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]
           [-k keyboard_device] [-L keymap_file]

DESCRIPTION

The kbdcontrol command is used to set various keyboard re

lated 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 de

vice 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 key

board multiplexer
is not the active keyboard) or /dev/console (if the

keyboard multiplexer is the active keyboard and you are not

working on the
system console).

-a name

Attach the keyboard, specified by the keyboard de

vice 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 key

board multiplexer
is not the active keyboard) or /dev/console (if the

keyboard multiplexer 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.

-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, kb

dmap(1).

-d Dump the current keyboard map onto stdout. The out

put 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 avail

able function
keys and their numbers.

-F Set function keys back to the standard definitions.

-x Use hexadecimal numbers in keyboard map dump.

-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 con

sole 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 work

ing 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 normal 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 relevant variables.

keymap Specifies a keyboard map file for the -l op

tion.
keyrate Sets the keyboard repeat rate for the -r op

tion.
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 con

figuration
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 following command.

kbdcontrol -b quiet.visual

To change the default console keyboard to the another key

board, for example the first USB keyboard (see ukbd(4)), use the following

commands.

kbdcontrol -k /dev/ukbd0 < /dev/console

To switch back to the default keyboard, use this command.

kbdcontrol -k /dev/kbd0

To allow using both the second USB keyboard and the first AT

keyboard at
the same time on console via kbdmux(4) driver use the fol

lowing sequence
of commands.

kbdcontrol -K < /dev/console

kbdcontrol -a atkbd0 < /dev/kbdmux0

kbdcontrol -a ukbd1 < /dev/kbdmux0

kbdcontrol -k /dev/kbdmux0 < /dev/console

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.

BSD January 7, 2005

BSD