From owner-freebsd-questions  Wed Feb  7  9:19:14 2001
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Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 10:19:23 -0700
From: Jason F Wells <jason+freebsd@routermonkey.com>
To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: Keyboard detection in 4.2-RELEASE, 4.2-STABLE
Message-ID: <20010207101923.B6097@fry.routermonkey.com>
References: <006c01c09128$735f2af0$1200a8c0@gsicomp.on.ca> <8106.981565690@cs.ucl.ac.uk>
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In-Reply-To: <8106.981565690@cs.ucl.ac.uk>; from G.Matthews@cs.ucl.ac.uk on Wed, Feb 07, 2001 at 05:08:10PM +0000
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On Wed, Feb 07, 2001 at 05:08:10PM +0000, Greg MATTHEWS wrote:
> would i be right in assuming that freebsd works like other unixen 
> (sunos/solaris in my exp) in that booting without k/b forces the i/o through 
> the console (serial) port. therefore plugging a kb in has no effect.

I don't think this is the case, as the console output still goes to the
monitor. I've also played with the settings in /boot.conf (using -D as the
flag) to force console to always go to screen / keyboard.

As I said before; it used to work, until 4.2; I'm just looking for
what has changed, and if there's any way to set it back.

> 
> i second what matt said too.

I'm aware of the risks of hot-plugging; I've had very few problems
considering the number of servers I've worked on. I've had far worse
luck with serial cables than keyboards.

> 
> GREG
> 
> > > Now we find that if a server is rebooted without the keyboard
> > > connected when it boots, if we plug in a keyboard after the
> > > fact it doesn't work. If the keyboard is connected at boot time,
> > > it can be unplugged and plugged back in without any problem.
> > 
> > You shouldn't be hot-plugging keyboards!!  I've destroyed two keyboards and
> > keyboard controllers (motherboards) by doing this.
> > 
> > You really have two options - purchase a keyboard for each system and leave
> > them plugged in (PS/2-style keyboards can be had for less than CAD$15 each)
> > or purchase a KVM.
> 
> third option... use serial consoles.
> 
> 


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