Bought the Belkin Nostromo n52 Speedpad the other day. It's a device for gamers, primarily. Connects via USB and it comes with software to customize the keys and buttons to make it easier to play various games.
I had assumed, since it came with special software to customize the device, that its keys had "special" keycodes that needed to be programmed. Nope — it essentially emulates the left-most keys of a standard keyboard from the Tab key to the "c" key, with a directional pad that serves as the arrow keys and a few other buttons.
The good news is that it works just fine in Linux without any need for software, except the additional scroll wheel which doesn't seem to produce any events that XFree86 can "see." I plugged in the USB connector, heard a tiny beep and it was working — no need to install any software or anything. The bad news is that I was hoping the buttons would produce special keycodes, so I could program it with XBindKeys for general use under X.
The device is okay. I think it'll still be handy for playing Q3A and Unreal Tournament, but it's not the best device I've ever purchased. The keys have lousy feedback, they feel spongy and generally "dead." The lower thumb button in particular has poor feedback.
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Good gaming keypads are hard to find