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.. include:: <isonum.txt>
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-===================
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-Linux Input drivers
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-===================
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+============
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+Introduction
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+============
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:Copyright: |copy| 1999-2001 Vojtech Pavlik <vojtech@ucw.cz> - Sponsored by SuSE
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-Should you need to contact me, the author, you can do so either by e-mail
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-- mail your message to <vojtech@ucw.cz>, or by paper mail: Vojtech Pavlik,
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-Simunkova 1594, Prague 8, 182 00 Czech Republic
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-
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-Introduction
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+Architecture
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============
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-This is a collection of drivers that is designed to support all input
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-devices under Linux. While it is currently used only on for USB input
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-devices, future use (say 2.5/2.6) is expected to expand to replace
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-most of the existing input system, which is why it lives in
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-drivers/input/ instead of drivers/usb/.
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+Input subsystem a collection of drivers that is designed to support
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+all input devices under Linux. Most of the drivers reside in
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+drivers/input, although quite a few live in drivers/hid and
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+drivers/platform.
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-The centre of the input drivers is the input module, which must be
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+The core of the input subsystem is the input module, which must be
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loaded before any other of the input modules - it serves as a way of
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communication between two groups of modules:
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@@ -32,9 +27,9 @@ events (keystrokes, mouse movements) to the input module.
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Event handlers
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--------------
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-These modules get events from input and pass them where needed via
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-various interfaces - keystrokes to the kernel, mouse movements via a
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-simulated PS/2 interface to GPM and X and so on.
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+These modules get events from input core and pass them where needed
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+via various interfaces - keystrokes to the kernel, mouse movements via
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+a simulated PS/2 interface to GPM and X, and so on.
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Simple Usage
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============
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@@ -45,19 +40,18 @@ kernel)::
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input
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mousedev
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- keybdev
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usbcore
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uhci_hcd or ohci_hcd or ehci_hcd
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usbhid
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+ hid_generic
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After this, the USB keyboard will work straight away, and the USB mouse
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will be available as a character device on major 13, minor 63::
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crw-r--r-- 1 root root 13, 63 Mar 28 22:45 mice
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-This device has to be created.
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-
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-The commands to create it by hand are::
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+This device usually created automatically by the system. The commands
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+to create it by hand are::
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cd /dev
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mkdir input
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@@ -81,100 +75,50 @@ When you do all of the above, you can use your USB mouse and keyboard.
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Detailed Description
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====================
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-Device drivers
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+Event handlers
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--------------
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-Device drivers are the modules that generate events. The events are
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-however not useful without being handled, so you also will need to use some
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-of the modules from section 3.2.
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-
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-usbhid
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-~~~~~~
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-
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-usbhid is the largest and most complex driver of the whole suite. It
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-handles all HID devices, and because there is a very wide variety of them,
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-and because the USB HID specification isn't simple, it needs to be this big.
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-
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-Currently, it handles USB mice, joysticks, gamepads, steering wheels
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-keyboards, trackballs and digitizers.
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-
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-However, USB uses HID also for monitor controls, speaker controls, UPSs,
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-LCDs and many other purposes.
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-
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-The monitor and speaker controls should be easy to add to the hid/input
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-interface, but for the UPSs and LCDs it doesn't make much sense. For this,
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-the hiddev interface was designed. See Documentation/hid/hiddev.txt
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-for more information about it.
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-
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-The usage of the usbhid module is very simple, it takes no parameters,
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-detects everything automatically and when a HID device is inserted, it
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-detects it appropriately.
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-
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-However, because the devices vary wildly, you might happen to have a
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-device that doesn't work well. In that case #define DEBUG at the beginning
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-of hid-core.c and send me the syslog traces.
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+Event handlers distribute the events from the devices to userspace and
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+in-kernel consumers, as needed.
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-usbmouse
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-~~~~~~~~
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-
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-For embedded systems, for mice with broken HID descriptors and just any
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-other use when the big usbhid wouldn't be a good choice, there is the
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-usbmouse driver. It handles USB mice only. It uses a simpler HIDBP
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-protocol. This also means the mice must support this simpler protocol. Not
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-all do. If you don't have any strong reason to use this module, use usbhid
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-instead.
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-
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-usbkbd
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-~~~~~~
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-
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-Much like usbmouse, this module talks to keyboards with a simplified
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-HIDBP protocol. It's smaller, but doesn't support any extra special keys.
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-Use usbhid instead if there isn't any special reason to use this.
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-
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-wacom
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+evdev
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~~~~~
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-This is a driver for Wacom Graphire and Intuos tablets. Not for Wacom
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-PenPartner, that one is handled by the HID driver. Although the Intuos and
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-Graphire tablets claim that they are HID tablets as well, they are not and
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-thus need this specific driver.
