X server and xinit works excellent....almost.

[Michael Cardell Widerkrantz]

Chuck Swiger <cswiger at mac.com>, 2011-11-09 22:10 (+0100):

>> How would HAL know that the keyboard had a Swedish layout? No such
>> information is sent through USB or PS/2 when you attach a keyboard.
>
> True for PS/2, but not true for USB-- the USB Vendor & Product ID can
> identify different keyboard types and let you infer the country.  

I'm sorry I was unclear. I meant the USB device doesn't say what
physical keyboard layout it has in any standardized way. There is
nothing in the USB protocol about it.

The product ID code might tell you something if you have a large
database and the USB product ID is indeed different between two physical
layouts. It might not be. For instance, while ANSI keyboards and ISO
keyboards are bound to have different USB product IDs because of
actually physical differences in the number of keys, the only thing that
differs between, say, a German keyboard and a Swedish keyboard of the
same model is what is printed on the keycaps. A vendor might see these
as the same USB product ID.

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