Logitech K830 HTPC keyboard

I recently got a Logitech K830 HTPC keyboard. Have not got a lot of time to play with it but here are some quick observations:

+ just WORKS with Linux (Kodibuntu = Lubuntu 14.04)*
+ Illuminated keyboard **
+ mouse pad on the keyboard
+ mouse pad recognises multi-finger gestures on Linux
+ well made: sturdy, and slim
+ unifying remote
- no indicator for Num/Caps lock
- non-replaceable battery

Has anyone tried to open it up and see what kind of battery it uses? From experience of using other mouse with unifying remotes, I expect it to last a long time between charges.

One thing that I can't understand is the illumination of multi-function buttons. One the product page, Logitech show the red/orange text illumniated (see image below) but mine does not. Is it a software function?

PS: this keyboard is a huge improvement in quality over the k360 graffiti family.

* - official specs on Logitech site do not list Linux as a supported operating system. Custom keys might not work, but the rest functions perfectly.

Linux Wireless Access Point - v2

After struggling with various networking issues with my older wireless card (the discontinued D-Link DWL-G520), I purchased a DWA-552 for $60+tx. I used the DWL-G520 for almost 2 years as my access point. But it never worked in WPA2 mode and always had problems with two (Windows) machines, iPod Touch and my Nokia trying to connect to it. I had to restart hostapd after either the iPod or the Nokia tried to connect as it would stop working.

I had setup madwifi with hostapd for the DWL-G520 earlier. But as madwifi was removed from Debian repos, DWA-552 was the only PCI wireless adapter supported by the linux kernel's ath9k module. That required me to update to the the newest kernel 2.6.30. ath9k works out of the box with this kernel in master mode.

Setup was easy as most of the work was already there. I had to setup my hostapd.conf to use WPA2 and changed the network interface from ath0 to wlan0. Restarting networking and hostapd gave me the wlan0 interface and both the iPod and the Nokia were able to detect the SSID.

Last but not the least, all this was accomplished with help from Robert's post. Thanks for documenting your experience with ath9k.

The next thing to do is to see if it will work in the N-mode. That is for another day, as I'm late to go to bed (...again) by an hour.