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+``evdev`` is the generic input event interface. It passes the events
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+generated in the kernel straight to the program, with timestamps. The
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+event codes are the same on all architectures and are hardware
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+independent.
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-iforce
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-~~~~~~
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+This is the preferred interface for userspace to consume user
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+input, and all clients are encouraged to use it.
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-A driver for I-Force joysticks and wheels, both over USB and RS232.
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-It includes ForceFeedback support now, even though Immersion
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-Corp. considers the protocol a trade secret and won't disclose a word
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-about it.
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+See :ref:`event-interface` for notes on API.
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-Event handlers
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---------------
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+The devices are in /dev/input::
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-Event handlers distribute the events from the devices to userland and
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-kernel, as needed.
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+ crw-r--r-- 1 root root 13, 64 Apr 1 10:49 event0
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+ crw-r--r-- 1 root root 13, 65 Apr 1 10:50 event1
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+ crw-r--r-- 1 root root 13, 66 Apr 1 10:50 event2
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+ crw-r--r-- 1 root root 13, 67 Apr 1 10:50 event3
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+ ...
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-keybdev
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-~~~~~~~
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+There are two ranges of minors: 64 through 95 is the static legacy
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+range. If there are more than 32 input devices in a system, additional
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+evdev nodes are created with minors starting with 256.
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-keybdev is currently a rather ugly hack that translates the input
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-events into architecture-specific keyboard raw mode (Xlated AT Set2 on
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-x86), and passes them into the handle_scancode function of the
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-keyboard.c module. This works well enough on all architectures that
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-keybdev can generate rawmode on, other architectures can be added to
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-it.
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+keyboard
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+~~~~~~~~
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-The right way would be to pass the events to keyboard.c directly,
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-best if keyboard.c would itself be an event handler. This is done in
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-the input patch, available on the webpage mentioned below.
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+``keyboard`` is in-kernel input handler ad is a part of VT code. It
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+consumes keyboard keystrokes and handles user input for VT consoles.
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mousedev
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~~~~~~~~
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-mousedev is also a hack to make programs that use mouse input
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+``mousedev`` is a hack to make legacy programs that use mouse input
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work. It takes events from either mice or digitizers/tablets and makes
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a PS/2-style (a la /dev/psaux) mouse device available to the
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-userland. Ideally, the programs could use a more reasonable interface,
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-for example evdev
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+userland.
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Mousedev devices in /dev/input (as shown above) are::
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@@ -190,8 +134,9 @@ Mousedev devices in /dev/input (as shown above) are::
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Each ``mouse`` device is assigned to a single mouse or digitizer, except
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the last one - ``mice``. This single character device is shared by all
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mice and digitizers, and even if none are connected, the device is
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-present. This is useful for hotplugging USB mice, so that programs
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-can open the device even when no mice are present.
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+present. This is useful for hotplugging USB mice, so that older programs
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+that do not handle hotplug can open the device even when no mice are
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+present.
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CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_SCREEN_[XY] in the kernel configuration are
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the size of your screen (in pixels) in XFree86. This is needed if you
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@@ -208,11 +153,10 @@ mouse and ExplorerPS/2 if you want to use extra (up to 5) buttons.
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joydev
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~~~~~~
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-Joydev implements v0.x and v1.x Linux joystick api, much like
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-drivers/char/joystick/joystick.c used to in earlier versions. See
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-joystick-api.txt in the Documentation subdirectory for details. As
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-soon as any joystick is connected, it can be accessed in /dev/input
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-on::
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+``joydev`` implements v0.x and v1.x Linux joystick API. See
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+:ref:`joystick-api` for details.
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+
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+As soon as any joystick is connected, it can be accessed in /dev/input on::
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crw-r--r-- 1 root root 13, 0 Apr 1 10:50 js0
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crw-r--r-- 1 root root 13, 1 Apr 1 10:50 js1
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@@ -220,56 +164,99 @@ on::
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crw-r--r-- 1 root root 13, 3 Apr 1 10:50 js3
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...
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-And so on up to js31.
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+And so on up to js31 in legacy range, and additional nodes with minors
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+above 256 if there are more joystick devices.
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-evdev
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-~~~~~
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+Device drivers
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+--------------
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-evdev is the generic input event interface. It passes the events
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-generated in the kernel straight to the program, with timestamps. The
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-API is still evolving, but should be usable now. It's described in
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-section 5.
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+Device drivers are the modules that generate events.
