[ltp] Hotplugging USB Keyboard

[Tom Rockwell]

Hi again,

I'm really not an expert on this, but USB keyboards are supposed to 
"just work" with the regular keyboard module (keybdev) and the basic USB 
modules (usbcore, your controller driver, etc.).  RedHat doesn't put the 
usbkbd module in the distro's kernels.

When I was looking into getting a USB keyboard, I did some googling to 
figure out how to configure it, there isn't much info on configuring 
them, simply because, in a standard kernel setup, they "just work".

Anyways, the only thing I can suggest is to try it without the usbkbd 
module - e.g. find the usbkbd.o file, hide it by renaming to something 
like usbkbd.o-hide, run "depmod -a", and see if the keyboard works.  If 
this doesn't work, put the usbkbd.o file back where it was and do a 
"depmod -a" again.

Cheers,
Tom

D. Sen wrote:
> Thanks...
> 
> If I do a `lsusb`, I see the keyboard listed.
> 
> Its not just X. The keyboard doesnt function in the virtual consoles 
> either....
> 
> Tom Rockwell wrote:
> 
>> Sorry I don't have a complete answer, but on my RedHat machines (7.3 
>> and 8.0), I've never had to do anything to use a USB keyboard 
>> (sometimes, I do have to plug it in twice to get it going).  Also, 
>> RedHat doesn't configure the usbkbd module; it's not in the kernel at 
>> all (I just checked the RH kernel config).  I think that the base USB 
>> drivers along with keybdev are all that is needed, and that with this 
>> config the USB keyboard appears to the system just as the regular 
>> keyboard does.  There is no seperate device for the USB keyboard and 
>> no special X11 configuration is needed.
>>
>> If you use the usbkbd module, does the USB keyboard show up as a 
>> seperate device which does have to be configured?
> 
> 
>>
>> Hope this helps or somebody else can provide a more complete answer.
>>
>> -Tom
>>
>> D. Sen wrote:
>>
>>> I am trying to hotplug a USB Keyboard into my thinkpad (running linux 
>>> 2.4.20, Mandrake 9.0)
>>>
>>> I see all the relevant modules (usbcore, usb-uhci, keybdev, usbkbd) 
>>> load up but the keyboard remains dead.
>>>
>>> If I power-up the thinkpad with the keyboard plugged in then the 
>>> keyboard works.
>>>
>>> Is there a workaround to this? I dont always have my external 
>>> keyboard when I am starting the laptop and I dont want to have to 
>>> reboot just to make the keyboard functional.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> DS
>>>
>>
>>
>