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Logitech Announces Gaming Keyboard G110

Bart Salisbury — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:21:55 -0500

It’s not going to help my game, but it just might yours: Logitech has introduced a new gaming keyboard, the G110. The G110 takes a big numerical leap over the Logitech’s existing G15 and G19 keyboards, and comes with some interesting new features--new for Logitech anyhow.

The G110 personalization starts with backlit keys, in your choice of red, blue, or any combination of red and blue (which makes purple!). There are 12 programmable “G-keys” and three “M-keys” which allow you to assign up to 26 single keystrokes, multi-key macros, or complex LUA scripts for each game you play. Logitech’s contribution to the keyboard arms race is the inclusion of integrated USB audio, simplifying the hook-ups for in-game chatter.

Logitech expects to have the G110 in the stores in November for a suggested retail price of $79.99.

Image Credit: Logitech

Freeware Files: Five New Tools for Your Virtual Toolbox!

David Murphy — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:30:00 -0500

With the imminent launch of Windows 7 and its much-hyped Windows XP mode, the word "virtualization" is going to be everyone's lips throughout the month of October. Never one to let a fad slide on by, I'm jumping on the bandwagon in this week's freeware and open-source application roundup. I'll be taking a look at five different programs that enrich your computing experience with some kind of virtual add-on.

What does that even mean? A number of things. Windows XP mode is a great example of the common definition of virtualization--running a second operating system inside your primary operating system in a way that typically allows you to quickly switch between the two and access the contents of your primary machine's hard drives from the virtualized environment.

Virtual desktops are a lesser derivative of this concept. Instead of running a separate operating system, you're merely extending the size of your workspace by stacking on additional desktop layers that you can swap back-and-forth. You can also install a virtual keyboard that sits overtop your programs--analogous to what Windows offers for tablet PCs--if you're concerned about keyloggers somehow getting their hands on your mission-critical information.

I won't go on, as that might spoil some of the fun applications listed below. The virtual world, er, world of virtualized software is vast and interesting, featuring many applications that can expand your computer's functionality without adding a crazy amount of complexity. The coolness of these apps is only rivaled by their ability to save you precious time and headaches from doing things the old-fashioned way. Let's go exploring!

VirtuaWin

As mentioned above, VirtuaWin is the open-source program that allows you to create multiple desktops on a single operating system. You can switch between your desktops, or workspaces, using a handy little taskbar icon or preset keyboard hotkeys, although you can also set the program to swap over to a new workspace whenever you hover your mouse near the edge of a screen. Sending applications from desktop to desktop is as easy as clicking the taskbar icon or using the hotkeys as well. You can also drag a window over the "gutter" between your desktops, then swap over to the other side and pull that half of the window over to the new screen.

The downside? VirtuaWin doesn't create new desktops per se, in that your icons and background will look identical from screen to screen. Still, this program is a great organizational tool. It's nice to see Windows finally getting the same treatment that Linux has had for how long now?

Download it here!

Neo's SafeKeys 2008

If there's one thing that strikes fear in the computer-savvy traveler, it's having to use an unsecured terminal somewhere to access one's important, password-protected information. Who knows what could be lurking on a PC over which you have no control or supervision? Neo's SafeKeys 2008 attempts to relieve the stress of having to use potentially infected systems by giving you a virtual keyboard for inputting your sensitive information (think logins and passwords). It's not foolproof, but it does provide a measure of security from keyloggers using a whole swath of measures: clicked-on keys aren't translated to real-life key presses, the utility changes height and width to fool mouse-loggers, and you can even hover over keys you want to input instead of pressing the mouse button to thwart would-be screen-grabbers.

Like I said, this program isn't going to be the James Bond of safeguards against someone who's using a number of fancy techniques to steal your sensitive information. However, I'd much rather use Neo's SafeKeys 2008 than just type my password onto a provided physical keyboard. Yikes!

Download it here!

MobaLiveCD

It's not the fastest virtual environment around in terms of raw application speed, but MobaLiveCD puts up a fight for the title of fastest-loading. That's because this one-shot, single-executable application lets you launch into LiveCD-based operating systems at the touch of a button, right in the middle of your pre-existing Windows environment! If you're trying to save yourself coasters by installing your Live CDs straight onto bootable USB keys, you can use MobaLiveCD to launch into said operating systems without having to reboot your PC. The program can also launch a LiveCD-based OS from the .iso file you'd otherwise use to burn said CD.

