Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2003 15:26:07 -0500 From: Mathew Kanner <mat@cnd.mcgill.ca> To: Blaz Zupan <blaz@si.FreeBSD.org> Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Reward for fixing keyboard support in FreeBSD, apply within Message-ID: <20031207202607.GD98718@cnd.mcgill.ca> In-Reply-To: <20031207204648.W65703@titanic.medinet.si> References: <20031207180022.B63497@titanic.medinet.si> <20031207192947.GA98718@cnd.mcgill.ca> <20031207204648.W65703@titanic.medinet.si>
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On Dec 07, Blaz Zupan wrote: [ ... snip ...] > > You could stick a kbdcontrol -k /dev/kbd2 in rc.local or > > something similiar. Or you could try (warning, wild guess) the > > following in the boot loader > > > > set hint.sc.2.at=isa > > set hint.sc.2.flags=0x200 > > Sure, I'm using the kbdcontrol hack right now. But that's hardly a solution. I > want to have FreeBSD fixed so that dirty workarounds like this are not needed. > To even install FreeBSD on this box, you need to jump through hoops: > > - create a customized boot floppy without USB support > - boot the customized floppy (slow) > - install through the network > - alternatively, setup a PXE boot with a custom kernel - complicated > > After installation you need to remotely login as your keyboard again won't > work because a GENERIC kernel with USB will be installed. Then you add > kbdcontrol -k /dev/kbd2 to your startup files. > > All this is extremely clumsy. What if FreeBSD crashes and you land in single > user mode? You're screwed, because /etc/rc.local doesn't run. So you need to > put it into your shells startup file. Clumsy. Errorprone. > > So - I want this fixed once and for all. I'm sure there already are and there > will be more hardware like this and if FreeBSD wants to be a server operating > system, it needs to support new hardware, not have more clumsy workarounds. I sense you have strong feelings about this :) The way I see it, FreeBSD needs serious hacking to have multiple concurrent keyboards support without serious hacking. The only other option is to have a flag to indicate which keyboard to use. If your keyboard works before the kernel is active (eg, to boot loader), then please try my second suggestion above. Good luck. --Mat -- If you optimize everything, you will always be unhappy. - Don Knuth
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