kbdrate

KBDRATE(8)                 Linux Programmer's Manual                KBDRATE(8)



NAME
       kbdrate - reset the keyboard repeat rate and delay time

SYNOPSIS
       kbdrate [ -s ] [ -r rate ] [ -d delay ]

DESCRIPTION
       kbdrate is used to change the keyboard repeat rate and delay time.  The
       delay is the amount of time that a key must be depressed before it will
       start to repeat.

       Using  kbdrate  without  any options will reset the repeat rate to 10.9
       characters per second (cps) and the delay to 250 milliseconds (ms)  for
       Intel-  and  M68K-based systems.  These are the IBM defaults. On SPARC-
       based systems it will reset the repeat rate to 20 cps and the delay  to
       200 ms.


OPTIONS
       -s     Silent.  No messages are printed.

       -r rate
              Change  the  keyboard repeat rate to rate cps.   For Intel-based
              systems, the allowable range is from 2.0 to 30.0 cps.  Only cer-
              tain,  specific values are possible, and the program will select
              the nearest possible value to the one specified.   The  possible
              values  are  given,  in  characters per second, as follows: 2.0,
              2.1, 2.3, 2.5, 2.7, 3.0, 3.3, 3.7, 4.0, 4.3, 4.6, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0,
              6.7,  7.5,  8.0,  8.6,  9.2, 10.0, 10.9, 12.0, 13.3, 15.0, 16.0,
              17.1, 18.5, 20.0, 21.8, 24.0, 26.7, 30.0.  For SPARC-based  sys-
              tems, the allowable range is from 0 (no repeat) to 50 cps.

       -d delay
              Change  the  delay  to delay milliseconds.  For Intel-based sys-
              tems, the allowable range is from 250 to  1000  ms,  in  250  ms
              steps.  For SPARC systems, possible values are between 10 ms and
              1440 ms, in 10 ms steps.

       -V     Display a version number and exit.

BUGS
       Not all keyboards support all rates.

       Not all keyboards have the rates mapped in the same way.

       Setting the repeat rate on the Gateway AnyKey keyboard does  not  work.
       If  someone  with  a  Gateway  figures out how to program the keyboard,
       please send mail to util-linux@math.uio.no.

       All this is very architecture dependent.  Nowadays kbdrate first  tries
       the  KDKBDREP  and  KIOCSRATE  ioctls.  (The former usually works on an
       m68k machine, the latter for SPARC.)  When these ioctls fail an  ioport
       interface as on i386 is assumed.

FILES
       /etc/rc.local
       /dev/port
       /dev/kbd



Linux 1.1.19                     22 June 1994                       KBDRATE(8)