Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 12:23:00 -0700 From: Marcel Moolenaar <xcllnt@mac.com> To: thIOretic@yandex.ru Cc: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org, philip@FreeBSD.org, thioretic@FreeBSD.org, nsouch@free.fr, freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: GSoC <Generic input device layer> project community intro and sync Message-ID: <AD126480-D9D1-4472-8C5E-C37D6CD7C47E@mac.com> In-Reply-To: <46250237.000008.20157@mfront8.yandex.ru> References: <46250237.000008.20157@mfront8.yandex.ru>
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On Apr 17, 2007, at 10:21 AM, thIOretic wrote: > I would like to get info from everyone, who may take similar > efforts in FreeBSD input handling. I'm aware of > * newpsm framework > * KGI/KII > * vtc(4) was mentioned, but its code seems to do nothing from my > project thesis perspective. Or I've missed something? As for vtc(4): I've not been working on input devices because of the lack of a generic layer. Note that vtc(4) deals with the low-level console as much as it deals with user-visible terminals, so from that point of view, a user space stack will not address the need for having console input when there's no (functional) user space -- this includes early boot, the kernel debugger and single-user mode. I therefore doubt that it will sufficiently (or at all) solve problems we already have. Also, while multiplexing is an important feature I think that de- multiplexing is important too. With USB and multi-head or multiple graphics cards it's conceptually easy to turn a PC into a multi- user workstation, having multiple independent terminals. This implies that input devices need to be tied to output devices, which together form one or more terminals. In short: We do need a generic input framework, but I think we need it in the kernel, not in user space. I also think that a generic input layer should be capable of handling both focussed and non- focussed input devices to lay the foundation for configurations that do not include keyboards. -- Marcel Moolenaar xcllnt@mac.com
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