Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 11:03:44 +0900 From: Kazutaka YOKOTA <yokota@zodiac.mech.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp> To: Ryan Thompson <ryan@sasknow.com> Cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org, yokota@zodiac.mech.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp Subject: Re: 4.0-20000307-CURRENT kern.flp keyboard probe questions Message-ID: <200003110203.LAA11344@zodiac.mech.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 10 Mar 2000 18:58:16 CST." <Pine.BSF.4.21.0003101843100.8418-100000@ren.sasknow.com> References: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0003101843100.8418-100000@ren.sasknow.com>
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>> >And, if not, could >> >the loader at least not display a message on the local monitor like >> >"Switching output to serial console...", or better yet, "Switching output >> >to serial console in 10 seconds.. press any key to abort"? >> >> Which key do you mean? The system has found no keyboard, you know :-) >> >> Kazu > >Exactly... My suggestion resembles the common BIOS boot message from days >of old: > > Keyboard not found. Press [F1] to continue. The PC BIOS prints "Press [F1] to continue" for ANY error detected during POST. I found it damm stupid. As I wrote in another posting, the keyboard interface on the PC motherboard is not designed for hot-plugging/unplugging. And I don't think the BIOS is expecting you to attach the keyboard without turning off the system in the above situation. You may say it works. But, I can say, with confidence, it is not generally the case with the average PC motherboard. I strongly object to the idea to put some logic or message to actively "encourage" users to hot-plug the keyboard. That will certainly lead to breakage of many motherboards. If the user hot-plug the keyboard, knowing involved risks, that's his problem; he is expected to know what he is doing and is prepared to accept the risks. It's indeed inconvenient that you cannot safely hot-plug the keyboard. And the world is heading for the USB standard... :-) Kazu >The novice reads, laughs out loud, and wonders if the joke is really on >them. After all, how COULD they press F1 if a keyboard does not exist? > >The expert checks his/her keyboard connection, (or plugs a keyboard in) >and, indeed, hits F1 to continue. BIOS programmers have been doing it >for about two decades. Why not the FreeBSD boot loader? :-) > >My idea is a similar one. Have the boot loader (with a reasonably >configured timeout--we don't want to wait indefinitely) display a similar >message (perhaps with copious beeping), giving the busy sysadmin a chance >to switch keyboards, or at least notice that a keyboard was not detected. > >If I install FreeBSD on multiple systems, I might throw boot disks in a >dozen machines so I don't have to wait for each one. I come around with >my $370 keyboard later to start the actual installs over NFS. I call it >'pipelining' :-) To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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