data/20_newsgroups/comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware/58905

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!crabapple.srv.cs.cmu.edu!fs7.ece.cmu.edu!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!noc.near.net!uunet!math.fu-berlin.de!andrei
From: andrei@labomath.univ-orleans.fr (Andrei Yakovlev)
Subject: How to program a PC Keyboard itself?
Message-ID: <PSACBACV@math.fu-berlin.de>
Sender: andrei@lptl.jussieu.fr (Andrei Yakovlev)
Organization: University of Orleans, France.
Date: Tue, 6 Apr 1993 09:23:56 GMT
Lines: 17

  Hi All,

  I have heard that somewhere there exist programmable keyboards, eg. one
can program displays on the keys to show some specific characters, et.c.
  Does it mean that there is some way of transmitting some "non-trivial" data
to the KB (as opposed to standard NumLock/... On-Off, typeamatic specs.) from
inside the PC software? I have not found any corresponding reference in the
specs for the 8042 PC-KB interface. Anyone have any ideas? (Except that they
may encode data by the sequences of the standard commands mentioned above,
which wouldn't look too neat, besides, what would one do from an XT?)

  Great thanks in advance,

Andrew.