Open source kept my 2009 Logitech G19 alive

TL;DR: Fixed a long-standing bug in the Linux driver for my 2009 Logitech G19. Instead of replacing perfectly good hardware, I repaired the software. This is why I love Linux and open source.

Today I fixed a bug in the Linux driver for my Logitech G19.

What makes this special is that the keyboard was released in 2009.

Logitech stopped supporting it years ago, but thanks to an open-source project called g19daemon, the keyboard still works under Linux.

One feature never worked correctly for me: the G-keys could only be triggered once and then stopped responding as expected. The issue had been reported before, but nobody seemed to know the root cause.

After digging through the code, tracing the event handling and testing different approaches, I finally found the bug and fixed it.

Now the G-keys, media keys, volume wheel, mute button, LCD display and backlight controls all work properly on a modern Linux system.

Moments like this remind me why I love Linux and open source.

A 17-year-old piece of hardware is not obsolete when the source code is available and people are willing to understand how things work.

Instead of replacing the keyboard, I repaired the software.

That's freedom.

https://redd.it/1tze9pd
@r_linux