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-This should be the way for GPM and X to get keyboard and mouse
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-events. It allows for multihead in X without any specific multihead
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-kernel support. The event codes are the same on all architectures and
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-are hardware independent.
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+hid-generic
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+~~~~~~~~~~~
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-The devices are in /dev/input::
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+``hid-generic`` is one of the largest and most complex driver of the
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+whole suite. It handles all HID devices, and because there is a very
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+wide variety of them, and because the USB HID specification isn't
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+simple, it needs to be this big.
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- crw-r--r-- 1 root root 13, 64 Apr 1 10:49 event0
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- crw-r--r-- 1 root root 13, 65 Apr 1 10:50 event1
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- crw-r--r-- 1 root root 13, 66 Apr 1 10:50 event2
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- crw-r--r-- 1 root root 13, 67 Apr 1 10:50 event3
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- ...
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+Currently, it handles USB mice, joysticks, gamepads, steering wheels
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+keyboards, trackballs and digitizers.
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+
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+However, USB uses HID also for monitor controls, speaker controls, UPSs,
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+LCDs and many other purposes.
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+
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+The monitor and speaker controls should be easy to add to the hid/input
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+interface, but for the UPSs and LCDs it doesn't make much sense. For this,
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+the hiddev interface was designed. See Documentation/hid/hiddev.txt
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+for more information about it.
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+
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+The usage of the usbhid module is very simple, it takes no parameters,
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+detects everything automatically and when a HID device is inserted, it
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+detects it appropriately.
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-And so on up to event31.
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+However, because the devices vary wildly, you might happen to have a
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+device that doesn't work well. In that case #define DEBUG at the beginning
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+of hid-core.c and send me the syslog traces.
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+
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+usbmouse
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+~~~~~~~~
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+
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+For embedded systems, for mice with broken HID descriptors and just any
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+other use when the big usbhid wouldn't be a good choice, there is the
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+usbmouse driver. It handles USB mice only. It uses a simpler HIDBP
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+protocol. This also means the mice must support this simpler protocol. Not
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+all do. If you don't have any strong reason to use this module, use usbhid
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+instead.
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+
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+usbkbd
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+~~~~~~
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+
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+Much like usbmouse, this module talks to keyboards with a simplified
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+HIDBP protocol. It's smaller, but doesn't support any extra special keys.
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+Use usbhid instead if there isn't any special reason to use this.
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+
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+psmouse
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+~~~~~~~
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+
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+This is driver for all flavors of pointing devices using PS/2
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+protocol, including Synaptics and ALPS touchpads, Intellimouse
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+Explorer devices, Logitech PS/2 mice and so on.
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+
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+atkbd
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+~~~~~
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+
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+This is driver for PS/2 (AT) keyboards.
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+
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+iforce
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+~~~~~~
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+
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+A driver for I-Force joysticks and wheels, both over USB and RS232.
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+It includes Force Feedback support now, even though Immersion
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+Corp. considers the protocol a trade secret and won't disclose a word
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+about it.
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Verifying if it works
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=====================
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Typing a couple keys on the keyboard should be enough to check that
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-a USB keyboard works and is correctly connected to the kernel keyboard
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+a keyboard works and is correctly connected to the kernel keyboard
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driver.
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Doing a ``cat /dev/input/mouse0`` (c, 13, 32) will verify that a mouse
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is also emulated; characters should appear if you move it.
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You can test the joystick emulation with the ``jstest`` utility,
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-available in the joystick package (see Documentation/input/joystick.txt).
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+available in the joystick package (see :ref:`joystick-doc`).
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-You can test the event devices with the ``evtest`` utility available
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-in the LinuxConsole project CVS archive (see the URL below).
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+You can test the event devices with the ``evtest`` utility.
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+
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+.. _event-interface:
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Event interface
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===============
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-Should you want to add event device support into any application (X, gpm,
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-svgalib ...) I <vojtech@ucw.cz> will be happy to provide you any help I
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-can. Here goes a description of the current state of things, which is going
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-to be extended, but not changed incompatibly as time goes:
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-
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-You can use blocking and nonblocking reads, also select() on the
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+You can use blocking and nonblocking reads, and also select() on the
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/dev/input/eventX devices, and you'll always get a whole number of input
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events on a read. Their layout is::
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@@ -290,3 +277,5 @@ list is in include/uapi/linux/input-event-codes.h.
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``value`` is the value the event carries. Either a relative change for
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EV_REL, absolute new value for EV_ABS (joysticks ...), or 0 for EV_KEY for
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release, 1 for keypress and 2 for autorepeat.
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+
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+See :ref:`input-event-codes` for more information about various even codes.
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