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author | hpa <hpa> | 1998-04-14 04:28:24 +0000 |
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committer | hpa <hpa> | 1998-04-14 04:28:24 +0000 |
commit | 42080f813b91a411fd58b1fa658b06448845c621 (patch) | |
tree | dc07f9e274b9dc9e1aa4a61e4ebb9fb5eb4d202f /keytab-lilo.doc | |
parent | 02d0477c31d7b9b8a79a0e104c9945863a00394a (diff) | |
download | syslinux-42080f813b91a411fd58b1fa658b06448845c621.tar.gz |
keytab-lilo documentation.
Diffstat (limited to 'keytab-lilo.doc')
-rw-r--r-- | keytab-lilo.doc | 85 |
1 files changed, 85 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/keytab-lilo.doc b/keytab-lilo.doc new file mode 100644 index 00000000..44ec5dce --- /dev/null +++ b/keytab-lilo.doc @@ -0,0 +1,85 @@ +This is the documentation for the keytab-lilo.pl program. It was +taken verbatim from the LILO-20 README file; only this header was +added. + +LILO program code, documentation and auxiliary programs are +Copyright 1992-1997 Werner Almesberger. +All rights reserved. + +Redistribution and use in source and binary forms of parts of or the +whole original or derived work are permitted provided that the +original work is properly attributed to the author. The name of the +author may not be used to endorse or promote products derived from +this software without specific prior written permission. This work +is provided "as is" and without any express or implied warranties. + +To use a LILO keyboard table with SYSLINUX, specify the KBDMAP command +in syslinux.cfg, for example: + + kbdmap de.ktl + +============================================================================ + +Keyboard translation +-------------------- + +The PC keyboard emits so-called scan codes, which are basically key +numbers. The BIOS then translates those scan codes to the character codes +of the characters printed on the key-caps. By default, the BIOS normally +assumes that the keyboard has a US layout. Once an operating system is +loaded, this operating system can use a different mapping. + +At boot time, LILO only has access to the basic services provided by the +BIOS and therefore receives the character codes for an US keyboard. It +provides a simple mechanism to re-map the character codes to what is +appropriate for the actual layout.* + + * The current mechanism isn't perfect, because it sits on top of the + scan code to character code translation performed by the BIOS. This + means that key combinations that don't produce any useful character on + the US keyboard will be ignored by LILO. The advantage of this approach + is its simplicity. + + +Compiling keyboard translation tables +- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + +LILO obtains layout information from the keyboard translation tables Linux +uses for the text console. They are usually stored in +/usr/lib/kbd/keytables. LILO comes with a program keytab-lilo.pl that reads +those tables and generates a table suitable for use by the map installer. +keytab-lilo.pl invokes the program loadkeys to print the tables in a format +that is easy to parse.* + + * On some systems, only root can execute loadkeys. It is then necessary + to run keytab-lilo.pl as root too. + +keytab-lilo.pl is used as follows: + + keytab-lilo.pl [ -p <old_code>=<new_code> ] ... + [<path>]<default_layout>[.<extension>] ] + [<path>]<kbd_layout>[.<extension>] ] + + -p <old_code>=<new_code> + Specifies corrections ("patches") to the mapping obtained from the + translation table files. E.g. if pressing the upper case "A" should + yield an at sign, -p 65=64 would be used. The -p option can be + repeated any number of times. The codes can also be given as + hexadecimal or as octal numbers if they are prefixed with 0x or 0, + respectively. + <path> The directory in which the file resides. The default path is + /usr/lib/kbd/keytables. + <extension> Usually the trailing .map, which is automatically added if + the file name doesn't contain dots. + <default_layout> Is the layout which specifies the translation by the + BIOS. If none is specified, us is assumed. + <kbd_layout> Is the actual layout of the keyboard. + +keytab-lilo.pl writes the resulting translation table as a binary string to +standard output. Such tables can be stored anywhere with any name, but the +suggested naming convention is /boot/<kbd>.ktl ("Keyboard Table for Lilo"), +where <kbd> is the name of the keyboard layout. + +Example: + +keytab-lilo.pl de >/boot/de.ktl |