source: chapter06/kbd.xml@ 5536f74

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">
  %general-entities;
]>
<sect1 id="ch-system-kbd" role="wrap">
<title>Kbd-&kbd-version;</title>
<?dbhtml filename="kbd.html"?>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd"><primary sortas="a-Kbd">Kbd</primary></indexterm>

<sect2 role="package"><title/>
<para>The Kbd package contains key-table files and keyboard utilities.</para>

<segmentedlist>
<segtitle>&buildtime;</segtitle>
<segtitle>&diskspace;</segtitle>
<seglistitem><seg>0.1 SBU</seg><seg>11.8 MB</seg></seglistitem>
</segmentedlist>

<segmentedlist>
<segtitle>&dependencies;</segtitle>
<seglistitem><seg>Bash, Binutils, Bison, Coreutils,
Diffutils, Flex, GCC, Gettext, Glibc, Grep, Gzip, M4, Make, and Sed</seg></seglistitem>
</segmentedlist>
</sect2>

<sect2 role="installation">
<title>Installation of Kbd</title>

<para>The behaviour of Backspace and Delete keys is not consistent across the
keymaps in the Kbd package. The following patch fixes this issue for
i386 keymaps:</para>

<screen><userinput>patch -Np1 -i ../&kbd-backspace-patch;</userinput></screen>

<para>After patching, the Backspace key generates the character with code 127,
and the Delete key generates a well-known escape sequence.</para>

<para>Patch Kbd to fix a bug in <command>setfont</command> that is triggered
when compiling with GCC-&gcc-version;:</para>

<screen><userinput>patch -Np1 -i ../&kbd-gcc4_fixes-patch;</userinput></screen>

<para>Prepare Kbd for compilation:</para>

<screen><userinput>./configure</userinput></screen>

<para>Compile the package:</para>

<screen><userinput>make</userinput></screen>

<para>This package does not come with a test suite.</para>

<para>Install the package:</para>

<screen><userinput>make install</userinput></screen>

<note>For some languages, e.g. Belarusian, the Kbd package doesn't provide
a useful keymap (the stock "by" keymap assumes the ISO-8859-5 encoding,
while everybody uses CP1251 instead). Users of such languages
have to download working keymaps separately.</note>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="contents-kbd" role="content"><title>Contents of Kbd</title>

<segmentedlist>
<segtitle>Installed programs</segtitle>
<seglistitem><seg>chvt, deallocvt, dumpkeys,
fgconsole, getkeycodes, getunimap, kbd_mode, kbdrate, loadkeys, loadunimap,
mapscrn, openvt, psfaddtable (link to psfxtable), psfgettable (link to
psfxtable), psfstriptable (link to psfxtable), psfxtable, resizecons,
setfont, setkeycodes, setleds, setlogcons, setmetamode, setvesablank,
showconsolefont, showkey, unicode_start, and unicode_stop</seg></seglistitem>
</segmentedlist>

<variablelist><bridgehead renderas="sect3">Short Descriptions</bridgehead>
<?dbfo list-presentation="list"?>
<?dbhtml list-presentation="table"?>

