Subject: No subject found in mail header
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 92 17:22:08 CST
From: johnsonm@stolaf.edu (Michael K. Johnson)
To: Linux-activists@joker.cs.hut.fi



While we are discussing what we are missing for X, I would like to
mention one small thing -- /dev/mouse.  It would be a cute trick if
someone who has the spec's available for several mice put an autoconfig
mouse driver in the kernel.  This might actually be of use before X,
but I can't think of anything right off....

I suppose it would make more sense to write it, but not put it in the
kernel until it was needed -- linux is small and clean; no need to throw
junk at it until we need the junk...

michaelkjohnson
johnsonm@stolaf.edu
Look, ma, no .sig!

Subject: Re: 
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 92 18:53:23 -0500
From: tytso@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Theodore Ts'o)
To: johnsonm@stolaf.edu
Cc: Linux-activists@joker.cs.hut.fi
In-Reply-To: Michael K. Johnson's message of Tue, 14 Jan 92 17:22:08 CST,
Reply-To: tytso@athena.mit.edu

   Date: Tue, 14 Jan 92 17:22:08 CST
   From: johnsonm@stolaf.edu (Michael K. Johnson)

   While we are discussing what we are missing for X, I would like to
   mention one small thing -- /dev/mouse.  It would be a cute trick if
   someone who has the spec's available for several mice put an autoconfig
   mouse driver in the kernel.  This might actually be of use before X,
   but I can't think of anything right off....

The 386 X server sources in the X11R5 distribution comes with support
for the following mice: MicroSoft, MouseSystems, MMSeries, Logitech,
Mouseman, BusMouse.  Except for the BusMouse, all of the other formats
just require access to the serial port.  You don't need to put
the mouse support in the kernel, except for the BusMouse case, and even
then most of the hard work can and should be done out of the kernel.

One thing which will require some kernel work for the X server is to add
some ioctl()'s to the console for switching it to direct mode, where you
get scancodes instead of ASCII characters (X will do its own keyboard
mapping and remapping), and some other ioctl()'s to do set and reset the
keyboard LED's, and start and stop the speaker at a specified pitch,
etc., etc.  But that shouldn't be too hard to do, although I don't know
how easy it will be to make these changes work with the Virtual Console
mode --- we do want to be able to have an X server running in one VC,
and be able to switch into another VC to do debugging work.

						- Ted