Download it here!

Visual Subst

For convenience's sake, Virtual Subst allows you to take any folder on your system and mount it as if it was its own virtual hard drive. While the functionality is somewhat negated by the "Favorite Links" section in Windows Explorer, you have to dig a little deeper to see the true genius of Visual Subst. For example, pretend that you've mapped all of your iTunes music to the X:\ drive. The actual folder that corresponds to said virtual hard drive can be located anywhere on your PC, and you can move it around to anywhere else you want without any problem. To iTunes, your music will always exist in a single location--X:\. For you, however, you can shift and shuffle your files to your heart's content, provided you always point the final destination back to your trusty virtual drive of choice. That's just one thought--the mapping possibilities are endless!

Download it here!

VirtualBox

I would be remiss as an app-reviewer if I didn't mention VirtualBox, the oft-heralded free application of choice that allows you to load and launch any number of operating systems in a virtual environment. Essentially, this program will perform nearly the same functions as Windows 7's Virtual XP Mode. It offers you greater configurability and increased support for operating systems beyond Microsoft's own creations. You can also rollback changes you've made with an included snapshot mode, an ideal feature for those looking use a virtualized operating system as a clean test platform for new applications. Nothing against the Windows Virtual PC application--VirtualBox just offers more bang for your $0 worth of buck.

Download it here!

David Murphy (@ Acererak) is a technology journalist and former Maximum PC editor. He writes weekly columns about the wide world of open-source as well as weekly roundups of awesome, freebie software. Befriend him on Twitter, especially if you have an awesome app or game you're dying to recommend!

Murphy's Law: Freeware Fight! Synergy vs. Input Director

David Murphy — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:30:00 -0500

A KVM switch sounds like it has the potential to be a complicated piece of hardware. It's not. Without this most charitable of devices, you wouldn't be able to make use of more than one computer with a single keyboard and mouse. Your desk would be cluttered with input devices of all shapes and sizes, your ambitions of multi-boxing your own 40-man World of Warcraft raid would be dashed, and you wouldn't be able to slack off at your place of business nearly as discretely. After all, the entire point of a KVM switch is that it requires some kind of physical response--like whacking a button on the device--to switch a set of input devices between different desktops connected to the switch.

Why does this matter? Well, I don't have a KVM switch, but I do use a piece of software that's just as good: Synergy. This little open-source app has been my virtual KVM switch of choice for awhile now, but its time is just as quickly fading into the limelight. A new sheriff is in town, and he goes by the name of Input Director. Both programs allow you to control multiple, independent desktops (or laptops) using a single keyboard and mouse sans any "switching over" whatsoever--it's as if you just have a giant, spanned desktop across your systems.

Since Synergy has been at the top of everyone's must-have lists for some time (including Will's!), I thought it might be prudent to walk through the additional benefits and heartwarming fixes that Input Director brings to the party. Throw up the dukes!

Round One: Supported Operating Systems

Winner: Synergy

Admittedly, the antiquated Synergy pulls off a victory in the operating systems department. Both Input Director and Synergy work with versions of Windows as far back as Windows 2000. The latter, however, supports Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME--but that's not exactly why it gets the head-nod in this department, given the very, very few of you likely running any operating system that old. Synergy also functions in Apple's OSX 10.2 or higher... provided you can stomach your sacrilege at the thought of using this non-Windows OS (just reaching out to the site commenters on that one).

Round Two: Ease of use

Winner: Tie

This category is a little tough to work with, as both programs are pretty simple to use. You can set each to autorun once Windows loads up, and each will attempt to make a connection (or establish hosting) for whatever client/server or slave/master setup you've previously configured. It's as easy as that. Once the program verifies that a connection has been made, illustrated by the changed icon in your taskbar, then you'll be able to zip and zoom your mouse across as many screens as you want. Ta-da.

Round Three: Configuration/Features

Winner: Input Director (by a mile)

Synergy

This category's a biggie. Synergy's options are only configurable via the first screen that loads when you launch the program. After you've elected to connect to a server PC or set up your system as the client, that's it--like a racehorse, Synergy is off and running, and you have to quit and reload the program just to configure the options once again.