<varlistentry id="chvt">
<term><command>chvt</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Changes the foreground virtual terminal</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd chvt"><primary sortas="b-chvt">chvt</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="deallocvt">
<term><command>deallocvt</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Deallocates unused virtual terminals</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd deallocvt"><primary sortas="b-deallocvt">deallocvt</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="dumpkeys">
<term><command>dumpkeys</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Dumps the keyboard translation tables</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd dumpkeys"><primary sortas="b-dumpkeys">dumpkeys</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="fgconsole">
<term><command>fgconsole</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Prints the number of the active virtual terminal</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd fgconsole"><primary sortas="b-fgconsole">fgconsole</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="getkeycodes">
<term><command>getkeycodes</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Prints the kernel scancode-to-keycode mapping table</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd getkeycodes"><primary sortas="b-getkeycodes">getkeycodes</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="getunimap">
<term><command>getunimap</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Prints the currently used unicode-to-font mapping table</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd getunimap"><primary sortas="b-getunimap">getunimap</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="kbd_mode">
<term><command>kbd_mode</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Reports or sets the keyboard mode</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd kbd_mode"><primary sortas="b-kbd_mode">kbd_mode</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="kbdrate">
<term><command>kbdrate</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Sets the keyboard repeat and delay rates</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd kbdrate"><primary sortas="b-kbdrate">kbdrate</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="loadkeys">
<term><command>loadkeys</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Loads the keyboard translation tables</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd loadkeys"><primary sortas="b-loadkeys">loadkeys</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="loadunimap">
<term><command>loadunimap</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Loads the kernel unicode-to-font mapping table</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd loadunimap"><primary sortas="b-loadunimap">loadunimap</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="mapscrn">
<term><command>mapscrn</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>An obsolete program that used to load
a user-defined output character mapping table into the console driver; this is
now done by <command>setfont</command></para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd mapscrn"><primary sortas="b-mapscrn">mapscrn</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="openvt">
<term><command>openvt</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Starts a program on a new virtual terminal (VT)</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd openvt"><primary sortas="b-openvt">openvt</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="psfaddtable">
<term><command>psfaddtable</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>A link to <command>psfxtable</command></para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd psfaddtable"><primary sortas="b-psfaddtable">psfaddtable</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="psfgettable">
<term><command>psfgettable</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>A link to <command>psfxtable</command></para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd psfgettable"><primary sortas="b-psfgettable">psfgettable</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="psfstriptable">
<term><command>psfstriptable</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>A link to <command>psfxtable</command></para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd psfstriptable"><primary sortas="b-psfstriptable">psfstriptable</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="psfxtable">
<term><command>psfxtable</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Handle Unicode character tables for console fonts</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd psfxtable"><primary sortas="b-psfxtable">psfxtable</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="resizecons">
<term><command>resizecons</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Changes the kernel idea of the console size</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd resizecons"><primary sortas="b-resizecons">resizecons</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="setfont">
<term><command>setfont</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Changes the Enhanced Graphic Adapter (EGA) and Video Graphics
Array (VGA) fonts on the console</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd setfont"><primary sortas="b-setfont">setfont</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="setkeycodes">
<term><command>setkeycodes</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Loads kernel scancode-to-keycode mapping table entries; this is
useful if there are unusual keys on the keyboard</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd setkeycodes"><primary sortas="b-setkeycodes">setkeycodes</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="setleds">
<term><command>setleds</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Sets the keyboard flags and Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd setleds"><primary sortas="b-setleds">setleds</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="setlogcons">
<term><command>setlogcons</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Sends kernel messages to the console</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd setlogcons"><primary sortas="b-setlogcons">setlogcons</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="setmetamode">
<term><command>setmetamode</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Defines the keyboard meta-key handling</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd setmetamode"><primary sortas="b-setmetamode">setmetamode</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="setvesablank">
<term><command>setvesablank</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Lets the user adjust the built-in hardware screensaver (a blank
screen)</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd setvesablank"><primary sortas="b-setvesablank">setvesablank</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="showconsolefont">
<term><command>showconsolefont</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Shows the current EGA/VGA console screen font</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd showconsolefont"><primary sortas="b-showconsolefont">showconsolefont</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="showkey">
<term><command>showkey</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Reports the scancodes, keycodes, and ASCII codes of the keys
pressed on the keyboard</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd showkey"><primary sortas="b-showkey">showkey</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="unicode_start">
<term><command>unicode_start</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Puts the keyboard and console in UNICODE mode. Don't use this program
unless your keymap file is in the ISO-8859-1 encoding. For other encodings,
this utility produces incorrect results.</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd unicode_start"><primary sortas="b-unicode_start">unicode_start</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="unicode_stop">
<term><command>unicode_stop</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Reverts keyboard and console from UNICODE mode</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-kbd unicode_stop"><primary sortas="b-unicode_stop">unicode_stop</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

</sect2>

</sect1>