freebsd man page for kbd_mode

KBD_MODE(1)						      General Commands Manual						       KBD_MODE(1)

NAME
       kbd_mode - report or set the keyboard mode

SYNOPSIS
       kbd_mode [ -a | -u | -k | -s ] [ -C CONSOLE ]

DESCRIPTION
       Without	argument,  kbd_mode prints the current keyboard mode (RAW, MEDIUMRAW or XLATE).  With argument, it sets the keyboard mode as indi-
       cated:

       -s: scancode mode (RAW),

       -k: keycode mode (MEDIUMRAW),

       -a: ASCII mode (XLATE),

       -u: UTF-8 mode (UNICODE).

       Of course the "-a" is only traditional, and the code used can be any 8-bit character set.  With "-u" a 16-bit character	set  is  expected,
       and  these chars are transmitted to the kernel as 1, 2, or 3 bytes (following the UTF-8 coding).  In these latter two modes the key mapping
       defined by loadkeys(1) is used.

       kbd_mode operates on the console specified by the "-C" option; if there is none, the console associated with stdin is used.

       Warning: changing the keyboard mode, other than between ASCII and Unicode, will probably make your keyboard unusable.  This command is only
       meant  for use (say via remote login) when some program left your keyboard in the wrong state.  Note that in some obsolete versions of this
       program the "-u" option was a synonym for "-s".

SEE ALSO
       loadkeys(1)

								    6 Apr 1994							       KBD_MODE(1)