Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 23:54:12 -0700 From: "Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@toybox.placo.com> To: <auto245751@hushmail.com>, <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: RE: FreeBSD 4.2 Installation - Keyboard Problem + RANT Message-ID: <000d01c0ee55$7e7372e0$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com> In-Reply-To: <200106051211.FAA11151@user8.hushmail.com>
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>-----Original Message----- >From: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG >[mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of >auto245751@hushmail.com >>Have you tried a different keyboard just to see if it >>would make a difference? Sometimes there's timing differences >>I've seen this problem on other operating systems too. > >I would try that if I had a different keyboard to try. I have a >5-pin keyboard, > and the computer I'm installing to requires a 6-pin connector. I think what your saying here is you have a large DIN connector keyboard and the computer your installing to has a mini-DIN connector on it. I assume you have an adapter from large-to-small keyboard, right? > Besides, > I don't think it sounds right that I have to invest in a new >keyboard just >because FreeBSD 4.2, unlike every other fucking operating system (Windoze, > Linux, OpenBSD, etc.), won't respond to my keyboard. I can assure you from experience that it's _not_ every other operating system that doesen't have this problem with some hardware out there. I've personally dealt with this problem on even plain old DOS when mixing-and-matching keyboards, and furthermore even the IBM OS/2 installation manual specifically states that certain motherboards will require keyboard bios upgrades to run OS/2, if your looking for something more canonical than just FreeBSD PR's. >And knowing my luck, >the new keyboard will fail to fix the problem. My current keyboard works >fine up until FreeBSD takes over and gives me the three choices at >the "kernel >configuration" screen. Then my keyboard stops working. WTF? > I can tell you the problem but I can't tell you how to fix the code. The problem is that FreeBSD doesen't use BIOS for talking to the keyboard, it loads a device driver that speaks to the keyboard controller chip on the motherboard directly. Your motherboard/keyboard controller/keyboard combination is thus running under "different" code when you just boot DOS or are still on the BIOS's POST. I've ALSO seen this problem on ONE other instance - setting incorrect voltage or clocking speed on the CPU. If the CPU is using the wrong clock multiplier or clock then it can make the keyboard not talk to the motherboard under different operating systems. In your case it's a "difference of opinion" between the hardware you have and the keyboard device driver's idea of how to interface with the keyboard controller chip/keyboard combination. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a bug, but I recognize that it's a problem for a few installations. >Just run a search through http://groups.google.com and see how many other >people are encountering this same problem. I noticed someone wrote a PR >for this too. They, like I, are receiving a blind eye from the so-called >"freebsd community". > A developer cannot fix what they don't have in front of them - it's been years since I've seen this problem myself and obviously the keyboard driver author has never seen it. I'm sure you have better things to do than pack up your system and freight it off to the developer. I find it hard to believe that you don't have a friend with a computer that you can't swap the keyboard with just for testing, or couldn't you take the keyboard to work and swap it with a system there? It's only a keyboard for goodness sake. Any network server farm that uses keyboard switches has boxes of the things collecting dust. >A suggested fix was to disable 0x1 in the flags for atkbd. Could >the genius >who came up with this solution please explain HOW TO DO THIS DURING THE >__INSTALLATION__. > Obviously you can't. Normally, when booting the install asks if you want to make changes, you would select yes, then in the visual configurator select Input, then Keyboard, then tab to the flags and change it there. But if your keyboard is dead then you can't do this. >For fuck's sake... you'd think this problem would be resolved by now. > Just to be nice because your obviously upset I went and reviewed the keyboard PR's and there _has_ been work done on this. But, understand that the 0x1 option was stuck in there to fix a problem people were complaining about - it apparently fixed the problem then caused problems for others. There's also a mention that increasing the probe length fixed at least one person's problem. See PR i386/17391 The 0x1 flag thing was put in there after FreeBSD 4.0. One enterprising user installed 4.0, then upgraded to a later version and recompiled the OS. See PR i386/20495 Just to see if it would help you, I have put up the boot images for the floppies for 4.0 here: http://www.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com/software/KERN.FLP http://www.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com/software/MFSROOT.FLP Make them and see if you can boot into the installer and move about in it. If so, then submit a followup to PR i386/20495 and one to PR i386/17391 and let us know. If you ask nice someone can probably make a boot floppy for you with the 0x1 option shut off. Ted Mittelstaedt tedm@toybox.placo.com Author of: The FreeBSD Corporate Networker's Guide Book website: http://www.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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