

The Magic SysRq key - pmoriarty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_SysRq_key

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teejmya
I'm surprised no one has commented about this yet, I use this trick all the
time as a NOC tech. Holding the sysrq key and typing:

R E I S U B

is much better than holding the power button.

Just remember: Raising elephants is so utterly boring

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coolgeek
> Just remember: Raising elephants is so utterly boring

FTA: the word "BUSIER" read backwards

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Mosteran
Does the Sysrq key do anything else besides this? It doesn't make sense for
everybody to have it on their keyboards just to serve low-level developers.
The same goes for scroll lock and to some extent pause. A lot of keyboards
combine these together and make them hard to find but they're still there for
every computer user on the planet to look at and read while they're trying to
find a key they actually want.

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superpatosainz
Well, at least in my Spanish keyboard there are two functions for the SysRq
key, as the keycap says:

Impr. Pant. | Pet. Sis. -- which is expanded to --> Imprimir Pantalla |
Petición a Sistema -- which translates to --> Prnt Scr | SysRq

So that binding makes the key actually useful for everyday activities.

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to3m
Yes, the key is the same on English keyboards too. I've no idea about USB
keyboards, but on AT keyboards that key actually generates two separate scan
codes depending on whether it's pressed without alt (PrtSc) or with (SysRq).
So in a sense SysRq is genuinely a separate key, that just shares its button
with another.

(I don't remember what happens to the Alt key press when you use it to invoke
SysRq - I suppose it just appears as normal and so the Alt+SysRq combination
sort of doesn't exist.)

Interestingly the SysRq scan code is far easier to detect - there's just one
value to watch for rather than (as with PrtSc) a whole sequence of them.
Probably a legacy of its having its own key on older keyboards.

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housel
Knowing these is a must if you're doing embedded development. I have a
printout of the table on this page posted on the wall of our validation lab.

