Infinity USB Foot Control Setup

Support
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Hello everyone,
My apologies; I wasn’t sure which sub-category to place this post into. I’m still fairly new to Manjaro–and to Linux in general–and I’m still very much un-techy (but I like to learn how to do things, which is why I wanted to try Manjaro). I’m taking a transcription course which I had started before switching to Linux, and have recently come across a program for manual speech transcription called Parlatype that is under AUR .

When I was working on my course prior to switching to Linux, I was using a foot pedal with the software the course recommended. The foot pedal helped to pause, rewind, or fast-forward the file while I was typing. I found that Parlatype has a way to work with the foot pedal that I have (Infinity In-USB-2). https://www.parlatype.xyz/footpedals/footpedals.html Currently, I’m having to switch back and forth between the audio player (whether it be Audacity, VLC, or Parlatype) and LibreOffice Writer but finding it to be rather time-consuming.

I did some searching around and found out how to create the udev file, but I don’t understand what to do after pasting the content. I used Vim–not sure if that’s necessary info or not.

I also came across this page https://catswhisker.xyz/log/2018/8/27/use_vecinfinity_usb_foot_pedal_as_a_keyboard_under_linux/ but, unfortunately, I don’t understand it either. I tried plugging my pedal in and typed dmesg in the terminal, but this came up → dmesg: read kernel buffer failed: Operation not permitted
I typed lsusb and I’m guessing this is it right? → Bus 001 Device 017: ID 05f3:00ff PI Engineering, Inc. VEC Footpedal

So this is all a bit over my head. But I guess before I go any further, I need to know a few things:

  • Can the foot pedal even be installed on Manjaro?
  • If so, will it be possible to have it set so that I can use it without having to switch between programs?
  • If not, does anyone know of an easier way, or am I completely using the wrong distro to try to do something like this?

I hope all of this makes sense and I apologize for the story-length post :upside_down_face:
Thank you in advance!

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Dmesg is run with sudo.
Otherwise, what is written in the guide should work ok with manjaro too.

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Seems correct. It is the samevendor and device ID as in the linked website.

I am not sure, but I think it might be possible. You could try (for example) with the key codes for:

KEY_FORWARD
KEY_PLAYPAUSE
KEY_REWIND

From linux/include/uapi/linux/input-event-codes.h at master · torvalds/linux · GitHub (linked in the instructions you mention above)

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Thank you both! I got started running with sudo and that did help move me forward. It’ll take me a bit of time, but I’ll let you know where I end up :slight_smile:

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Ok, I seemed to have worked through the steps on the catwhisker website. I managed to get the Play button working, but the rewind and forward aren’t at the moment. I’ll go ahead and keep playing around with this, but it seems at least I’m moving in the right direction, so thank you again!

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When you figure out how to get those two buttons to work, post your solution here. It might help someone else with the same question.
(If the thread is locked message one of the mods)

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The little friendy green dwarfs are always ready to lock, unlock, move posts and occasionally ban a nasty evil creature from the dark woods.

P.s. except that some of us don’t have a beard, if we do not count the 3-days long “i was too groggy to shave” one. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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The Verruca Gnome (a.k.a The Hair-loss Fairy)

– Taken from one of the many worlds of Terry Pratchett

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