Re: ukbd incorrect fr keymap

[tlaronde%polynum.com@localhost]

Hello,

On Sun, Oct 11, 2020 at 01:48:34PM +0000, Michael van Elst wrote:
> tlaronde%polynum.com@localhost writes:
> 
> >My keyboard is attached via usb and I set wscons with the 'fr' encoding.
> 
> >Specifically, the asterisk and mu are not available (giving backslash
> >and pipe instead) while in ukbd_keydesc_fr they are mapped to position
> >50 (and backslash and pipe are not mapped in the fr patch while they 
> >are not at the same place as in a qwerty US keyboard).
> 
> >How are defined the positions regarding the keyboard keys map? Or where
> >can I find the physical association between the KC(n) n value and the
> >keys?
> 
> USB scancodes are defined in the USB specification as "usage ids".
> 
> https://usb.org/sites/default/files/hut1_2.pdf
> 
> The position of a key isn't described as coordinates or graphical layout
> but as equivalent to the symbol on a (mostly) US keyboard. The USB
> specification defines many more keys than available on a standard
> keyboard.
> 
> The asterisk/mu key on a regular french keyboard is equivalent to
> "Keyboard Non-US # and '" with usage id 50.
> 
> The ukbd driver regularly uses the hidkbd_keydesc_fr map, which assigns
> symbols KS_asterisk and KS_mu to usage id 50. So that's fine.
> 
> 
> But the "Non-US" says that on a regular US keyboard there is no key with
> usage id 50. Some keyboards have an additional key above the enter key, which
> is "Keyboard \ and |" with usage id 49. It is possible that some US keyboards
> even have this in the same position as "Keyboard Non-US # and '" on Non-US
> keyboards but send usage id 49 instead of usage id 50.
> 
> When you load the french keymap, there is no special handling for
> usage id 49 and you get the US keymap symbols. You can override the
> mapping for usage id 49 for a better result with wsconsctl (also
> in wscons.conf). E.g.
> 
> wsconsctl -k -w map+="keycode 49 = asterisk mu"

Thank you very much! Very informative and problem solved!

Best,
-- 
        Thierry Laronde <tlaronde +AT+ polynum +dot+ com>
                     http://www.kergis.com/
                       http://www.sbfa.fr/
Key fingerprint = 0FF7 E906 FBAF FE95 FD89  250D 52B1 AE95 6006 F40C