Drevo Keyboard Bluetooth Pairing

[Cecile Lilien]

Recentlywe reviewed the Drevo Tyrfing V2, a US$60 keyboard competing with the big guns. Hot on the heels of this, across the test bench slides in the Drevo Calibur, a Bluetooth 70% tenkeyless board with a similar featureset, but smaller!

On the rear side, the rubberised legs we saw on the Tyrfing V2 make an appearance here, a welcome addition. Also noticeable is the tiny power switch. I found this switch to be almost painfully small, with the use of a sharp implement almost a requirement to turn the unit on or off. A larger switch actuator would be appreciated here.

Finally, the lithium-ion battery pack is rated at 3.8V (so a single cell), and 1500mAh. Of note is that the cell is a protected unit, with a PCB being embedded in the tab end of the cell, under the Kapton tape. This is a great safety feature, which costs only cents, but could save a product from an untimely (and even fiery) demise. Unfortunately I was not able to decipher any more information on this cell.

As mentioned above, most of the preset modes are pretty gimmicky, stuff that no normal person would use every day (I hope!). To get the most out of the RGB system, installation of the software package is needed, unfortunately.

The full spectrum of reproducible visible colours are available on each key. The inclusion of the Microsoft Paint-esque colour picker does detract a little from the visually pleasing software aesthetic.

An added bonus means that the Calibur can be paired with three different devices, and switched between the three using a key combination. You can use the same keyboard on your laptop, workstation and gaming rig, for example, without tedious pairing every time.

Holding the Fn key, along with one of Q, W or E for a few seconds enters pairing mode for that key. To pair with a different device, just turn off that system (either entirely or turn off the Bluetooth adapter) and pair the keyboard with the next device on a different key.

Here at SmallFormFactor.net we give manufacturers the ability to be part of the community. We offer a right to reply to our hardware reviews. If a manufacturer responds with any feedback or corrections, their comments will be posted here.

Pairing is a one time process, required only once. There are Bluetooth keyboards sold with a Bluetooth dongle which come already paired, but that is not certain. We will use the bluetoothctl command from bluez-utils to pair our dongle and the keyboard.

Next, put your keyboard in an active mode, where it is discoverable, i.e. pairable. Some keyboards have a special button for this on the underside, or require a special key combination to be pressed. See the documentation of your keyboard. Please note that this discoverability of a device is time limited; some devices are only visible for 30 seconds, other for 2 minutes. Your mileage may vary.

Hi, I bought a bluetooth keyboard but despite doing the connection procedure, which apparently is successful, the keyboard does not work. I have tried several times without success and trying it with windows 10 it works. Ubuntu Mate 20.04.2, [KVAGO keyboard for Tablet 10.4" Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 2020 SM-T505/T500/T507,keyboard Bluetooth Wireless],ASUS S550CB.

Solutions?

Open a terminal and run xinput list

This will list all input devices that your computer can see. Try to find the ID that match with your keyboard (if you see it on the list) and next :

xinput test (ID matches the one of your keyboard)

Next, try to type something and make some function keys, to see if xinput is printing something in the terminal.

Keep us updated

Unfortunately linux is very poorly supported. In this case I had not given weight to the indications because bluetooth keyboards are generally supported anyway. This is not the case. Strange however that it doesn't work with linux. Is there anything that can be done or is it useless to try?

Linux is not very poorly supported.

There are hiccups with exotic hardware sometimes.

When you're buying stuff that might not be plug and play with all the things going on behind the scenes (i.e., a bluetooth keyboard or a soundcard), you might want to stick to the most well known brands (for a keyboard, Logitech, HP, Dell, Lenovo, Corsair, Razer etc...) and figure out first online whether someone has already dealt with it.

If there are 95 people around the world running some piece of hardware, devs might not bother writing a driver for it.

My soundcard, an exotic one, has only been decently supported by the kernel for about a year. It was a bummer, especially since a revamped model came out a few months after I bought it and was usb class 1 (= supported out of the box on Linux). Had I been running Linux at the time, I would have bought something else I guess instead of having to boot the annoying operating system every time I wanted to use it.

