PCKBD(4)

📦
version 11.0 · 2 versions
, in nixpkgs unstable

✨ pckbd — the PC keyboard driver for wscons, explained 💅

okay so bestie, this one's from the Kernel Interfaces Manual section — welcome to the pckbd page 🎀

🌸 NAME 🌸

pckbd — the PC keyboard driver for wscons, and yes she's the main character of your typing experience 💖

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

pckbc* at isa?
pckbd* at pckbc?
wskbd* at pckbd? console ?
options PCKBD_LAYOUT=XXX

like, that's the whole config vibe right there 🦋

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

So this driver supports PC/AT keyboards within the wscons(4) console framework. She doesn't provide direct device driver entry points though — nope, she makes her functions available via the internal wskbd(4) interface instead. lowkey iconic of her 🫶

The pckbd driver supports a number of different key mappings, which can be chosen from with the kernel option PCKBD_LAYOUT at compile time, or with the utility wsconsctl(8) at runtime (variable: “encoding”). Obsessed with the flexibility honestly ✨

Other mappings can be used if the whole keymap is replaced by means of wsconsctl(8). so you're not locked in at all, go off 💖

Because PC keyboard hardware doesn't contain a beeper, requests for “keyboard beeps” cannot be handled directly 😭 like the hardware literally cannot, it's not her fault. On alpha and i386 a helper device attached to the pcppi(4) driver allows the use of the standard ISA speaker for this purpose 🎵 and on acorn32, acorn32/vidcaudio(4) performs this function. teamwork makes the dream work, periodt 🌈

🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

To set a German keyboard layout without “dead accents” and sending an ESC character before the key symbol if the ALT key is pressed simultaneously, use wsconsctl -w encoding=de.nodead.metaesc. slay 💅

To set it at kernel build time, add

options PCKBD_LAYOUT="(KB_DE | KB_NODEAD | KB_METAESC)"

to the kernel configuration file. that's it, that's the whole move ✨

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

okay bestie that's the whole page, go forth and have the keyboard layout of your dreams 💜

fr fr this is the Debian version of the page, dated July 13, 2020 — she's a little vintage but she still ate 🍓✨
📦 where this page comes from