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Date:      Thu, 12 Nov 1998 11:30:01 +0100 (MET)
From:      Nick Hibma <nick.hibma@jrc.it>
To:        FreeBSD hackers mailing list <hackers@FreeBSD.ORG>
Cc:        USB BSD list <usb-bsd@makelist.com>
Subject:   update on USB stack/call for help
Message-ID:  <Pine.GSO.3.95q.981112101741.16468K-100000@elect8>

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The porting of the NetBSD USB stack to FreeBSD is progressing. We are at
the point were actual device drivers are to be tested/implemented. The
(working) beginnings of the following are there:

	- printer driver (not test under FreeBSD yet, but working under
	NetBSD)

	- generic driver (as in very generic, you'll know the name and
	serial number of your device and that's it. But the NetBSD folks
	are working on that one, as well as I do on the side).

	- mouse driver (working, cut&paste works on my laptop).
	(do _not_ remove the mouse while the mouse is used by any
	userland program, the interrupt pipe is not killed and your
	computer will go pop, without you being able to reset
	it).

	- keyboard driver (possibly attaches, but connection to syscons
	has not yet been made).

	- HID (human interface device driver), a general driver for any
	kind of human interface device. Drivers for joysticks or
	touchpads should not be too hard to write with this available.


If you download the stack, check the README for installation
instructions. Be aware of the fact that the code is alpha, so if it
breaks, you can keep the pieces.


Anyone wanting to get his hands dirty could have a look at the following
parts:

	- keyboard driver:
		someone has to pick that up and make the driver not only
		work with USB keyboard but also together with syscons.
		NetBSD uses a completely different abstraction layer
		there, so that requires a bit of work.

	- mouse driver:
		someone needs to properly implement the PS/2 emulation
		or write the sysmouse version of it. At the moment this
		has been a quick&dirty job to get it working.

	- OHCI driver:
		requires compliant motherboard (non-Intel 82371 board,
		see your dmesg); low level driver has not been ported
		yet, but is high on the list of priorities.

	- general:
		testing, like installing it and telling me whether it
		works for you or not

	- video camera driver:
		Windows 1895 is not able to do something sensible with
		my camera, so I will start on that one as soon as
		possible


One big problem that has to be solved as soon as possible: Dynamic
attachment and detachment, including (manual) dynamic loading of the
drivers. detachment is not implemented in the NetBSD version yet.
That I am going to try and solve this weekend.



The USB stack can be fetched from 
	http://www.etla.net/~n_hibma/usb/usb.pl

Mailing list for people participating in coding:
	http://www.egroups.com/list/usb-bsd/

Info on USB in general:
	http://www.usb.org

	(nice poll: 'Are you running Windows '98 as your OS?'
	49% of 415 votes says 'No'! That is a lot for a site that is
	referenced by early adopters.)


Cheers,

Nick Hibma



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