There is an issue with setup.S:
! Set the keyboard repeat rate to the max
mov ax,#0x0305
xor bx,bx ! clear bx
int 0x16
Those lines are not really needed but they cause a problem on some (very
few) systems where every other boot (or so) the keyboard won't be found (and
has to be plugged/unplugged before it re-appears).
It happens to affect some of the Pentium Pro systems that VA Linux Systems
used to sell.
Larry Augustin (CEO VA) found that removing those three lines fixes the
problem and VA has been shipping kernels with them disabled for at least two
years without any adverse effects.
The patch actually got in the 2.0.31pre series (by David Miller) but got
dropped/lost when David gave up.
More details from Larry:
----- Forwarded message from Larry Augustin <lma@valinux.com> -----
From: Larry Augustin <lma@valinux.com>
Specifically, we had the problem on Intel Venus (VS440FX) Pentium Pro
systems. I have a feeling the problem could be traced to a Keytronic
keyboard BIOS bug, but I never tracked it down.
Interesting enough, that was one of the patches david miller had in the code
base that got dropped when he quit doing 2.0 maintenance releases.
Larry
----- End forwarded message -----
I sent the patch to Alan and he told me to send it to you:
----- Forwarded message from Alan Cox <alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> -----
From: Alan Cox <alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk>
> Would you consider removing those lines?
Just right now no. I need to let 3 or 4 other things settle first. For 2.3.x
it seems a good idea, so send Linus a note
----- End forwarded message -----
Cheers,
Marc
-- Microsoft is to software what McDonalds is to gourmet cooking Home page: http://marc.merlins.org/ (friendly to non IE browsers) Finger marc_f@merlins.org for PGP key and other contact information- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/