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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 sys‐
       tems 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 certain, specific values are possible, and the program will select the nearest pos‐
              sible 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  systems,  the
              allowable range is from 0 (no repeat) to 50 cps.

       -d delay
              Change  the  delay  to delay milliseconds.  For Intel-based systems, 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 [email protected].

       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 inter‐
       face as on i386 is assumed.

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



Linux 1.1.19                                         22 June 1994                                          KBDRATE(8)