From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S261686AbUB0Lmp (ORCPT ); Fri, 27 Feb 2004 06:42:45 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S261703AbUB0Lmp (ORCPT ); Fri, 27 Feb 2004 06:42:45 -0500 Received: from mail.gmx.net ([213.165.64.20]:8084 "HELO mail.gmx.net") by vger.kernel.org with SMTP id S261686AbUB0Lml (ORCPT ); Fri, 27 Feb 2004 06:42:41 -0500 X-Authenticated: #22280117 Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 12:45:12 +0100 From: Bernhard Gruber X-Mailer: The Bat! (v1.62 Christmas Edition) Personal Reply-To: Bernhard Gruber X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Message-ID: <185903078.20040227124512@gmx.at> To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: /dev/psaux-Interface MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Hi there, Story: As Windows2000 was just so unstable and slow I decided to use Linux on my Thinkpad 570E. Installation of gentoo was no problem (even if it took quite long) and I first installed a 2.4.25-kernel. Everything worked fine there and I could use the trackpoint utilities from Till Straumann to set the features of the trackpoint. The only problem was, that ACPI (and APM) did not function properly and so I couldn't get the current state of the battery (which is quite a large problem for a laptop). So I tried the 2.6.3-kernel. Apart from minor problems which could be solved rather quickly I got all devices up and running including battery monitoring. However, the trackpoint utility did not work anymore and so the special features like press-to-select and HARDWARE sensitivity setup do not work until today. Problem: As I've read so far, the approach in 2.6.x-kernel was to remove user-space-drivers as much as possible and one of the consequences was that the /dev/psaux-Device does not exist as in 2.4.x-kernels. However, there are some special devices (not only the trackpoint but also touchscreens for example) which had drivers for 2.4.x-kernels using the /dev/psaux-interface and most people who programmed those drivers either don't have the time or don't use/own those devices anymore. Furthermore, writing kernel device drivers requires more skill and they are harder to debug. So there's no real hope that they will ever be ported... Suggestion: I would suggest using a /dev/psaux-compatibility option which gives back the old interface so that these drivers work. This is only meant as a user-selectable option and I don't think that the new input system should be changed apart from that! There is already an existing approach to a kernel patch which can be found here http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~danlee/fun/psaux/ It can be integrated easily into the kernel but it seems like there are still bugs in there. I'm in contact with the author because the trackpoint utilities creates a segmentation fault when writing to the device but we could not figure out a solution yet (it’s strange that his touchscreen device functions without any problems). We are sure that it would not be a huge problem to solve it for you guys out there, so if anyone wants to help us please contact b-gruber[at]gmx.de and I’ll send you a more detailed error report. PS: Sorry if my english sounds a little bit bumpy sometimes but I don’t speak english natively. I would appreciate if you could cc all answers to my Email-adress as I haven't subscribed to this mailing-list!