As for what you can configure, there's the paltry list of connection options like "Screen Name" and "port" -- nothing fancy there. As a host, you use a confusing series of text-based comparisons to establish how the screens of your systems are set up: "0 to 100% of Computer A goes to 0 to 100% of Computer B," for example. You can synchronize screen savers across the connected PCs and set a certain time interval (in milliseconds) of how long the system should wait with your mouse at the edge before switching over to the other screen. You can also assign hotkeys for functions like quick screen-switching and cursor-locking.

It sounds like a lot, but these options make up what one could consider a "lite to standard" package for an application of this type.

Input Director

For starters, Input Director can be reconfigured on-the-fly: You don't have to break your link between PCs to adjust a setting, nor do you have to then reconnect all your systems to see if it works. Synergy has the annoying habit of sometimes giving up, in that quitting and reloading the server PC's application doesn't always mean that the client PCs will reconnect sans error. Input Director goes through momentary losses in connectivity and reconnections flawlessly.

Input Director users can switch a PC between a preconfigured "Master" and "Slave" setup on-the-fly as well. When you're running your system as a Master configuration, adding new computers to your giant, spanned desktop is as easy as typing in their hostname and port and dragging an icon representing the PC to the left or right of an icon of your Master system. That's it. There are no crazy numbers or screen percentages to configure--this simple solution eliminates confusion when setting up your systems.

Not only does Input Director support connected systems' multi-monitor setups, but you can also connect PCs under a 128-bit, 192-bit, or 256-bit AES encryption protocol. As a further measure of security, Slave systems can further specify allowed masters by IP subnet or hostname. A fun option in the settings window will match up the LEDs on your keyboard (Number Lock, Scroll Lock, etc.) to the status of the buttons on the Slave device. You can also set up hotkeys that will block switching over to a new screen--useful if you're working right to the edge of your Master system.

Finally, there's the clipboard. Clipboard sharing is, in theory, enabled in Synergy. You're supposed to be able to copy and paste text from one computer to another, but in practice, I frequently found that this was a one-way path. Text would copy from a server to a client PC without error, but could never quite make it the other way around. In contrast, Input Director's clipboard-sharing feature works near-flawlessly. You still can't do more advanced treatments like copy screenshots from one PC to the other (if only), but I'm rarely lacking the ability to copy a piece of code or funny URL from different linked PCs.

Round Four: Oops

Winner: Input Director

I've been switching between Synergy and Input Director on and off in an effort to determine which one is a more stable choice of applications for screen- and input device-sharing. Synergy works pretty well, but there have definitely been times when either the host or slave device has simply stopped responding. Synergy will try to reconnect, but the resulting link doesn't always work flawlessly.

Input lag is Synergy's dreaded nemesis. Little is more frustrating than having your mouse cursor pause for seconds at a time when you switch between screens, and it happens frequently enough to affect Synergy's overall performance. The only way to restore access when this happens is to wait out the time or, for the impatient, mash ctrl+alt+delete and click cancel. Input Director has yet to lose signal out of the blue or suffer from lag in any fashion when hopping between connected PCs. For that, it takes this round.

Final Score: Input Director (3) Synergy (2)

But, really, for its stability and easy-to-use configurations, the score is more like Input Director (3,000), Synergy (2). Make the switch today. Download Input Director here!

Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard

Logan Decker — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:44:38 -0500

Bringing out the big guns

If you ask a gun enthusiast why he needs that M4 SOPMOD to hunt squirrel, you’re asking the wrong question. It’s not that the average squirrel in the Adirondacks is on PCP and likely to require two magazines to put down; it’s that the M4 SOPMOD is a fine and uniquely crafted weapon regardless of whether it ever sees action worthy of its true potential. So, please, don’t ask us why you’d want to spend $200 on a keyboard with up to 36 macros available across 12 programmable macro keys (recordable on the fly from the keyboard itself), customizable keyboard backlighting, and even a 320x240 color display. If you’re a gamer, understand that you’re buying more power than you may ever need, but absolutely should have.

The key action is cush and quiet (preferred by most gamers and characteristic of Logitech’s boards), and the plastic is smooth yet never slippery beneath sweaty digits. The keyboard itself includes a hardware switch to disable the Windows key, and both macro and function keys are slightly elevated for easier nailing. We appreciate the slightly larger than usual Mute button below the media control keys to the upper right, and love the barrel-style volume control (if only it were reprogrammable for use as a scrubber or dial).

