Release info on the kbd utils
=============================
Fri Feb 27 18:39:59 CET 2004, jw
SuSE upgraded the kbd utils to 1.12 for the release of SuSE Linux 9.1.
The choose-tty patch has been accepted upstream. Note that we used -c
for selecting the console device, now it is -C
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SuSE upgraded the kbd utils to 1.08 for the release of SuSE Linux 9.0.
Some of our patches to 1.06 have been integrated.
Most of the changes from us to 1.03wip (SL 7.1 and 7.0) and 1.05 (SL 7.2,
7.3) have been incorporated, so we can finally go with an almost unpatched
kbd again.
Since 1.03a, there is support for fonts that have a width larger than
8 pixels. This will only work with framebuffer support on most architectures
though. Some fonts with 12x22 size are available as well, check
/usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/.
You probably want to use higher resolutions with such a large font, like
1152x858. If you use fbset don't forget to set -vyres to a large value,
otherwise your framebuffer's speed will be lower than it could.
setfont has been patched to allow specifing the tty with -c where the
changes should be applied to. This is used in the setup scripts.
Your SuSE team <feedback@suse.de>
New handling of composition of characters
=========================================
Most of the fonts have much more characters than you can reach directly
through the keyboard. To access all of them you may use showconsolefont,
deduce the decimal code and enter it by holding down <alt> and entering
the code via the keypad. There's a much better way, though:
Most characters may be entered via composition. Many characters are just
consisting of a standard character with some sort of accent or change.
Such characters can be composed by composition. Just press the <compose>
key, let it go again, enter the accent and then the letter.
Some examples: (Assuming Iso-Latin-1/9 character set:)
<compose> " a => ä
<compose> , c => ç
<compose> | S => $
Support for composition is unfortunately not contained in most keymaps.
Most lack two things:
(a) The <compose> key is not mapped
(b) The compose tables are not included
In previous versions of SuSE Linux, some keytables have been hacked to
include support for the <compose> key and to include compose tables.
This has now been replaced by a more general solution:
The kbd setup scripts uses another /etc/sysconfig/keyboard variable to
determine which compose tables should be loaded and whether the compose key
should be mapped: COMPOSETABLE.
For all words listed there, loadkeys will be called with the argument
compose.word. (Except for clear which sets a flag to clear the compose
table.) Look at the compose.* files in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/include/:
(a) You find there two files for having the <compose> key mapped.
(b) You find there compose tables which are suitable for different
character sets.
ad (a): winkeys: The compose key will be mapped on the W*n menu key
shiftctrl: The compose key will be mapped to Shift Ctrl.
You can use both, if you like.
ad (b): latin, latinX, latin1.add, 8859_X: Contains the compose
combinations suitable for the respective character set.
Many people will want to use latin1 or latin1.add. Just
using latin is also sort of an acceptable compromise for
many Latin character sets.
YOU MAY ONLY USE ONE OF THOSE.
If you want the combination of more than one table, you
have to create a file which includes what you want.
Example: (/etc/sysconfig/keyboard)
COMPOSETABLE="clear winkeys shiftctrl latin1.add"
Please keep in mind, that all these settings only affect the console,
i.e. text mode.
Your SuSE team <feedback@suse.de>
