USB Keyboards and Mouse Devices

Keep the following issues in mind when using USB keyboards and mouse devices:

• Do not move the keyboard and mouse during a reboot or at the ok prompt on a SPARC system. You can move the keyboard and mouse to another hub at any time after a system reboot. After you plug in a keyboard and mouse, they are fully functional again.

• The keys just to the left of the keypad might not function on some third-party USB keyboards.

• SPARC – Keep the following issues in mind when using USB keyboards and mouse devices on SPARC systems:

  • The power key on a USB keyboard behaves differently than the power key on the Sun type 5 keyboard. On a USB keyboard, you can suspend or shut down the system by using the SUSPEND/SHUTDOWN key. However, you cannot use that key to power up the system.

  • Before the boot process finishes, the OpenBoot PROM (OBP) limits keyboard and mouse devices to the motherboard root hub ports only.

  • USB keyboard and mouse devices cannot be used simultaneously with Sun Type 3, 4, or 5 keyboards on legacy SPARC systems, such as the Ultra 80.

• For information about multiple keyboard and mouse device support, see virtualkm(7D).

USB Wheel Mouse Support

Starting in the Solaris 9 9/04 release, the following wheel mouse features are supported:

• Support for more than 3 buttons is available on USB or PS/2 mouse devices.

• Wheel mouse scrolling is available on a USB or PS/2 mouse device. This support means that rolling the wheel on a USB or a PS/2 mouse results in a scroll in the application or window under mouse focus. StarOffice, Firefox, and GNOME applications support wheel mouse scrolling. However, other applications might not support wheel mouse scrolling.