keyboard input on kernel 3.16.0-4-686-pae

black-clover · 02-09-2019, 03:06 PM

Hello,

out of curiosity, I installed a kernel 3.16.0-4-686-pae on an old laptop Compaq C500 and Debian Testing.
It booted fine and everything seems Ok but, as I startx and get into Jwm, the keyboard does not work.
Everything works fine with the other kernels.
How could I go about troubleshooting the issue?

mrmazda · 02-09-2019, 11:02 PM

Please show output from:

Code:

aptitude search input | grep ^i

On Bionic I see 5 items returned, including xserver-xorg-input-kbd and xserver-xorg-input-libinput. 5 are also installed in Jessie, but xserver-xorg-input-kbd is not among them, even though it is available. You might need to add or remove one or the other, or swap input-libinput for input-kbd or vice versa.

black-clover · 02-10-2019, 02:15 PM

mrmazda:

This is the resut I get from apt search input | grep ^i (I don't have aptitude installed)

Code:

ibus/testing 1.5.19-1 i386
ibus-anthy/testing 1.5.10-2 i386
ibus-anthy-dev/testing 1.5.10-2 i386
ibus-array/testing 0.2.1-2 i386
ibus-braille/testing 0.3-4 all
ibus-cangjie/testing 2.4-2 all
ibus-chewing/testing 1.6.1-1 i386
ibus-clutter/testing 0.0+git20090728.a936bacf-5.1+b2 i386
ibus-doc/testing 1.5.19-1 all
ibus-gtk/testing 1.5.19-1 i386
ibus-gtk3/testing 1.5.19-1 i386
ibus-hangul/testing 1.5.1-1 i386
ibus-input-pad/testing 1.4.2-2 i386
ibus-keyman/testing 11.0.103-4 i386
ibus-kkc/testing 1.5.22-2 i386
ibus-kmfl/testing 11.0.101-1 i386
ibus-libpinyin/testing 1.10.0-1 i386
ibus-libthai/testing 0.1.4-4 i386
ibus-libzhuyin/testing 1.8.2-1 i386
ibus-m17n/testing 1.4.1-1 i386
ibus-mozc/testing 2.23.2815.102+dfsg-3 i386
ibus-pinyin/testing 1.5.0-5 i386
ibus-qt4/testing 1.3.3-4 i386
ibus-rime/testing 1.3.0-1 i386
ibus-skk/testing 1.4.3-1 i386
ibus-sunpinyin/testing 2.0.3+git20181120-1 i386
ibus-table/testing 1.9.21-2 all
ibus-table-array30/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-cangjie/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-cangjie-big/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-cangjie3/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-cangjie5/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-cantonese/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-cantonhk/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-cns11643/testing 1.3.9-4 all
ibus-table-compose/testing 1.3.9-4 all
ibus-table-easy/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-easy-big/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-emoji/testing 1.3.9-4 all
ibus-table-erbi/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-erbi-qs/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-extraphrase/testing 1.3.9.20110826-2 i386
ibus-table-ipa-x-sampa/testing 1.3.9-4 all
ibus-table-jyutping/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-latex/testing 1.3.9-4 all
ibus-table-quick/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-quick-classic/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-quick3/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-quick5/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-rustrad/testing 1.3.9-4 all
ibus-table-scj6/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-stroke5/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-thai/testing 1.3.9-4 all
ibus-table-translit/testing 1.3.9-4 all
ibus-table-translit-ua/testing 1.3.9-4 all
ibus-table-viqr/testing 1.3.9-4 all
ibus-table-wu/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-wubi/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-table-yawerty/testing 1.3.9-4 all
ibus-table-yong/testing 1.8.2-3 all
ibus-unikey/testing 0.6.1-1.1+b1 i386
ibus-wayland/testing 1.5.19-1 i386
ibus-zhuyin/testing 0.1.0-2 i386
icc-profiles/testing 2.1-2 all
icc-profiles-free/testing 2.0.1+dfsg-1 all
ices2/testing 2.0.2-2+b1 i386
icon-slicer/testing 0.3-8 i386
idjc/testing 0.8.17-1+b1 i386
idzebra-2.0/testing 2.0.59-1+b3 i386
idzebra-2.0-common/testing 2.0.59-1 all
idzebra-2.0-doc/testing 2.0.59-1 all
idzebra-2.0-examples/testing 2.0.59-1 all
idzebra-2.0-utils/testing 2.0.59-1+b3 i386
ifupdown2/testing 1.2.5-1 all
im-config/testing 0.38-1 all
imwheel/testing 1.0.0pre12-12 i386
indigo-utils/testing 1.2.3-1 i386
input-pad/testing 1.0.3-3 i386
input-utils/testing 1.0-1.1+b1 i386
inputattach/testing 1:1.6.0-2 i386
inputlirc/testing 30-1 i386
inputplug/testing 0.3~hg20150512-1+b1 i386
invada-studio-plugins-ladspa/testing 0.3.1-5 i386
invada-studio-plugins-lv2/testing 1.2.0+repack0-8 i386
iprange/testing 1.0.4+ds-2 i386
iptotal/testing 0.3.3-13.1+b1 i386
ipython/testing 5.8.0-1 all
ipython3/testing 5.8.0-1 all
irssi-scripts/testing 20181120 all

