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Date:      Mon, 07 Jan 2002 20:59:10 -0600
From:      Erik Moe <emoe@mmcable.com>
To:        hardware@freebsd.org, questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   KVM switch problems and FreeBSD
Message-ID:  <3C3A607E.F9358D5A@mmcable.com>

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Hello,

I'm having trouble with a new Logitech optical mouse when it is
connected to a Belkin OmniView KVM switch.  I previously used an old
Microsoft two button mouse which had no problems.  Here is the
situation, when I boot my FreeBSD machine (4.3-RELEASE) the mouse
initializes and works just fine with both moused and XFree86 3.3.6. 
However, when I switch the KVM to another system and then switch back
again, the mouse cursor dances all over the screen and random mouse
button presses are registered.  Also, I get the following system
messages:

psmintr: out of sync (0000 != 0008)

If I switch back to the other non-FreeBSD machine the mouse works
correctly, but it is hosed completely within FreeBSD until I reboot. 
This behavior occurs whether I use moused by itself, in combination with
XFree or use XFree alone.

Still, purely by accident, I discovered a workaround.  I noticed that
the psm driver will detect a different mouse type dependent on whether
the FreeBSD system is active when the driver initializes the mouse. 
This is the message a get when I have the switch on the FreeBSD system
when the psm driver loads:

psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> irq 12 on atkbdc0
psm0: model IntelliMouse, device ID 3

If I have the KVM switch on a system other than the FreeBSD system when
the psm driver loads, it detects a different mouse type:

psm0: failed to get data.
psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> irq 12 on atkbdc0
psm0: model Generic PS/2 mouse, device ID 0

Though it may simply be defaulting to a generic PS/2 mouse.  I'm not
sure what the "failed to get data" is telling me.

Regardless, this is the key to the workaround.  Frist I switch the KVM
over to my Win2K box and reboot it.  The assumption is that Windows will
properly initialize the mouse.  Then without switching the KVM I reboot
my FreeBSD system.  As long as I don't switch over to the FreeBSD system
until after the psm driver has been loaded I'm ok.  From that point on I
can switch between FreeBSD and any of the other systems on my KVM and
back again and the mouse works just fine.

My hypothesis is that the psm driver behaves differently and is somehow
incompatible with KVM switches when it thinks it is attached to an
IntelliMouse.  This is not the case when it thinks it is attached to a
generic PS/2 mouse, which explains why I never saw this problem with my
old Microsoft mouse.

In other words, I think there is a bug.  I've seen some other people on
the lists with similar KVM switch problems.  Anyone have another
explanation?

Thanks,

Erik Moe

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