Actually, netbsd-advocacy is *not* (as I last understood it) a place for
(ab)Usenet-style .advocacy posts.  Private email would work.  NetBSD-users
is a ``general chatter'' list if it *must* be done on a mailing list.


Having said that, Thomas Muellar raised some technical points about his
attempt to install and run NetBSD.  What could have caused the keyboard
handling problem that he experienced?  If I (or someone I know, or hear
from) encounters this in the future, is that just tough luck, or is there
something that they can do?  Perhaps if Thomas would be willing to work
with a developer, the problem could be resolved?  (I'm not a developer,
myself; I don't know enough about PC hardware or the kernel to readily
assist with this problem; I can't speak for those who could help...  But,
if the discussion is taken private, it's less likely to be resolved.)


First thing's first (and I hope that I don't insult your intelligence,
Thomas): Did you try rebooting into NetBSD to make sure that it wasn't
some fluke problem?

Second thing: You don't say which port you are using.  Some things (e.g.,
keyboard handling I think) *are* port-specific.

Re the -INSTALL kernels, I think that they won't behave quite as a regular
kernel.  You want a -GENERIC.  (I was trying the install kernels for
something, and found that they really wanted to run the system installer.
(^&)

But, booting single-user is something that you might try:

 boot -s

at the 5-second countdown and see if the system is usable.  (Though you'll
probably have to fsck the NetBSD filesystems since you reset the system at
a login---unless you've since done a re-install.)

As I recall, single user (in the current release) does not handle
keyboards quite the same as multiuser.  (I couldn't use my USB keyboard in
single-user mode.)  So, while you wouldn't want to *use* the system in
single-user mode, normally, you could at least see if the different
keyboard handling works better.

If so, you can perhaps get someone to build a kernel for you without
wscons and with an old handler reinstated (I think we still have both(?)
previous handlers available on port-i386...at least in the released
versions, though -current has finally ripped one or both out I believe).

If that doesn't help, but the INSTALL kernel *does* talk to your keyboard
correctly, there's at least some chance of tracking down the problem.

Anothing thing that could be useful would be dmesg output for your
computer.  If you can run dmesg from the INSTALL kernel (maybe boot from
CD, but mount NetBSD's root and run <...>/sbin/dmesg), then that would
probably be best.  Failing that, if you can run some other UNIX-alike and
capture dmesg output, that might help in identifying the problem.


I think that technical problems and requests for assistance are perfectly
appropriate here.  (Though unqualified opinions about which OS is best, or
has the best support, are just going to be cause for argument.)


Good luck, Thomas.  Hopefully you can get NetBSD up and running and can
see why we like it.  (^&


  ``I probably don't know what I'm talking about.'' --rauch@math.rice.edu