[comp.sys.apollo] Xterm Keymaps w/ the PSK

rtdickerson@lescsse.uucp (russel dickerson) (03/15/91)

We just dropped the PSK w/ X11r4 on our Apollo and, when running
the X server supplied, xterm seems not to understand the keyboard.
It gives completly wrong characters back when you type.

We didnt have this problem with the strait X11r4 mit build.  Has 
anyone had this happen as well?


--
Russell Dickerson          Internet: dickerson@vf.jsc.nasa.gov
Lockheed (LESC), A22       UUCP:     lobster!lescsse!rtdickerson
SSE System Project         X Windows & Motif on Apollo/PC/Mac
Space Station Freedom      Phone +1 713 283 5193  

craig@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com (Craig Durland) (03/19/91)

In-Reply-To: article <rtdickerson.669045045@node_25d97> of Fri, 15 Mar 1991 13:50:45 GMT

> We just dropped the PSK w/ X11r4 on our Apollo and, when running the X
> server supplied, xterm seems not to understand the keyboard.  It gives
> completly wrong characters back when you type.

> We didnt have this problem with the strait X11r4 mit build.  Has anyone
> had this happen as well?

What keyboard do you have?  The PSK server only (currently) supports the
North American keyboard (the one with Alt keys on either side of the
space bar).  An older or multinational keyboard would generate the
"wrong" keycodes.  You should see a message like "Could not find keymap
- using default" in this case.  If you don't see that message (displayed
in the pad that started the server), it could be that you have a xmodmap
that is remapping the keyboard.

    Craig Durland       (503) 750-3354
    Hewlett-Packard, 1000 NE Circle, Corvallis, OR 97330
    craig@cv.hp.com

hanche@imf.unit.no (Harald Hanche-Olsen) (03/19/91)

In article <101020030@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com> craig@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com (Craig Durland) writes:

   In-Reply-To: article <rtdickerson.669045045@node_25d97> of Fri, 15 Mar 1991 13:50:45 GMT

   > We just dropped the PSK w/ X11r4 on our Apollo and, when running the X
   > server supplied, xterm seems not to understand the keyboard.  It gives
   > completly wrong characters back when you type.

   What keyboard do you have?  The PSK server only (currently) supports the
   North American keyboard (the one with Alt keys on either side of the
   space bar).

Aaargh!!  So THAT explains why our local HP contacts deny even the
EXISTENCE of the PSK server!?  Why did support for other keyboards
have to be dropped?  It's in the MIT server, right?  Now if I could
only get the latter to work reliably ...  But when I asked here about
it, the response I got was "why don't you use the PSK server?"  Seemed
like a good idea, but now I guess it's back to trying to understand
why the MIT server is having problems.

- Harald Hanche-Olsen <hanche@imf.unit.no>
  Division of Mathematical Sciences
  The Norwegian Institute of Technology
  N-7034 Trondheim, NORWAY

rees@pisa.citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees) (03/20/91)

In article <101020030@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com>, craig@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com (Craig Durland) writes:

  > We just dropped the PSK w/ X11r4 on our Apollo and, when running the X
  > server supplied, xterm seems not to understand the keyboard.  It gives
  > completly wrong characters back when you type.

  What keyboard do you have?  The PSK server only (currently) supports the
  North American keyboard (the one with Alt keys on either side of the
  space bar).

Now I'm really confused.  We've got the psk here.  I don't use it myself (I
like share mode) but the people who do assure me that it works fine with the
kbd 3.  I'll go upstairs and ask the expert.

rand@HWCAE.CFSAT.HONEYWELL.COM (03/21/91)

>>>>> Craig Durland <craig@cv.hp.com> at 18-Mar-91 in [Re: Xterm Keymaps w/ the PSK] writes:
> What keyboard do you have?  The PSK server only (currently) supports the
> North American keyboard (the one with Alt keys on either side of the
> space bar).  An older or multinational keyboard would generate the
> "wrong" keycodes.  You should see a message like "Could not find keymap
> - using default" in this case.  If you don't see that message (displayed
> in the pad that started the server), it could be that you have a xmodmap
> that is remapping the keyboard.

Please pardon my ignorance, but does this mean that the older keyboard
that was shipped with thousands of nodes is *NOT* supported with
X11R4? I'm talking about the keyboard that is identical to the new
ones except for:
	no ALT keys
	and is a little flatter
	and has better tactile feedback (Sorry, couldn't resist)

We have about 60 nodes with the older keyboard. They have all the keys
the new one has with the exception of the alt keys. Can these nodes
run X11 R4?  Help!

