).

Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients
2 dl Milk
3 dl Whipping cream
1 tbsp Glucose syrup
6 Egg yolks
1,25 dl Sugar
1 Vanilla pod
1 Gelatin sheet

Place the gelatin sheet in a bowl of cold water to soften.


Split the vanilla pod down the middle and scrape out the seeds. Pour the cream, milk, glucose syrup, vanilla seeds and vanilla pod into a pot and mix. Bring it to a boil, while stirring, as soon as it starts boiling, take it off the heat. Let it sit for about 20 minutes to infuse.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl.

Whisk the milk-mixture into the eggs, and pour into a clean pot. Heat, while constantly stirring, until it thickens and the froth on top disappears (80-85°C, no higher).

Take the pot of the heat, and dunk the bottom of the pot into a bowl of cold water (or just fill your sink to 10cm or so with cold water, and use that). The point is to take the heat out of the pot so that the custard doesn't keep cooking.

While the custard is still hot, take the gelatin sheet out of the cold water, and squeeze it so get rid of as much water as you can. Add it to the custard and whisk it in.

Strain the custard into a clean bowl, and set in the fridge to cool.

Once it's cooled, at least to room temperature, churn in the ice cream machine.

LMDE Review

I've been using Linux Mint, on and off, for a number of years now, and I really like it. For quite a while I was on Linux Mint 16 (I realize that 17 just came out), but a couple of months ago I decided to give LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) a try. 

Linux Mint Debian Edition

Linux Mint Debian Edition, or LMDE, is a version of the very popular distribution Linux Mint. While the "normal", numbered, editions of Linux Mint are based of Ubuntu, LMDE is based on Debian Testing instead. Aside from what distro they are based on, the idea is that they should be the same.

First off, the installation procedure. It's different from the Ubuntu-based version, but I actually prefer this one. The Ubuntu installer (and the slightly modified one used in the main version of Linux Mint) is simply great, it's simple, intuitive, and looks nice to boot. The only problem I have with it, is that it's, in a sense, too simple. I feel like I'm not really the one in control, but rather I have to trust in that the Ubuntu team has done things correctly.

The LMDE installer still provides a nice, simple interface for installation. It does not by any means require you to be an expert in order to install it. It does show you a little bit more of what is going on, and provides you with just that little bit of added control of the process, which means that it feels very comfortable to use.

Once installed, there are only 2 visible indications that anything is different from the "normal" version. The first is the background, which has a Debian logo instead of the number of the LM version. Personally, I think the Debian logo looks better. The second is the font used for menu-button, icons, etc. Here I go the other way, the Ubuntu-based versions font is better. LMDE's font seems somehow smaller and thinner, making it slightly less readable. It is by no means a disaster, but it's not quite as good as the original.

For everyday use, things run smoothly and quickly, there is no sense that you are using a distro that is inferior to the Ubuntu-based version. The settings app and program manager look no different from that found in the "normal" version.

After a couple of months of use, I've only really found one bug. It's in the regional settings, and it's not as if that is something that you tend to mess with a lot.

I had a bit of trouble installing BankID due to the repositories being different from the Ubuntu-based ones. But then BankID is kind of a special case. I imagine that other applications which do not come from the default repositories might have similar problems in terms of dependencies.

All in all, I have to say that the Linux Mint team has succeeded very well in making LMDE the same as the "normal" version. There are a couple of very minor downsides, but then there is a major upside as well - LMDE is rolling distribution, which means that there is no need to reinstall when a new version becomes available. This seems especially beneficial now that Ubuntu only has 9 months support on their non-LTS versions. Only 9 months support means that you need to either run the LTS version, or reinstall every time a new version comes out (which has its own charm). I hear that Linux Mint may start to base each of their versions only on the Ubuntu LTS, so we'll see where that goes.

For now though, I'm sticking with LMDE. It is definitely good enough, that I don't see any reason to return to the numbered versions. And really, I don't think that there is any higher praise to give than that.