Re: [PATCH] SERIO_USERDEV: direct userspace access to mouse/keyboa=

[Sau Dan Lee]

>>>>> "Andrew" == Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxx> writes:

    Andrew> Tuukka Toivonen <tuukkat@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
    >>  SERIO_USERDEV - Direct serial input device access for
    >> userspace =20 This driver provides direct access from usespace
    >> into PS/2 (or psaux) serial ports used usually for input
    >> devices such as mouses and keyboards=

    Andrew> And given that the external device generates a stream of
    Andrew> bits, the kernel should provide some way for applications
    Andrew> to directly access that stream without the intervening
    Andrew> interpretation.

    Andrew> Is that a decent summary of the situation?

Yeah.  Actually, the external device  generates a stream of BYTES, not
bits.  Byte is  the basic unit.  This makes the PS  AUX port look like
an RS/232 port from the OS's perspective.


    Andrew> If so then yeah, I think the kernel should have a driver
    Andrew> which does all of this.

And   people   can  start   writing   better   (more  features,   with
config. files) userland drivers  for their mouse or non-mouse pointing
devices.    The   drivers  only   need   to   take   the  bytes   from
/dev/misc/isa0060/serio* and/or  /dev/ttyS1, interpret them,  and then
refeed the interpreted  events back to the input  system via 'uinput'.
Maybe, 'gpm' can  be modified to do it.  I can't  see any more reasons
for  writing  those  drivers   in  kernel  (non-swappable,  no  memory
protection, etc.)  space.

BTW, how about USB mice?  Do they export a byte-stream interface?



-- 
Sau Dan LEE                     ???(Big5)                    ~{@nJX6X~}(HZ) 

E-mail: danlee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Home page: http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~danlee

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