Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 21469
br-abnt2 on console won't accept slash/question mark
Last modified: 2007-03-26 23:37:54 EDT
On *some* (not all) ABNT2 keyboards, the keymap br-abnt2 will simply ignore the key that generates the forward slash and the question mark, when in console mode. XFree86 handle all ABNT2 keyboards correctly. After adding the following two lines to the keymap file, the keyboard starts working correctly: keycode 89 = slash question alt keycode 89 = Meta_slash While I was at it, I noticed `alt keycode 86' gets me a Meta_less. I wonder why it doesn't generate a Meta_backslash. Also, it seems to me that `control keycode 86' should generate a Control_backslash. Here are the relevant modified lines: keycode 86 = backslash bar control keycode 86 = Control_backslash alt keycode 86 = Meta_backslash Hope this helps.
Done in -31. No idea why it was wrong in the first place - I've never seen an ABNT2 keyboard, so I have to rely on whatever was in the console-tools tarball.
The fix didn't make it to the installer. And, indeed, the graphical installer seems to get an even worse kbd map: none of the slash keys work. After a text install and setting up the kbd type in XF86Config-4 with: Option "XkbModel" "abnt2" Option "XkbLayout" "br" Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys" both slash keys work, so it's something specific to the installer too.
I'm afraid the fix didn't make it to the 7.2 installer (bootnet floppy and CD-ROM tested). After installation is complete, or during an X install, the slash works correctly, but befor getting to X in a net install, entering the NFS mount-point is a pain :-( Ditto for mounting stuff in rescue mode :-( Please make sure the correct abnt2 text-mode kbd setup makes it to the installer for the next release, and if we ever find a better reason to release new installer images, please consider getting the fix into it. Sorry for not catching this in the betas. I try to stay away from ABNT2 keyboards, but it seems like I'm going to have to get used to it.
Problem still present in 7.3's installer and rescue disks: the slash key does not work in text mode, which makes it an interesting exercise to enter pathnames. Is there anything I can do to help make sure this fix makes it to the next release?
Based on what I know about pt and the current kbd, the slash should work now.
It has worked for quite some time, indeed, but I just got a confusing report from an acquaintance that uses such a keyboard, and he reports the slash has stopped working very recently, when he installed FC2 (or was it FC3test1). I asked him to file a bug report, specifying whether the problem was in text or X mode, but he hasn't done so yet. We can probably leave this bug closed.
I failed to mention that, for personal experience, FC2 works with br-abnt2 out of the box. I just meant to mention that there may be some recent regression related with it.