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Date:      Mon, 19 Feb 1996 23:56:12 +0000 ()
From:      Alain Brauner <alainb@freegate.gna.org>
To:        Joerg Wunsch <joerg_wunsch@uriah.heep.sax.de>
Cc:        FreeBSD-current users <freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: Keyboard lockout on 2.x.x
Message-ID:  <Pine.NEB.3.91.960219230830.210D-100000@freegate.gna.org>
In-Reply-To: <199602190811.JAA11333@uriah.heep.sax.de>

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Hi,

Maybe i shall also redirect this mail to hackers.

On Mon, 19 Feb 1996, J Wunsch wrote:

> As Kent Hamilton wrote:
> > > 
> > > When exactly does it lock up?
> > 
> > Ohh, sorry, I've seen this mentioned here before so I guess I thought
> > it was a well known problem.  I'm using syscon and when flipping to a
> > different vt you'll get locked out.
> 


> Does this happen for all keyboards?  Does disconnecting/reconnecting
> the keyboard help?
> 

I have this problem too, this before 2.0R and i still have it in 2.1R,
with several different hardware.

> Keyboard lockup during VT switch is most likely due to a collision on
> the keyboard interface arising out of simultaneously sending a
> character code, while the driver is sending a SET LEDS command to the
> keyboard.

When i search in the differents lists archives of FreeBSD, i found that it 
may have something to do with one or more of the following :

	- The Screen saver ?
	- Lot's of Paging when we "VT switch" ( with X11 )

We can reproduce this problem when trying to switch while starting X at 
the same time or when we are under heavy load in X. 

> The keyboard serial interface hasn't been designed to be two-way, but
> later (for the PC/AT) been used for this.  Since you can rlogin into
> the machine, try compiling the kbdio(8) hacker's tool from
> /usr/src/usr.sbin/pcvt/kbdio, and see if you could also issue a
> keyboard reset.  Sorry, no man page, only the usage help (try -h).
> 

Good news.

Some time ago we where able to switch between VTs with an early syscons
command comming from FBSD 1.X .

I remember issuing this syscons command on my good old serial 
terminal, to get my console keyboard VT switching resurected.

I'm sure that this can be re-implemented in vidcontrol since i have the 
feeling that this is used in the install floppy.

I have to mention another intermittent Vt switching problem since 
2.0.5-SNAP-XXX ( using syscons ).

When i switch from X11 to text, i have to press to CTRL or ALT keys to reset
my keyboard to a sane state.

I guess this came from X11 key-press/key-release discipline; key-release 
is catched ( and ignored ) while doing CTRL-ALT-Fn.

I try to use SVR4 vt switching mode in my /etc/XF86config, but it hasn't 
fixed the problem.

Anyway, *nothing* can make me change to another OS :-)

bye.

-*-
FreeBSD:<Live free or die>
Alain Brauner: alainb@freegate.gna.org
93200 St DENIS France




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