In the low cost X96 Android TV box (and maybe in some other Android devices), you might have encountered a situation where a connected USB keyboard generates the character “q” when you press the Enter key of the keyboard.
This might be problematic, in case you want to integrate RFID reader or barcode reader or any IoT device which is connected by USB and sends the Enter character among other characters (what we call “keyboard events”). The result will be that none of them will work properly.
X96 Android TV box
Here is the solution that can normalize the keyboard (so Enter key will be Enter and not “q”):

  1. In case you do not have it pre-installed, install the ES3 file explorer (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.estrongs.android.pop).
  2. Start the ES3 explorer app on your X96 TV box. This app is actually like a file explorer.
  3. Now, you need to click the “Local” option in the left menu bar, to reveal the options underneath: one of them is “Device” – click it. This will let you reach the root folder of your file system.
  4. Navigate to the following path: “system” -> “usr” -> “keylayout”
  5. There you should find a file called “Generic.kl”
  6. Click that file in order to open it. In the popup menu, choose “Open As” and then “Text” and finally choose “ES Note Editor”, in order to open it as a text file.
  7. If you cannot access the file due to its read-only mode, it means that the X96 is not rooted and you need to root it. For that, scroll down in the left menu bar, till you reach an option called “Root Explorer”. You just need to turn it on.
  8. While you’re inside the file, right-click the 3 dots in the top right corner, for accessing the menu and choose “Edit”.
  9. Now, while in edit mode, you can change the content of this system file.
  10. Find this line:
    28 DPAD_CENTER
    and replace it with this line:
    28 ENTER
    (actually, just delete the “DPAD_C” characters.)
  11. Now, right click to leave the editor and when you’re asked to confirm saving the file, choose “Yes”, in order to save it.
  12. Important: reboot the X96 (otherwise the change won’t apply) and now Enter will be Enter.

– “Every broken thing can be fixed”
Fadee.