Anyway, if Linux is your thing, check online first before buying new hardware.

There are people here every week complaining the newest disposable laptop with Celeron + soldered ram + slow emmc doesn't work properly when they could have bought a powerful and maintainable refurbished business laptop perfectly supported on Linux for the same price.

Just look for "Linux bluetooth keyboard" on Amazon and search for "linux" in the user comments.

You should quickly find whether it is compatible with Linux or not.

Logitech K380 should not be a bad pick.

I proceeded to install mate on an external drive from scratch. I tried to plug in the keyboard and it works. The only problem is that it loses the connection after a short period of non-use. Obviously with the installation of mate that I have on the computer there is some software that conflicts with the bluetooth manager. Suggestions on how to understand which one it is? Is there any solution to the connection loss?

I agree, a few minute of research can save hours of frustration. And surprisingly Microsoft Keyboards have usually been Linux compliant for many years. I learned this lesson when buying a Bluetooth dongle for a laptop that did not have Bluetooth years ago.

Unfortunately only partially. The problem on the PC is not solved, I just verified that on a new installation the problem is partially solved. Reinstalling everything is complicated and takes a long time without being sure that there is a real solution.

I also tried to reinstall all the packages for the bluetooth but it was not conclusive.

Any other suggestions?

One would assume this code is meant to direct users to either online documentation or software. However, when I scanned the code with my phone it opened up a completely unrelated messaging app in the Google Play Store. Not all that helpful.

Thankfully the Anne Pro subreddit has a downloads page that links to all the important software, digital manuals and firmware updates available for the Anne Pro. They also have many guides from various users. This is where I recommend you start after first receiving your keyboard.

The Anne Pro is a 60% mechanical keyboard in ANSI layout with all keys being of standard size. 60% keyboards are designed to be a compact form factor with only 61 total keys. This layout drops the numpad, navigation cluster and F row to achieve a much smaller footprint while still remaining fully functional through the use of modifier keys. This enhances ergonomics while allowing more space for the mouse.

In physical proportions the Anne Pro measures 11.5 inches in length (left to right) and 4 inches deep (front to back). The keyboard has a natural incline, meaning it is taller in the back than the front. At its tallest section it stands approximately 1.65 inches off the desk and the shortest is a little over half an inch high. The keyboard itself (without detachable cable) weighed in at 1 pound 4.8 ounces.

As with the majority of smaller mechanical keyboards, the Anne Pro makes use of a Fn key. The F row is accessed through the function layer of the number row. Either WASD or IJKL can be used as arrow keys. The RTYU function layer operates the various backlight settings and the nav cluster (Page Up/Down, Insert, Delete etc.) takes up the right side of the board. Setup and pairing of the keyboard over Bluetooth is accomplished with Fn + B.

One of the main selling points of this board is wireless support over Bluetooth. However, it also includes a detachable Micro USB cable. The cable is used for charging and wired connectivity when Bluetooth is disabled or unavailable.

The cable connects at the top left side of the keyboard. There are no cable gutters or other methods of cable management. The Micro USB cable itself has a flat profile with a black rubber coating. Resembles a SATA cable in design and seems to be of high quality. It measures roughly 6 feet in length, plenty long enough for most desk setups.

A small hole can also be seen on the bottom of the case. This allows access to the reset switch just in case you get a little too wild with customization and need to reset back to the factory default settings.

There are a few premade default backlight modes that can be accessed and adjusted without the app. Fn + the RTYU keys allows basic backlight modification in the following ways:

Press Fn + B to exit Bluetooth mode. Your device is now ready to be used with the Anne Pro. You can pair up to four devices on the included profiles and seamlessly switch between them using keys 1-4 while in Bluetooth mode.

The Anne Pro makes use of SMD-LED compatible Gateron switches. Gateron produces what is widely considered the best MX compatible clone switch. Many enthusiasts even consider them better than authentic Cherry MX switches. Gateron linear switches are generally smoother with less friction and scratchiness compared to Cherry MX switches.

The switch housings are clear/semi-transparent. This is a good property to have on a mechanical keyboard with backlit keys. It creates brighter, more uniform backlighting as it allows more light to disperse from the LED.

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