The G19 keyboard is sweet, but it ain't cheap.

The 2.5-inch tiltable LCD is surprisingly crisp and bright—certainly good enough for movies and recorded TV and whatever else you’ve got in your My Videos folder. The bundled applications for the LCD (including an image viewer, RSS feed and POP3 displays, and CPU utilization monitor) work right out of the box and—unlike your second monitor—independently from the OS. They’re also navigable from the keyboard itself, so you don’t have to Alt-Tab out of a game to fast-forward through a TV show or read the story behind a headline, for instance. Of course, games may also use the auxiliary display (and the ones that do, do so automatically—nice), but this support must be provided by the developer, and the list of games remains fairly modest. Sure, it’s easy to think of the display as a superfluous and expensive feature, but once you’ve passed a few moments during a long jaunt or loading screen by reading email or watching YouTube, a keyboard without an auxiliary screen seems like a pet with one eye; still lovable, but a bit sad.

So much attention was paid to detail (macros, for example, can record up to five simultaneous key presses, and the keyboard still works if you don’t plug in the power adapter for the display) that it’s strange that the G19 lacks adjustable risers, or headphone/mic jacks next to the dual USB 2.0 ports. But those are annoying but manageable deficits in an otherwise precise and beautifully executed slab of overkill.

Freeware Files: A Case of the Keyboard Krazies!

David Murphy — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:30:00 -0500

How jacked up is your keyboard? Do you have one of those super-fancy, 800+ button, LCD-screen, lit-up, wheeled contraptions that's less an input device, more a control panel at a nuclear power plant? If so, you're probably the kind of person who doesn't need the apps I'm about to list out in this week's freeware roundup. Unless, that is, you're also one of those people (including yours truly) who have a ton of buttons and options to play with, yet no resolve to actually go about mapping this to that.

And if you're just rocking a plain ol' keyboard, I hope you're sitting down because you're in for a world of difference. The applications I'm profiling today are all keyboard-focused, and they all seek to add some kind of additional, awesome functionality to (or based on) your default button layouts. Launch programs! Use your keyboard media buttons to control all of your media players! Look up every Adobe-related shortcut within the span of seconds!

All that, and more, await you in this week's freeware and open-source software roundup. Let's get started.

Media Keyboard 2 Media Player

If you've been a freeware and open-source aficionado when it comes to your media players, you might have found that a number of third-party programs just don't work with the media keys on your keyboard. You can jam play, pause, or skip track all you want--nothing happens. Although it's still in its infancy, Media Keyboard 2 Media Player allows you to get some use out of these dead keys by transforming your button-pushing into the actual hotkey combinations for your other media player apps. Unfortunately, only XMPlay, VLC, and Winamp are supported right now. Here's hoping a more universal solution will pop up in the future!

Download it here

Winlayout

The description of this one is simple. Winlayout lets you control your open windows using your number pad. The program doesn't work perfectly with Windows 7 right now, but other than that, it's a quick way to send windows flying around your desktop screen with the mash of a button. More than 30 separate actions, including window resizing, are launched by combinations of the windows key and number pad buttons

Download it here

ActiveHotkeys

So, suppose you're using a fancy program like AutoHotkey to build increased functionality into your keyboard through the use of customized hotkeys. Or, for that matter, suppose you want to change up the hotkeys of any given program? You can select whatever you want, but what happens when you pick a hotkey combination that's in use by another program or application? Short answer: Chaos. Avoid this fate by using ActiveHotkeys to check out which hotkeys on your system are in use or not. The app doesn't tell you which program has claimed the key combination, but at least you'll know that your freshly assigned ALT-T hotkey will load up a new tab rather than your favorite Mr. T application.

Download it here

Adobe Shortcut App

Design enthusiasts take note: If you're one of the lucky to afford any bits or pieces of Adobe's Creative Suite, you'll know that a wealth of functionality can be called up in these applications with but a few hits from your fingertips. And you should equally know that there's little more frustrating than your mad attempts to find the correct key combination for a feature you've previously used and since forgotten. The Adobe Shortcut App solves these problems with its easy-to-use search functionality for Adobe keyboard shortcuts. Not only can you search for and switch between PC and Mac versions of the shortcuts, but you can create your own favorites list for frequently used shortcuts that you want to keep fresh at your command.

