keyboard mux driver (straw man proposal & code)

Alexandre "Sunny" Kovalenko Alex.Kovalenko at verizon.net
Mon May 23 18:33:26 PDT 2005


On Mon, 2005-05-23 at 15:37 -0700, Maksim Yevmenkin wrote:
> Alexandre,

> 
> >>> -- "Num lock" would switch keypad into numeric mode, but leave
> >>> main keyboard alone (as it is the case with laptop keyboards it
> >>> has sprinkling of numerals on the right side overlapping
> >>> letters).
> >> 
> >> again "num lock" on keypad or main keyboard?
> > 
> > "Num lock" on the main keyboard (keypad does not have one) switches 
> > *keypad* into numeric mode leaving main keyboard in alpha -- main 
> > keyboard does not really have a numeric part -- it overlaps some of
> > the alpha keys.
> 
> this is actually correct (i think). because slave keyboards are set to 
> K_RAW mode, kbdmux will get raw scancodes, not characters. the (good or 
> bad?) side effect of this is that kbdmux will act as if it was one huge 
> keyboard with lots of duplicated keys :) that is you should be able to 
> press "ctrl" on one keyboard and "c" on another keyboard but it will 
> still look like you pressed ctrl+c on the same keyboard :)
> 
> the keypad is probably programmed to send the same scancodes as normal 
> 101/102-keys keyboard would. that is for the group of keys on the right 
> side (numeric keypad typically found under the keyboard lights). as in 
> 101/102-keys keyboard case hitting numlock will only switch this group 
> of keys between numbers/arrows.
Well, in the case of the keypad, it, probably is desired behavior... I
mean the fact that only keypad is switched into numeric mode and
laptop's keyboard is not. Whether it is "right" in more general sense, I
don't know. Probably not, because it takes away functionality available
to the user before introduction of the mux. 
> is this the keypad you currently have?
> 
> http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=3380773&sourceid=11790802501271934686
Looks like it -- I would not recommend it for normal use, but it
certainly is good for experimenting.

-- 
Alexandre "Sunny" Kovalenko (Олександр Коваленко)



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