Detecting keyboard and mouse in linux

Hello guys,
i am writing a c program to detect the keyboard and mouse. In fact i am doing it right now by reading the file /proc/bus/input/devices. Program is working with few exceptions.
First problem is if you remove ps2 mouse or keyboard there is no change in /proc/bus/input/devices so it is still showing mouse and keyboard is connected when it is not. It works fine with USB Keyboard and mouse though.(it works ps2 but needs system reboot only then /proc/bus/input/devices file reflects changes.)
Second i am looking for the string "mouse" and "keyboard" in this file(obviously bad idea). For some keyboards and mice there is no string "mouse" and "keyboard" in the entry NAME:<name of device> .
so i am looking for some way i can do it without using string comparison and which works for ps2.
i am using 2.6.21-1.3194.fc7.

ps2 does not support "hot plugging", so the OS has not got any possibility to detect that the device is attached or detached once it's up and running. You could possibly access the driver and see if it can send something to the keyboard that will give a response and then see if you get a timeout - I know that blinking the keyboar LED's will give a response back from the keyboard. I'm not sure about mice, but I'm pretty sure there is something you could send to the mouse and get a response.

--
Mats

Can i send some signal on the bus connecting keyboard and mouse, and if i recieve something back then i will say it is connected. Can something like this be done?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sameer.nalwade

Can i send some signal on the bus connecting keyboard and mouse, and if i recieve something back then i will say it is connected. Can something like this be done?

---

Yes, but you need to have a driver to do that, and unless you also want to prevent the keyboard from working properly, then you will have to use the existing driver (or modify the standard keyboard/mouse driver in some way).

--
Mats