If you’ve chosen the Vero-4K box just as a nice (ultimate) Media Center for your TV, you should normally not need to be used to the Linux-world environment. But if you’re French and would like to fill in the text data of your Media faster than with the remote control, you will need to enter the OSMC console once, just for that. Here is the way to proceed, assuming that you are not a Linux command expert.
Pre-requisites:
If you don’t have a SSH client (or don’t know what it is) either plug a usb keyboard to the box or connect a wireless keyboard (enter “My OSMC”/Network to pair a bluetooth device).
Note that if it is Azerty you will have to type as if it was a Qwerty, that is to say ‘q’ instead of ‘a’, ‘,’ instead of ‘m’, etc.
Ensure that your TV does not overscan which could prevent you to see the left and bottom parts of the text by cutting off some pixel areas. In such a case go to your TV screen settings and find “1:1”, “all pixels” or something like that.
Regarding the virtual keyboard, in Kodi’s “Region” settings make sure that Azerty layout is selected and Qwerty unselected.
Method 1:
In Kodi home screen select ‘Quit’ in the ‘Power’ menu and keep the ‘ESC’ key pressed just after
When the input console appears, enter your login/password.
By default: osmc/osmc
(consequently with Azerty type: os,c/os,c)
If the wizard does not show because “console-common” is already installed, then type:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-data
When the wizard opens select “Keymap from full list”
Then choose “AZERTY / French / Same As X11 (latin 9) / Standard”
Exit and Reboot
Method 2(prefered because requires less installation):
Edit the “rc.local” file:
sudo nano /etc/rc.local
Insert “loadkeys fr-x11” between the comment area and the “exit 0” line:
#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.
loadkeys fr-x11
exit 0
Type ‘Ctrl+O’ + ‘Enter’ to save the modification
Type ‘Ctrl-X’ to quit the editor
Enter “reboot”
In case it does not work:
Check the “rc.local” file access rights. In the console type:
ls -l /etc/rc.local
If the returned text does not start with “-rwxr-xr-x”, then type:
Thanks, Eric. With method 2, you still have to install console-data, which is part of console-common but only a small part so method 2 is preferred.
Most people will have set up ssh (I thought you already did that?). With that, there is no issue substituting , for m etc because the machine you are connecting from uses its own keyboard mapping.
I don’t understand why you had to chmod rc.local. Most people won’t have that issue.
In fact I nearly never had to deal with the Linux environment until now and I guess that I’m not the only user in this situation. I work in software development, but more inclined to GUI than console.
I have installed the SSH server on the Vero-4K only because I thought it was required to access the console with ‘Esc’. But someone has explained to me that it’s only to provide a remote access, and as my computer runs Windows I would have to install something like Putty, which I don’t know how to setup.
But anyway I want the Vero to be seen as a steady black box with a nice user interface dedicated to movies, series, cinema and web radios, but not a computer. I think that configuring a home-cinema product should be self-understandable and lean, without requiring technical skills. Ok, it took me a week to configure (mainly Kodi) but now I’m very satisfied with the result. I hope next OSMC releases will keep enriching ergonomics and efficiency. The Vero-4K is a VERY nice product and it would be a shame if some users could be put off by having to execute command lines. In my opinion it doesn’t miss a lot of things to be “giftable” to older people. Other than this keyboard configuration and maybe the stand-by state management (possibility to quickly switch to/from a stand-by status with no led on that would reassure users about power consumption and allow to safely unplug the USB drive), it is very well designed.
Please feel free to correct and enrich this draft for Wiki if it is considered as useful. It certainly also contains a lot of English mistakes.
I’m glad you are enjoying it. I believe it is a project goal to make OSMC work for most people with no commandline intervention. There are plans to link the hardware keyboard layout to the on-screen layout which should help in future.
You will have seen that there is some work being done on a standby mode as well. The developers will see your comments.