Linux on sparcstations (was Re: [H-GEN] linux box just went dead)

[James McPherson - Customer Technical Support Engineer]

[ Humbug *General* list - semi-serious discussions about Humbug and ]
[ Unix-related topics.  Please observe the list's charter.          ]

> From: Paul Gearon <gearon at computer.org>
> James McPherson - Customer Technical Support Engineer wrote:
[snip Jason Parker's bit]
> > which kernel sources btw? I don't believe that we (ie Sun) supplied the ss5 
with
> > a type-4 mouse - I think we'd totally gone to supplying the type 5 instead. 
The
> > types 5 and 6 are entirely mechanical. It's possible that the optical mouse 
is
> > not responding in the "correct" manner for a type 5 keyboard, if you stick
> > precisely to the specifications.
> 
> This sounds like a kernel control structure for doing ioctl with the
> mouse might have changed recently.  The macros for ioctl calls are
> created using _IOR, _IOW, etc, and these actually change value if the
> structure they are used with is changed.  This unfortunately means that
> if an ioctl call for a device changes in the kernel then any programs
> which call that function from user space will need to be re-compiled.

not having any more information about it, I'd say Paul is probably correct. 
Jason, could you give the precise error message and what distribution you are 
using?
 
> (I've been bitten by this before.  You think nothing significant changed
> except for an extra field in a structure.  Suddenly your macros have
> different values.  It's a pain in the backside)

ahhh, dependencies ;) love em!
 
> So did something change with the mouse in Sparc kernels lately?  If so
> then you might need to update X.  (It'll pick up the new kernel headers
> automatically).  If not then I'll just shut up and watch James figure
> out the answer for you.  :-)

I'll be happy to have a go - love jumping in at the deep end head first. I've 
got a fairly large amount of kit here in our lab to muck around with also ;)

error message Jason?

cheers,
James C. McPherson
--
Solution Centre Engineer              828 Pacific Highway 
Sun Microsystems Australia Pty Ltd    Gordon NSW 2072
             Support Helpline: 1-800-555-786



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