Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2000 19:02:12 EST From: "John Daniels" <jmd526@hotmail.com> To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org, freebsd-qa@freebsd.org Subject: FINAL: installation floppies and USB Message-ID: <20000307000212.53223.qmail@hotmail.com>
next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Hi:
My installation problem has been solved. For those of you who have not been
following "Installation floppies and USB," I have written a short synopsis
after my description of the resolution and conclusion.
SOLUTION:
I discovered that my Acer Aspire (model 6140) has two PS/2 ports (for
keyboard and floppy). I purchased a PS/2 mouse and keyboard and I no longer
get the "keyboard:no" message (instead it says: keyboard:yes)! (in fact,
under W98, my USB keyboard and mouse, and my PS/2 keyboard and mouse all
work simultaneously.)
DISCUSSION:
I have not seen any messages about this problem, since it turned into a BIOS
discussion with the recommendation that I change the BIOS parameter "PnP OS"
from YES to NO. FYI: Changing this parameter made no difference to the
installation before or after I hooked up the PS/2 keyboard and mouse. It
may make a difference at some later point.
The PS/2 ports are hidden by a two different coverings: 1- a plastic molding
that is screwed on and, 2- a plastic sheet that is glued on. No
consumer-oriented documentation mentions the PS/2 ports. I only found out
about them from: 1- a somewhat confusing email in which it was unclear if
the writer had the same model and what the exact location of the ports were,
2- the motherboard specs which happened to be on the Acer Aspire website,
which prompted a more through searching of my system.
I had previously looked at the Acer website and knew it to have very little
information. The Acer site doesn’t even have a search function. I only
went back hoping to find if there were any BIOS updates (there were none).
Two previous calls to Acer support describing my problems installing a new
operation system ended with the response: "we don't support Linux or
FreeBSD" -- with no mention of the possibility of using the PS/2 ports.
As far as BIOS updates: I finally found that Acer Germany provided them
(www.acer.de/support/techinfo/bios.htm) -- and one of these BIOS updates was
specifically for “Linux support!” (this might also be needed for FreeBSD but
I have not downloaded this because I don’t want to fool with my BIOS unless
absolutely necessary.) I called Acer USA again but they had no idea that
this site existed or why there was a BIOS update for Linux (even though the
technician told me that he ran Linux (at home?))
I came to FreeBSD because I had learned that it “supported” USB but like
Linux, USB support must be compiled in after installing the GENERIC
kernel/system. I had purchased RedHat (before I found FreeBSD), but when I
called RedHat support and described my system (with USB keyboard and mouse),
I was told only that “Linux doesn’t support USB.”
CONCLUSIONS:
1- “-Dh” at the boot loader’s “boot:” allowed the boot loader to load
FreeBSD but when the FreeBSD GENERIC kernel was booted, the system may have
been looking for input from the PS/2 port. (which I had no knowledge of!).
Somehow NetBSD’s GENERIC kernel recognized my USB keyboard, because: 1- it
could use the same mechanism as the boot loader (whatever that may be), 2-
it has a better ability for finding devices dynamically (at least for
keyboards), or 3- it supports USB.
2-Acer needs to provide better documentation.
3-Major Linux vendors, like RedHat, which have aspirations for Linux as a
consumer "desktop" OS should have already come across this problem with Acer
machines (along with quirkiness of other machines/manufacturers). I would
have also liked to see a willingness on their part to find a solution,
instead of just spouting policy. There was no willingness from RH or SuSE
to provide a boot disk with a recompiled kernel (SuSE sponsored the backport
that enables USB support in Linux’s STABLE kernel)
4- Although I was disappointed that FreeBSD did not support USB
“out-of-the-box,” I did not expect a lot of support (like I had as a paying
customer of RedHat’s). NetBSD’s installation floppy did work and that was
my backup but I was encouraged to continue looking into my USB problem
because I found that FreeBSD developers were willing to be helpful. This is
especially true of John Barton, who first volunteered to help, but also of
John Reynolds who elevated my problem to -current and Nick Hibma who
responded quickly and cogently.
5- Perhaps I am naïve, but stating that an OS “supports” a device is
confusing when that “support” has to be compiled in. There should be a
sharper distinction between support out-of-the-box (in GENERIC) and
otherwise. Part of the confusion stems from the fact that USB seems so
basic. For example, almost any PC will “support” a hard disk and a printer
but most people would expect a hard disk to come with the machine.
In fact, hardware.txt states:
“The FreeBSD kernel on the install floppy contains drivers for every
piece of hardware that could conceivably be used to install the rest
of the system with.”
SYNOPSIS OF PROBLEM:
When I booted the installation floopy I got the message:
“keyboard: no”
The floppy disk drive continued to work, then stopped. I was later told
that my output (input,too?) was being redirected. In the file trouble.txt,
I found a reference to this problem which said that when the “keyboard:no”
message appears, the user should hit the spacebar then type “-Dh” at the
“boot:” prompt. This worked -- I could then proceed with the installation
until the FreeBSD kernel was booted and a screen appeared asking me if to
choose a configuration type: none, full screen, or command line (CLI).
Unfortunately, at this point my keyboard was not working. I believe that is
because I have a USB keyboard but Nick Hibma has said that they have USB
systems that could boot the installation disks without any keyboard
problems. Thus, BIOS settings and IRQ settings became an issue: could there
be conflicts or settings that needed to be changed? No BIOS setting changes
made any difference and I came across the PS/2 ports while I was trying to
learn more about BIOS for my system.
John
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-qa" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20000307000212.53223.qmail>