DragonFlyBSD

:Hi Matt and others,
:
:Since DragonFly will be releasing soon, I thought it would be a good idea to
:mention some minor issues that I have with my MS Wireless Desktop
:keyboard/mouse. I used to use Logitech which worked great (untill i broke the
:mouse).
:
:Issue 1:
:Keyboard doesnt work in the DragonFly boot menu.

The boot menu uses BIOS calls for keyboard access.  Does it work
    with anyone else's boot menu?  FreeBSD?  Linux?

If it does then a patch set that smtms put together that gets rid of
    most of the BTX junk might help for the keyboard.  It was a few months
    ago and I think it is still in one of his git branches.  You should
    be able to find a reference in the list archives.  If FreeBSD's boot
    menu works w/ this keyboard then that patch set might make ours 
    work w/ the keyboard too.

It's a bit too late for this release cycle for us to patch it into
    master.  It's been around a while but it kinda got lost and now
    there isn't enough testing time left before the release.

:Issue 2:
:Mouse isnt recognized at all.
:...
:Would it be difficult to get this working before the release? In FreeBSD 7 the
:mouse doesnt work either.
:
:Petr

I don't think there is much that can be done about a mouse
    that doesn't probe as a mouse.  It might be possible to create
    a quirk entry of some sort but I've never tried making a USB
    device look like something else.

-Matt
                    Matthew Dillon 
                    <dillon@backplane.com>

On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:38:21 -0700 (PDT)
Matthew Dillon <dillon@apollo.backplane.com> wrote:

I don't think there is much that can be done about a mouse
that doesn't probe as a mouse. It might be possible to create
a quirk entry of some sort but I've never tried making a USB
device look like something else.

FWIW I had similar problems with my FK-760 wireless
keyboard/trackball unit. I spent quite some time trying to bring in the
NetBSD uhid framework which apparently should support mice via uhid. I
think this is the way to go for improved uhid support - but I couldn't get
it to work before I ran out of time and it lapsed into bit rot.

Steve O'Hara-Smith wrote:

FWIW I had similar problems with my FK-760 wireless
keyboard/trackball unit. I spent quite some time trying to bring in the
NetBSD uhid framework which apparently should support mice via uhid. I
think this is the way to go for improved uhid support - but I couldn't get
it to work before I ran out of time and it lapsed into bit rot.

I think that it's actually FreeBSD new USB stack which should be
investigated. It removes too many shortcomings present in current stack we
share with the rest of BSD systems. I looked at it briefly at some point,
but it requires more time and knowledge than I (will) have.

On Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:41:31 +0300
Hasso Tepper <hasso@estpak.ee> wrote:

Steve O'Hara-Smith wrote:

FWIW I had similar problems with my FK-760 wireless
keyboard/trackball unit. I spent quite some time trying to bring in the
NetBSD uhid framework which apparently should support mice via uhid. I
think this is the way to go for improved uhid support - but I couldn't
get it to work before I ran out of time and it lapsed into bit rot.

I think that it's actually FreeBSD new USB stack which should be
investigated. It removes too many shortcomings present in current stack we

Maybe - but last I checked it didn't handle HID devices as well as
the current NetBSD one with it's uhidev layer.

The boot menu uses BIOS calls for keyboard access. Does it work
with anyone else's boot menu? FreeBSD? Linux?

If it does then a patch set that smtms put together that gets rid of
most of the BTX junk might help for the keyboard. It was a few months
ago and I think it is still in one of his git branches. You should
be able to find a reference in the list archives. If FreeBSD's boot
menu works w/ this keyboard then that patch set might make ours
work w/ the keyboard too.

It's a bit too late for this release cycle for us to patch it into
master. It's been around a while but it kinda got lost and now
there isn't enough testing time left before the release.

Hi Matt,

So Ive tried booting Linux cd that uses GRUB and keyboard works fine. I also
tried FBSD 7.1 but it doesnt work in FreeBSD boot menu.

So heres an idea. Whats involved in changing our boot loader to GRUB?. Solaris
has been using it by default. Maybe its time to dump the 20 year old
technology and get a fleshy colorful boot loader that works with current
technology. It would also definately differentiate DragonFly from FreeBSD.

Cheers,
Petr

:Hi Matt,
:
:So Ive tried booting Linux cd that uses GRUB and keyboard works fine. I also
:tried FBSD 7.1 but it doesnt work in FreeBSD boot menu.
:
:So heres an idea. Whats involved in changing our boot loader to GRUB?. Solaris
:has been using it by default. Maybe its time to dump the 20 year old
:technology and get a fleshy colorful boot loader that works with current
:technology. It would also definately differentiate DragonFly from FreeBSD.
:
:Cheers,
:Petr

I have no idea what it would take.  We are heavily dependant on
    our loader infrastructure for module preloading, kernel environment
    variables, and transfering the PXE dataset from the loader to the
    kernel.

-Matt
                    Matthew Dillon 
                    <dillon@backplane.com>

Petr Janda wrote:

So heres an idea. Whats involved in changing our boot loader to GRUB?. Solaris
has been using it by default. Maybe its time to dump the 20 year old
technology and get a fleshy colorful boot loader that works with current
technology. It would also definately differentiate DragonFly from FreeBSD.

BTX isn't that old. Also, grub is the stuff on your plate when you're
eating. Adding multiboot support to the kernel is good, but good luck
with that. Having Grub as default bootloader is not imo. We'd become
even more locked into GNU technology. I'm not sure we need a colourful
and fleshy (?) bootloader just to differentiate DragonFly BSD from FreeBSD.

Cheers,
--
Thomas E. Spanjaard
tgen@netphreax.net
tgen@deepbone.net