On Fri, 2013-01-04 at 04:06 +0000, Steven Chamberlain wrote: > Hi, > > On 03/01/13 06:06, Phil McCracken wrote: > > Totally generic USB kb and USB mouse [...] > > I have some AMD Geode NX / CS5535-based devices (Wyse Sx0) which only > allow me to enter the BIOS menu with a *specific* USB keyboard out of > about 3 or 4 that I tried. (A cheap and uninteresting one branded > "SWEEX" works; a more expensive Cherry and some others didn't). > > It would be interesting to see your output of `lsusb -v` when the > keyboard is working. > > > I think at GRUB/syslinux prompts, these devices had the same problem so > I ended up setting up a serial console to work on them. > > I guess they don't initialise keyboard input (similar to a PS/2 keyboard > not plugged in at boot time), unless it detects some particular USB > vendor/model/chipset or something.
Most likely it is a poor USB implementation in the BIOS and/or the keyboard. For example, the keyboard may be slow to initialise and the BIOS may not wait very long for USB devices to appear. BIOSes also normally communicate with USB keyboards using the simple 'boot protocol' and not the full HID protocol. > After booting a 'full' system such as Debian Live, something triggers > the keyboard/mouse to start working. I'm surprised graphical-mode d-i > doesn't do this though. So far as USB and HID drivers go, there shouldn't be any difference in capabilities between a text-mode installer, graphical installer, or the 'full' system. For a Geode NX we'll even install the same kernel flavour (486) as is used in the installer itself. Although it's always possible we're failing to include a specialised HID driver that we really need... What are the USB vendor and device IDs for the devices that don't work in the installer? Ben. > > [...] pretty much run out of options with linux for these machines and > > am about to try kfreebsd. > > If you do actually try that, please let me know how it goes! -- Ben Hutchings Always try to do things in chronological order; it's less confusing that way.
signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part