I have both xserver-xorg-input-libinput and xserver-xorg-input-kbd installed.
With the other kernels (4.9, 4.16) it didn't seem to create a conflict.

mrmazda · 02-10-2019, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by black-clover

(I don't have aptitude installed)

Code:

sudo apt install aptitude

Aptitude is a simpler tool to use for package searches, and would have returned just a few lines.

Quote:

I have both xserver-xorg-input-libinput and xserver-xorg-input-kbd installed.
With the other kernels (4.9, 4.16) it didn't seem to create a conflict.

Developers change things, but test only using their own hardware and/or VMs that may or may not be equivalent to your hardware. When they break someone's setup, what can anyone do but try making changes? These drivers are only for X, so if you have too many or too few or a wrong combination, you can perform repairs from the cmdline, using apt, or aptitude, or apt-get. It only takes at most a minute if you have broadband internet to add an X driver, less to remove one, plus whatever time it takes to restart your display manager or reboot. Maybe JWM only uses the one that isn't installed. Maybe one or both of the newer drivers and/or X version aren't supported with the older kernel. You can test yourself, or you can hope to find someone else who has.

black-clover · 02-10-2019, 10:19 PM

I'm aware it's a bit of a stretch to try to run an older kernel on a testing distro.
Like I said, it's an experiment.
I assume that, if the driver needed to work the keyboard on the older kernel is different from the new ones, I might be able to install it.
If, otherwise, I need to downgrade a testing version of the same driver, it would be more complicate.

mrmazda · 02-10-2019, 11:28 PM

Out of curiosity, if you cold boot the laptop with a USB keyboard plugged in, is either keyboard available in JWM? I've run into configurations on old hardware that keyboard works booted in the vttys, but in the DM neither keyboard nor mouse work, until unplugging the keyboard or mouse and replugging it.

Do you have both libevdev2 and xserver-xorg-input-evdev installed?

If you don't have this figured out yet, maybe try putting the following somewhere in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/:

Code:

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "evdev keyboard catchall"
        MatchIsKeyboard "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "evdev"
EndSection

black-clover · 02-11-2019, 05:31 PM

Yes, both libevdev2 and xserver-xorg-input-evdev are there.
However, I don't see an /etc/X11//xorg.conf.d/ directory.
Should I create one?
And, if so, what extension should have the file where I put the:

Code:

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "evdev keyboard catchall"
        MatchIsKeyboard "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "evdev"
EndSection

bit?

black-clover · 02-11-2019, 05:34 PM

Forgot about this,
I don't have a USB keyboard to try at hand, but I will try that if/when I get one.

mrmazda · 02-11-2019, 05:49 PM

/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ is an optional directory. Not all installers bother to create it prior to need. 11-evdev.conf would be a suitable name for the file.