cvs commit: src/sys/dev/vkbd vkbd.c vkbd_var.h src/sys/modules/vkbd Makefile

[Philip Paeps]

On 2004-11-16 16:45:08 (-0800), Brooks Davis <brooks at one-eyed-alien.net> wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 17, 2004 at 01:29:59AM +0100, Philip Paeps wrote:
> > My idea would be to feed all 'input events' from hardware drivers into a
> > pseudo-driver, serialize it, and send it on to the higher layers of the
> > system.  I see no real reason why we should't allow a user to start typing
> > a command on one keyboard, finish it on another, and hit <cr> on a third.
> > Why anyone would want to do that is beyond me, but it should be possible.
> 
> That's basicly what I would like to see.  I don't think we need to support
> people hitting the accent key on one keyboard and then finishing typing on
> the other, but we do need to support multiple keyboards if only because the
> users expect it.

I'd like to assume that the fundamental 'event' from a keyboard to reach the
console is going to be a 'character'.  Your example becomes even crazier to
consider when you add a compose key into the equation.  Likewise, I don't
think it's a good idea to try to support people holding down modifiers on one
keyboard and pressing keys on another.  Alt on kbd0 followed by 'a' on kbd1
should probably translate to just 'a'.  

One problem we're going to run into quickly are keymaps.  Currently, the maps
are being handled by syscons (and pcvt).  If we're going to let people have
multiple keyboards, there will be those who will want to have a US-qwerty and
a Belgian azerty side-by-side.  Mapping keys will probably need to be handled
by the driver (or the input system) on a per-device basis rather than by the
console driver.  That little headache has been fermenting at the back of my
head since I first started thinking about writing an input layer.  I've been
ignoring it by sticking to the mice bits, but...

Can any syscons gurus shed light on how we could go about convincing syscons
to go from a 'keypress'-oriented approach to a 'character'-oriented approach?

 - Philip

-- 
Philip Paeps                                    Please don't Cc me, I am
philip at freebsd.org                               subscribed to the list.

  BOFH Excuse #58:
    high pressure system failure