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Date:      27 Dec 2003 13:35:22 EST
From:      Geoff.S.Garen@Dartmouth.EDU (Geoff S. Garen)
To:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   installation with a usb keyboard
Message-ID:  <26364239@newvixen.Dartmouth.EDU>

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I'm trying to install FreeBSD 4.9-stable with a usb keyboard. At =
the initial installation prompt (press enter to boot...), my =
keyboard works. I can even pause the boot loader to call up a =
command prompt. However, once the installation kernel boots, my =
keyboard doesn't work anymore.

Is there a fix to this?

>From reading stuff on the web, I've discovered two suggestions:

(1) Use a PS/2 keyboard for installation - your USB keyboard will =
work when installation is finished.

This doesn't help me because my computer has only USB ports.

(2) Enable "legacy / AT keyboard emulation" in BIOS.

This doesn't help me because I don't have that option in BIOS. More =
importantly, it seems to be on by default, which explains my =
ability to use the keyboard at the initial prompt. However, =
according to some older posts, it turns off by default once the =
FreeBSD kernel loads, because the kernel recognizes USB devices, so =
the BIOS senses that AT emulation isn't necessary. This seems like =
a supreme irony: because FreeBSD supports USB devices, my USB =
device doesn't work.

The last posts on this topic were March 2002. Has anything happened =
since then? Does anyone know a work-around? If FreeBSD supports USB =
devices, why doesn't it support them during installation?

Any help much appreciated.

Geoff Garen



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