virtualkm(7D) Devices virtualkm(7D)NAMEvirtualkm - Virtual keyboard and mouse
SYNOPSIS
/dev/kbd
/dev/mouse
DESCRIPTION
A virtual keyboard or mouse is an abstraction of one or more physical
keyboards or mice (USB or PS2) connected to a system. 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 key‐
boards are coalesced into a single input stream, meaning that all key‐
boards appear as a single keyboard to a console or window system and
accordingly, are treated as a single device. The virtual keyboard lay‐
out is consistent with the layout of the first keyboard plugged into
the system. 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.
Although physical keyboards/mice are linked to the virtual key‐
board/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 purposes.
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 vir‐
tual 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 capabil‐
ity changes:
MOUSE_CAP_CHANGE_NUM_BUT
This event is reported when the total number of mouse buttons
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 <sys/vuid_event.h>. As with
other events, firm events are received using read(2).
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.
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.
/etc/dacf.conf Device auto-configuration file.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
│Architecture │SPARC, x86 │
│Availability │SUNWckr, SUNWcsd, SUNWusb, │
│ │SUNWpsdcr, SUNWcakr.i │
│Interface Stability │Evolving │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
SEE ALSO
, 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.
gok(1) is not a SunOS man page.
DIAGNOSTICS
The messages described below may appear on the system console 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 initialization
for debugger mode. As a result, the keyboard is not available.
conskbd: keyboard is not available: <device_path>
Errors were encountered while exiting kmdb during un-initialization
for debugger mode. As a result, the keyboard is not available.
Failed to relink the mouse <device_path> 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 single 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 key‐
board/mouse.
SunOS 5.10 21 June 2005 virtualkm(7D)
