Re: U80 console trouble

>>> How is it attached?
>> ...the miniDIN-8 connector [...]
> So it's not USB?

Not at the level of what the user sees.  The miniDIN-8 could be behind
USB serial attachment inside the box for all I know.

>> I didn't figure most of those would matter too much because the
>> keyboard is clearly hooked into the kernel fine at lowish levels,
>> ecause L1-A drops into ddb, meaning the relevant serial port
>> hardware is getting protocol from the keyboard and recognizing at
>> least a few keystrokes correctly.  Or at least that's my
>> interpretation; do I misunderstand?
> The kernel will attach the OBP input device first, then swap it out
> for later for a set of hardware drivers if it can.

Oh!  So it's at least possible that it's still running with all
keystrokes coming in courtesy of OBP, if for some reason the relevant
machinery didn't attach or some such?  That does cast that behaviour in
a different light.

Actually, another possibility has arisen.  I've received mail from the
machine's owner saying he tried Solaris and it wouldn't install.  He
didn't specify the failure mode, but it does substantially raise the
chance that it's just fried hardware (or maybe firmware); driver
incompatibility between Solaris and Sun hardware strikes me as way less
plausible than broken hardware.

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