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KBDCONTROL(1) DragonFly General Commands Manual KBDCONTROL(1)
NAME
kbdcontrol -- keyboard control and configuration utility
SYNOPSIS
kbdcontrol [-dFKix] [-A name] [-a name] [-b duration.pitch | belltype]
[-r delay.repeat | speed] [-l keymap_file] [-f # string]
[-h size] [-k keyboard_device] [-L keymap_file]
DESCRIPTION
The kbdcontrol command is used to set various keyboard related options
for the syscons(4) console driver and the keyboard drivers, such as key
map, keyboard repeat and delay rates, bell characteristics etc.
Keyboard options may be automatically configured at system boot time by
setting variables in /etc/rc.conf. See Boot Time Configuration below.
The following command line options are supported:
-A name
Detach the keyboard, specified by the keyboard device name, from
the keyboard multiplexer. When using this option, the standard
input of the kbdcontrol process should be redirected from the
keyboard multiplexer keyboard device (if the keyboard multiplexer
is not the active keyboard) or /dev/console (if the keyboard mul-
tiplexer is the active keyboard and you are not working on the
system console).
-a name
Attach the keyboard, specified by the keyboard device name, to
the keyboard multiplexer. When using this option, the standard
input of the kbdcontrol process should be redirected from the
keyboard multiplexer keyboard device (if the keyboard multiplexer
is not the active keyboard) or /dev/console (if the keyboard mul-
tiplexer is the active keyboard and you are not working on the
system console).
-b duration.pitch | belltype
Set the bell duration in milliseconds and pitch in hertz. If a
belltype argument is specified, it may be one of normal which
sets sound parameters back to normal values, off which disables
the bell entirely, or visual which sets the bell to visual mode,
i.e., flashes the screen instead. If belltype is preceded by the
word quiet., the bell will not be rung when the ringing process
is in the background vty. The visual bell, when chosen, applies
to all vtys; other bell types can be set individually for each
vty.
-r delay.repeat | speed
Set keyboard delay (250, 500, 750, 1000) and repeat (34, 38, 42,
46, 50, 55, 59, 63, 68, 76, 84, 92, 100, 110, 118, 126, 136, 152,
168, 184, 200, 220, 236, 252, 272, 304, 336, 368, 400, 440, 472,
504) rates, or if a speed argument is specified, it may be one of
slow (1000.504), fast (250.34) or normal (500.126).
-l keymap_file
Install keyboard map file from keymap_file. You may load the
keyboard map file from a menu-driven command, kbdmap(1). The
format of keyboard map files is documented in the kbdmap(5) man-
ual page.
-d Dump the current keyboard map onto stdout. The output may be
redirected to a file and can be loaded back to the kernel later
by the -l option above.
-f # string
Set function key number # to send string. Refer to the man page
for the keyboard driver (e.g. atkbd(4)) for available function
keys and their numbers.
-F Set function keys back to the standard definitions.
-x Use hexadecimal numbers in keyboard map dump.
-h size
Set history buffer size to size lines.
-i Print brief information about the keyboard.
-K Disconnect the keyboard from the console. You need to use the -k
option below to associate a keyboard with the console again.
-k keyboard_device
Use the specified device as the console keyboard. When using
this option, the standard input of the kbdcontrol process should
be redirected from /dev/console if you are not working on the
system console (see the EXAMPLES section).
-L keymap_file
Load keyboard map file from keymap_file and write the struct
keymap compiled from it to stdout. This option is primarily
intended for programmers and is probably of little use under nor-
mal circumstances.
ENVIRONMENT
The environment variable KEYMAP_PATH can hold an alternative path to the
keyboard map files.
KEYBOARD CONFIGURATION
Boot Time Configuration
You may set variables in /etc/rc.conf or /etc/rc.conf.local in order to
configure the keyboard at boot time. The following is the list of rele-
vant variables.
keymap Specifies a keyboard map file for the -l option.
keyrate Sets the keyboard repeat rate for the -r option.
keychange Lists function key strings for the -f option.
See rc.conf(5) for details.
Driver Configuration
The keyboard device driver may let you change default configuration
options, such as the default keyboard map, so that you do not need to set
up the options at boot time. See keyboard driver manuals (e.g. atkbd(4),
ukbd(4)) for details.
FILES
/usr/share/syscons/keymaps/* keyboard map files
EXAMPLES
The following command will load the keyboard map file
/usr/share/syscons/keymaps/ru.koi8-r.kbd.
kbdcontrol -l /usr/share/syscons/keymaps/ru.koi8-r.kbd
So long as the keyboard map file resides in /usr/share/syscons/keymaps,
you may abbreviate the file name as ru.koi8-r.
kbdcontrol -l ru.koi8-r
The following command will make the function key 10 emit "telnet myhost".
kbdcontrol -f 10 "telnet myhost"
In order to get the visual effect for bell, but prevent the screen from
flushing if the bell is to ring in the background screen, run the follow-
ing command.
kbdcontrol -b quiet.visual
To change the default console keyboard to another keyboard, for example
the first USB keyboard (see ukbd(4)), use the following commands.
kbdcontrol -k /dev/kbd1 < /dev/console
To switch back to the default keyboard, use this command.
kbdcontrol -k /dev/kbd0
SEE ALSO
kbdmap(1), vidcontrol(1), atkbd(4), kbdmux(4), keyboard(4), screen(4),
syscons(4), ukbd(4), kbdmap(5), rc.conf(5)
AUTHORS
Soren Schmidt <sos@FreeBSD.org>
BUGS
Report when found.
DragonFly 3.5 September 12, 2009 DragonFly 3.5