KBDRATE(8)		    System Manager's Manual		    KBDRATE(8)

NAME
       kbdrate - reset the keyboard repeat rate and delay time

SYNOPSIS
       kbdrate [options...]

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 systems it will reset the repeat rate to 5 cps and the delay to
       200 ms.


OPTIONS
       -r, --rate=NUMBER
	      Change the keyboard repeat rate to NUMBER 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 possible 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=NUMBER
	      Change the delay to NUMBER 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.

       -s, --silent
	      Silent. No messages are printed.

       -h, --help
	      Display a help text.

       -V, --version
	      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 util-linux@math.uio.no.

       All this is very architecture dependent.	 Nowadays kbdrate first tries
       the KDKBDREP and KIOCSRATE ioctls.  (The former usually works on an
       m68k/i386 machine, the latter for SPARC.)  When these ioctls fail an
       ioport interface.

FILES
       /etc/rc.local
       /dev/port

kbd				 22 June 1994			    KBDRATE(8)