Re: keyboard

[James S. <jsi...@ac...>]

> I had to remove a line preventing util/inputattach.c from working.
> (but didn't want to update in cvs as I dunno who's changing what)
> offending line:
> # { "--stinger",          "-sting",       B1200,
> CS8,                     SERIO_STINGER,  0x00,   1,      stinger_init },
> 
> SERIO_STINGER not defined.

Strange. I gave it a run and had no problem. Is this with the current CVS?
SERIO_STINGER is defined in serio.h in linux/include/linux. Please try it
again with the latest CVS and let me know if you have the same problem.
Also make sure /usr/include/linux points to the ruby tree. I have made
this mistake before.

> with 2.40-test7 + patched:
> make menuconfig wouldn't work as is (it complained about include/asm
> being a directory or
> whatever so I changed the makefile and removed the rm -f include/asm -
> maybe it should
> be a rm -rf ?)

That is also strange. Normally include/asm is a symbolic link to
include/asm-xxx where xxx is the platform you are on. So include/asm
should be a symbolic link. Normally make config sets this symbolic link. 
Remove the include/asm diretcory and rerun make menuconfig. I'm curious. 
You wouldn't happen to be running a Debian distro?
 
> Is devfs required/advisable/not needed?

Same as any other system. It is not needed but if you do use devfs
remember to run the devfsd deamon. 

> I could test my usb keyboard with evtest, but there is only one event
> interface
> where is my ps2 keyboard (as a device)?

What do you see for your dmesg? I have

Aug 29 13:05:52 maxwell kernel: keyboard.c: Adding keyboard: input0
Aug 29 13:05:52 maxwell kernel: input0: AT Set 2 Extended keyboard
Aug 29 13:05:52 maxwell kernel:  on serio0
Aug 29 13:05:52 maxwell kernel: mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all
mice
Aug 29 13:05:52 maxwell kernel: event0: Event device for input0

This is for a single PS/2 keyboard. What do you see for your setup?

> How do I set the multiplexing?

The way ruby works is one keyboard is mapped to one display for the
console system. If you want to access non attached keyboard this is where
the input interface comes in. By non attached I mean you have more
keybaords than displays (like me). Once the kernel side is pretty much
done I will begain work on a new consd deamon that will be able to do
weird combos like VTs with 2 keyboards and one display. That will be
handled in userland. As for multiple VTs the console system handles the
multiplexing for you :-) 

> btw, linux refuses to boot sometimes when my usb keyboard is plugged
> (stops after you press return in lilo) but if I unplug and then replug
> after the boot it's fine..

That sounds like a BIOS problem. I have the same problem with plugging in
2 ps/2 keyboards. It confuses the BIOS. I have to plug in my second PS/2
keyboard while the kernel is booting. I might be wrong as I don't have a
usb keyboard. 

> I guess that for multiple keyboards, the keyboard.c file from XFree86
> will need changing,
> anyone fancy making a patch to allow a ' Device "/dev/inputXXX" ' option
> in XF86Config
> for the keyboard section?

Look at ruby CVS code for xfree86. It has a patch to apply against the
XFree86 3.3.6 code tree. As far as I can see XF4.0 isn't support yet with
the CVS code. XF4.0 does have support for multiple keybaords but last I
looked it didn't support USB keyboards or /dev/input. Which X server are
you running. 

> Or maybe X will start up using whatever keyboard was being used upon
> start up?
> Can someone explain briefly how that's going to work?
> I will be looking at X docs today to try and understand a bit more about
> drivers.

Depends on which X server you have. For XFree86 3.3.6 you have to apply a
patch. For XF4.0 you play some config tricks to get it to work. From the 
last I seen USB keyboards and the new input system are not supported with
XF4.0. With XFree86 it usually takes them 6 months to support something.