More Info on Console Driver Bug

[Ken Keirnan]

In article <105 at cbw1.UUCP> brian at cbw1.UMD.EDU (Brian Cuthie) writes:
>In article <321 at sdti.UUCP> mjy at sdti.UUCP (Michael J. Young) writes:
>>
>>I have some more information on the console driver bug that I reported
>>in a previous article (the one where the keyboard seemed to hang after
>>messing around with CTRL-S/CTRL-Q).
>>
[ much stuff deleted ]
>>Mike Young
>
>I have experienced EXACTLY (I mean to the letter) the same problem with the
>V/386 3.0e release.  This is clearly a new bug in the new kd driver.  I have
>found some additional modes which cause it to hang.  It is sometimes
>possible to reset the keyboard by just unplugging it.  This, however,
>will not fix the ctrl-s/ctrl-q hang.
>
>-brian

I had problems with ctrl-s/ctrl-q using Microport (AT and 386) with my
machine (great box, lousy keyboard) so I called Microport and complained.
They told me they were trying to clean up the keyboard driver to correct
the problem, but also, that some keyboards were more prone to exhibit the
problem that others.  Being innately cheap, I lived with the problem
until I finally receive a beta console/keyboard driver to test.  The
situation had improved but was still an annoyance so I bit the bullet and
bought a new keyboard (a so called "intelligent keyboard" from Northgate).
My problems all disappeared.  No doubt the keyboard hardware is just
faster than the piece of junk I was using before (the new one has a nice
tactile feel too :-)).  I would also suspect that the software driver,
keyboard controller chip and keyboard processor (in the keyboard) all
contribute to the problem, and finding the right combination will fix it.

Ken Keirnan
-- 

Ken Keirnan - Pacific Bell - {att,bellcore,sun,ames,pyramid}!pacbell!pbhyf!kjk
  San Ramon, California	                    kjk at pbhyf.PacBell.COM