Comet X (GL-RM4PE): local keyboard hotkey for port switching is impossible with the current USB design — feature request

KVM
1

Hi GL.iNet team,

I bought the Comet X mainly for local use: keyboard and mouse in the front
USB-A ports, HDMI loop-out to a monitor, four hosts behind it. The product
page lists "Hotkeys" among the features, so I expected to switch ports from
the local keyboard, as on any 4-port KVM. On the device itself the only local
way is the front button (or the touchscreen).

I looked into it over SSH (firmware rm10-1.10.0beta2) and this is not a
configuration issue — it is the hardware path:

  • The front USB-A ports never reach the device's Linux side. lsusb only
    shows the empty Genesys hub (05e3:0608); /proc/bus/input/devices lists
    only axs_ts and gpio-keys, even with a keyboard plugged in.
  • Keyboard/mouse passthrough is done by a USB mux (RS2274: OE/SEL0/SEL1
    exposed via the gsv2705 sysfs node, plus host_hub_reset /
    otg_hub_reset and the usb_host GPIOs), which wires the front ports
    straight to the selected host.
  • kvmd and the web UI have no "local USB through the KVM" mode, so a
    user-space hotkey daemon has no events to read. I wrote one (python-evdev,
    no grab) and it simply never sees the keyboard.

What I would like to request:

  1. A firmware option to route the local keyboard (and optionally mouse) to
    the SoC instead of the mux — the board already has a usb_local_host
    GPIO, so this looks like a software decision — and to re-emit it to the
    active host through the existing HID gadgets, exactly as the remote
    console does. That gives "local control via KVM" and makes hotkeys
    trivial.
  2. On top of that, a configurable local hotkey for channel switching, e.g.
    Tab+Up/Down or CapsLock+Up/Down (next/previous port), or the classic
    double Scroll Lock + digit.
  3. A clarification on the product page of what "Hotkeys" covers today
    (sending key combinations to the host from the remote console), because
    for a four-port KVM it reads as local port switching.

Until then the Android app (which does have a port selector) and the
touchscreen are the workarounds. Happy to test a beta firmware with such an
option.

Setup: Comet X (GL-RM4PE), firmware rm10-1.10.0beta2, local console
(keyboard in front USB-A), no external KVM switch.

3

Thanks for the feedback. We’ll note this feature and forward it to our R&D team to evaluate.