Download it here

ControlPad

If you thought the aforementioned Winlayout was lame--the program that allows you to resize windows with your number pad--then perhaps you'll find a bit of joy in this other application that makes even better use of said number pad. In this case, ControlPad transforms your number pad into a launching station. Start by assigning a numerical identifier to a particular task, like opening up new applications or sending a particular series of keystrokes to the OS. From there, you simply have to hold the * key on the number pad for a second or so, then enter the code you just created in the window that appears. Your command then executes, opening up your favorite files or launching your favorite games in a fraction of the time it would normally take.

Download it here

USB Keyboard Woes

The Maximum PC Staff — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:30:53 -0500

I have a problem booting from my Windows XP installation disc. When I installed Windows XP for the first time, I didn’t have any problems. I could see “press any button to boot from CD,” and pressing the button would start the installation process. As soon as Windows XP is installed, I reboot and I see “press any button to start from CD,” but nothing happens when I press a button, and it loads Windows from the hard drive, not the installation CD. It looks like the keyboard isn’t recognized.

I have a Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI motherboard and a Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 videocard. My processor is an AMD 64 X2 4800.

—Vitaliy Kakorin

We’ve run into this problem with Gigabyte motherboards before. The keyboard isn’t recognized because some motherboards disable their USB support by default. You’ll need to go into the BIOS to fix it.

First, you will need a PS/2 keyboard or PS/2 keyboard adapter. Now, if you want, you can just use the PS/2 keyboard instead of the USB keyboard, but you probably like your USB keyboard and want to keep it. So here’s how.

Turn off your computer, unplug the USB keyboard and plug in a PS/2 keyboard. Turn on your computer and press the Delete key to enter the BIOS. Go to the Integrated Peripherals menu and make sure both Onboard USB Controller and USB Keyboard Support are enabled. Also try Legacy USB Support if that option appears. Exit the BIOS, saving your changes, and turn off your computer. Swap in your USB keyboard and see if that fixes it.

SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION Are flames shooting out of the back of your rig? First, grab a fire extinguisher and douse the flames. Once the pyrotechnic display has fizzled, email the doctor at doctor@maximumpc.com for advice on how to solve your technological woes.

Thin is In: Microsoft Unveils Super Skinny Keyboard for Bluetooth PCs

Paul Lilly — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:35:12 -0500

Microsoft today unveiled what it claims is its thinnest keyboard ever, the Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000. As the name suggests, the new plank is aimed exclusively at Bluetooth notebooks and desktop PCs, with Bluetooth-enabled notebooks projected to account for more than 55 percent of all laptops by the end of 2010, Microsoft says.

"The design tenets of compact, clean, and refined really set the state for the success of the keyboard," said Chris Kujawski, industrial designer for Microsoft Hardware. "There is nothing extraneous about the design. We removed everything that didn't fit with those ideas and ended up with something we're really proud of -- a compact, sophisticated keyboard that pairs perfectly with Bluetooth computers."

Measuring "just a few millimeters thicker than a AAA battery at the back," the Bluetooth 6000 sports an ergonomic design with a 6-degree curve, a design Microsoft says is preferred by 94 percent of users who have ever owned a Comfort Curve keyboard.

The Bluetooth plank will be available in October for $90. There will also be a separate Bluetooth Number Pad, which is also be available next month, and priced at $45.

Image Credit: Microsoft

Asus Readies Ion-Based Nettop and Eee Keyboard for Fall Launch

Paul Lilly — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:10:31 -0500

According to news and rumor site DigiTimes, Asus plans to keep busy this fall launching a number of new products. Among them are an Nvidia Ion-based Eee Box, Eee Top all-in-one PC, and two ultra-thin notebooks under its U/UX series.

The 20-inch Eee Top will come with an Intel dual-core Atom 330 processor and cost around $670. Details on the Ion-based rig remain sparse, though it will reportedly sell for a little over $300. Both of these -- along with the ultra-thin notebooks -- will launch in September.

A month later, Asus plans to launch the Eee Keyboard for somewhere between $400 and $500. The Eee Keyboard will work as a fully-functional PC and sport a wireless connection hub.

Image Credit: Asus