setkeycodes(8)

NAME

   setkeycodes - load kernel scancode-to-keycode mapping table entries

SYNOPSIS

   setkeycodes scancode keycode ...

DESCRIPTION

   The setkeycodes command reads its arguments two at a time, each pair of
   arguments consisting of a scancode (given in hexadecimal) and a keycode
   (given  in  decimal).  For each such pair, it tells the kernel keyboard
   driver to map the specified scancode to the specified keycode.

   This command is useful only for people with slightly unusual keyboards,
   that  have  a few keys which produce scancodes that the kernel does not
   recognize.

THEORY

   The usual PC keyboard produces a series of scancodes for each key press
   and  key  release. (Scancodes are shown by showkey -s, see showkey(1).)
   The kernel parses this stream of scancodes, and converts it to a stream
   of  keycodes  (key  press/release  events).   (Keycodes  are  shown  by
   showkey.)  Apart from a few scancodes with special meaning,  and  apart
   from  the sequence produced by the Pause key, and apart from shiftstate
   related scancodes, and apart from the key up/down bit,  the  stream  of
   scancodes  consists  of  unescaped  scancodes  xx  (7 bits) and escaped
   scancodes e0 xx (8+7 bits).  To these scancodes or  scancode  pairs,  a
   corresponding  keycode  can  be  assigned  (in  the  range 1-127).  For
   example, if you have a Macro key  that  produces  e0  6f  according  to
   showkey(1), the command
          setkeycodes e06f 112
   will  assign the keycode 112 to it, and then loadkeys(1) can be used to
   define the function of this key.

   Some  older  kernels  might  hardwire  a  low  scancode  range  to  the
   equivalent keycodes; setkeycodes will fail when you try to remap these.

2.6 KERNELS

   In 2.6 kernels key codes lie in the range 1-255, instead of 1-127.  (It
   might be best to confine oneself to the range 1-239.)

   In 2.6 kernels raw mode, or scancode mode, is not very raw at all.  The
   code  returned  by  showkey -s will change after use of setkeycodes.  A
   kernel bug. See also showkey(1).

OPTIONS

   None.

BUGS

   The keycodes of X have nothing to do with those of Linux.  Unusual keys
   can be made visible under Linux, but not under X.

SEE ALSO

   dumpkeys (1), loadkeys (1), showkey (1), getkeycodes (8)

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