Re: Odd problem running Linux 2.0.0 kernel - keyboard freezes

[Ken Manheimer <klm@TETHER.MIT.EDU>]

Well, thanks to a suggestion provoked by my question, i have a workaround 
for the keyboard-freeze problem i've been having with the 2.0.0 kernel.  
The workaround is to start X - i now use Redhat's runlevel 5, instead of 
the tty-console runlevel 3, and the problem simply doesn't show.

Here's the response from Andries Brouwer which inspired this workaround 
(thanks, Andries!):

On Sat, 22 Jun 1996, Andries.Brouwer@cwi.nl wrote:

Ken Manheimer:

> : What's odd is that, once the keyboard is locked out, *no* keystrokes
> : are recognized - not only are regular keystrokes ignored, as is
> : ctrl-alt-delete, but the special Thinkpad BIOS keystrokes -
> : configuration (Fn-F1), screen toggle Fn-F3, volume Fn-PgUp Fn-PgDn -
> : also have no effect!
> 
> Yes. What seems to be happening is that the keyboard receives
> the first byte of a two-byte command (like set leds or set repeat rate
> or choose scancode set) and then sits waiting for the second byte.
> Sending another byte by writing directly to the ioport revives the
> keyboard. You can have this as a menu item.
> 
> Different people have this problem for different kernel versions;
> it may be timing related.

What's interesting is that i don't have to do anything but start X - i 
didn't even have to figure out how to send a byte directly to the 
keyboard ioport.  Both X and the virtual consoles all work fine, with no 
further finagling.  And i have an X session on VC 7 all the time, which 
is not a bad way to operate...

Thanks, everyone.

Ken Manheimer		klm@cnri.reston.va.us	      703 620-8990 x268
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