Manual Pages for UNIX Operating System command usage for man virtualkm

Devices                                             virtualkm(7D)



NAME
     virtualkm - Virtual keyboard and mouse

SYNOPSIS
     /dev/kbd


     /dev/mouse


     #include 


     #include 


     int ioctl(int fildes, int command, ... /*arg*/);


DESCRIPTION
     A virtual keyboard or mouse is an abstraction of one or more
     physical  keyboards or mice (USB or PS2) connected to a sys-
     tem.    Input  streams  for  these  physical   devices   are
     coalesced into a single input  stream and appear as a single
     device to the upper layers.


     /dev/kbd is the virtual keyboard device  file.  Inputs  from
     multiple keyboards are coalesced into a single input stream,
     meaning that all keyboards appear as a single keyboard to  a
     console  or  window system and accordingly, are treated as a
     single device. The virtual  keyboard  layout  is  consistent
     with  the layout of the first keyboard plugged into the sys-
     tem. Note that on x86 platforms, the virtual keyboard layout
     can be overloaded by eeprom(1M).


     /dev/mouse is the virtual mouse  device  file.  Inputs  from
     multiple  mice  are  coalesced  into  a single input stream,
     meaning that all mice appear as single mouse to  the  window
     system.


     Commands from applications are  dispatched  by  the  virtual
     keyboard/mouse  facility  to the underlying physical devices
     and will succeed provided that one of the underlying devices
     responds  with success. For example, a single command issued
     to turn on LED's  will turn on corresponding LED's  for  all
     underlying physical keyboards.






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Devices                                             virtualkm(7D)



     Although physical keyboards/mice are linked to the   virtual
     keyboard/mouse  facility,  each  may be opened separately by
     accessing  its  associated  device   file.   (For   example,
     /dev/usb/hid0 for a usb mouse).  Directly accessing a device
     file can be useful for multi-seat, gok(1)  or  similar  pur-
     poses.


     When a single physical device is opened via  its  associated
     device  file,  it   is automatically removed from the single
     virtual input stream. When closed, it is  automatically  re-
     coalesced into the single virtual input stream.


     Under the virtualkm facility, the PS/2  mouse  is  coalesced
     into a virtual mouse single input stream and can be accessed
     using the /dev/mouse file. (Note that in previous  releases,
     the   PS/2  mouse was accessed via the /dev/kdmouse physical
     device  file).  In  the  current  release,   you   use   the
     /dev/kdmouse  file  to  directly  access  the  physical PS/2
     mouse.

  INTERFACES
     The virtual mouse provides  the  following  event  ID's  for
     mouse capability changes:

     MOUSE_CAP_CHANGE_NUM_BUT      This event  is  reported  when
                                   the total number of mouse but-
                                   tons       changes.        The
                                   Firm_event.value is set to the
                                   new button total, which is the
                                   maximum  number  of  all  mice
                                   buttons.  Other   fields   are
                                   ignored.


     MOUSE_CAP_CHANGE_NUM_WHEEL    This event  is  reported  when
                                   the   total  number  of  mouse
                                   wheels      changes.       The
                                   Firm_event.value is set to the
                                   new wheel total. Other  fields
                                   are  ignored.  The event value
                                   (Firm_event.value)  can  be  0
                                   (no    wheel),   1   (vertical
                                   wheel),  or  2  (vertical  and
                                   horizontal wheel).



     The Firm_event structure is described in .
     As  with  other  events,  firm  events  are  received  using
     read(2).



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Devices                                             virtualkm(7D)



     Event ID's are used by applications (including certain mouse
     demo   applications)  that  are  programmed  to  graphically
     represent the actual number  of  buttons  and  wheels  on  a
     mouse.   When   an  application  of  this  type  receives  a
     Firm_event   with   a   ID    MOUSE_CAP_CHANGE_NUM_BUT    or
     MOUSE_CAP_CHANGE_NUM_WHEEL event, it is instructed to update
     its state information using the  new  value.  Consider,  for
     example,  a mouse demo application whose sole function is to
     display a mouse with buttons that graphically correspond  to
     the  actual number of buttons on the mouse. If, for example,
     the system has a single two-button USB mouse  attached,  the
     application,  by default, will graphically display the mouse
     with a left and  a  right  button.  However,  if  a  another
     three-button  USB  mouse  is  hot-plugged into the system, a
     MOUSE_CAP_CHANGE_NUM_BUT Firm event with Firm_event.value of
     three  instructs  the  demo  application to update the mouse
     display to indicate three buttons.

IOCTLS
     KIOCSETFREQ    Sets the frequency for either keyboard beeper
                    or  console  beeper. To set the corresponding
                    beeper  frequency,   arg  must  point  to   a
                    freq_request structure:

                      struct freq_request {
                              enum fr_beep_type type; /* beep type */
                              int16_t freq;           /* frequency */
                      };

                    Where type is the corresponding  beeper  type
                    defined as:

                      enum fr_beep_type { CONSOLE_BEEP =1, KBD_BEEP =2 };

                    and freq is the frequency value to be set  as
                    the  beeper frequency indicated by type. This
                    value should be  between  0  and  32767  with
                    border inclusive.


FILES
     /dev/kbd          Virtual Keyboard device file.


     /dev/mouse        Virtual Mouse device file.


     /dev/kdmouse      Physical PS/2 mouse device file.


     /dev/usb/hid*     Physical USB keyboard/mouse device file.




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Devices                                             virtualkm(7D)



     /etc/dacf.conf    Device auto-configuration file.


ATTRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:



     ____________________________________________________________
   |  ATTRIBUTE TYPE                ATTRIBUTE VALUE            |
   |  Architecture                  SPARC, x86                 |
   |  Availability                  system/kernel,     SUNWcsd,|
   |                                driver/usb,                |
   |                                driver/i86pc/platform,     |
   |                                system/kernel/platform     |
   | Interface Stability           Committed                   |
   |___________________________________________________________|


SEE ALSO
     kbd(1),   eeprom(1M),   read(2),   attributes(5),   hid(7D),
     usba(7D), kb(7M), usbkbm(7M), usbms(7M), vuidmice(7M)


     See  gok(1)  in  the  GNOME  man  pages,  available  in  the
     SUNWgnome package.

DIAGNOSTICS
     The messages described below may appear on the  system  con-
     sole as well as being logged. All  messages are formatted in
     the following manner:

       WARNING: Error message...



     conskbd: keyboard is not available for system debugging:
     device_path.

         Errors were encountered while entering kmdb during  ini-
         tialization for debugger mode. As a result, the keyboard
         is not available.


     conskbd: keyboard is not available:  

         Errors were encountered while exiting  kmdb  during  un-
         initialization  for debugger mode. As a result, the key-
         board is not available.





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Devices                                             virtualkm(7D)



     Failed to relink the mouse  underneath virtual
     mouse

         An error was encountered and the mouse  is  unavailable.
         (When a mouse is physically opened via a physical device
         file such as /dev/usb/hid0, it is removed from the  sin-
         gle  virtual  input stream (/dev/mouse). When closed, it
         is re-coalesced  into  a  single  virtual  input  stream
         beneath  /dev/mouse.  If  an  error is encountered, (for
         example, the mouse has been physically removed),  it  is
         unavailable beneath /dev/mouse.


NOTES
     Currently, the virtualkm device supports only  USB  and  PS2
     keyboards and mice.


     The virtualkm device  maintains  complete  compatibility  on
     select  legacy  systems,  (including  Ultra  10's), that are
     equipped with serial keyboard/mouse.


































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