--
Douglas Keenan Rand                Honeywell -- Air Transport Systems Division
Phone: +1 602 436 2814               US Snail: P.O. Box 21111 Phoenix AZ 85036
Internet: @cim-vax.honeywell.com:rand@hwcae.cfsat.honeywell.com
   -or-   rand@ssdc.honeywell.com
UUCP: ...!uunet!asuvax!apciphx!hwcae!rand

craig@HPCVLX.CV.HP.COM (Craig Durland) (03/26/91)

> Please pardon my ignorance, but does this mean that the older keyboard
> that was shipped with thousands of nodes is *NOT* supported with X11R4?
> I'm talking about the keyboard that is identical to the new ones except
> for:
>	no ALT keys
>	and is a little flatter
>	and has better tactile feedback (Sorry, couldn't resist)

Well, I think the "offical" position is we don't support it.  However, I
may be mistaken about which keyboard it really is.  The keyboard you
have seems to behave that same as the North American and works fine (as
far as my limited testing went).

> We have about 60 nodes with the older keyboard.  They have all the keys
> the new one has with the exception of the alt keys.  Can these nodes run
> X11 R4?  Help!

Don't worry, it works.  If you find a problem with it, let me know.  We
had no idea that that many of those keyboards where out there and did
not test it.  When we did the R4 Apollo server, we had very little
experience with Apollo machines.

    Craig Durland       (503) 750-3354
    Hewlett-Packard, 1000 NE Circle, Corvallis, OR 97330
    craig@cv.hp.com

system@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca (System Admin (Mike Peterson)) (03/26/91)

In article <9103251755.AA29093@hpcvlx.HP.COM> craig@HPCVLX.CV.HP.COM (Craig Durland) writes:
>> We have about 60 nodes with the older keyboard.  They have all the keys
>> the new one has with the exception of the alt keys.  Can these nodes run
>> X11 R4?  Help!
>
>Don't worry, it works.  If you find a problem with it, let me know.  We
>had no idea that that many of those keyboards where out there and did
                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>not test it.
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^

Unbelievable !!! I would guess that 80-90% of the Apollo nodes have the
"older" keyboard (only our DN2500, bought in 1990, has the "new"
keyboard, not even our DN10000 has it). I understand from an HP SE that if
an "old" keyboard "breaks" that the new one (with ALT keys) is used in its
place for hardware maintenance contracts on all node types (broken keyboards
are not repaired any more, just dropped in the dumpster).
Whether the ALT keys actually work on all node types remains to be seen
though - we have not tried this (yet), but we might have a "rash" of
broken keyboards if users get sufficiently upset about the lack of ALT
keys on their keyboards (with uwm, no ALT is a real pain, but with mwm
it doesn't make too much difference in my experience).
-- 
Mike Peterson, System Administrator, U/Toronto Department of Chemistry
E-mail: system@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca
Tel: (416) 978-7094                  Fax: (416) 978-8775

rees@pisa.citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees) (03/27/91)

In article <9103251755.AA29093@hpcvlx.HP.COM>, craig@HPCVLX.CV.HP.COM (Craig Durland) writes:

  > Please pardon my ignorance, but does this mean that the older keyboard
  > that was shipped with thousands of nodes is *NOT* supported with X11R4?

  Well, I think the "offical" position is we don't support it.  However, I
  may be mistaken about which keyboard it really is.

  Don't worry, it works.  If you find a problem with it, let me know.  We
  had no idea that that many of those keyboards where out there and did
  not test it.

There are four keyboards in use on Apollo nodes.

Kbd 1 is big and klunky.  It was shipped with early dishwasher nodes (dn100,
dn400, etc).  You never see these any more.

Kbd 2 is low-profile, and has black function keys F1-F8.  It was shipped
with the dn300.  These are still in use but rare.

Kbd 3 is low-profile, and has grey function keys F0-F9.  It was shipped with
the Otter series (dn3000, dn3500, etc).  This is the keyboard that
apparently doesn't work sometimes with the r4 server.  This keyboard is in
use on over 90% of all Apollo nodes today, hence the concern.  What exactly
is the story?  Under what circumstances does this keyboard work?

The new HP keyboard has two ALT keys on either side of the space bar.  This
keyboard works fine with the r4 server, but since hardly anyone uses this
keyboard yet outside of HP, it doesn't do us much good.  I hate this
keyboard because it looks like something you would find connected to an IBM
machine running TSO.

nazgul@alphalpha.com (Kee Hinckley) (03/27/91)

In article <50990fcc.1bc5b@pisa.citi.umich.edu> rees@citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees) writes:
>The new HP keyboard has two ALT keys on either side of the space bar.  This
>keyboard works fine with the r4 server, but since hardly anyone uses this
>keyboard yet outside of HP, it doesn't do us much good.  I hate this

Actually I don't think too many people at HP have them either.  We've
got some evaluation copies of our software there and we none of the user's
can use the Alt accelerators unless they remap one of their keys to be
an Alt key.
-- 
Alfalfa Software, Inc.          |       Poste:  The EMail for Unix
nazgul@alfalfa.com              |       Send Anything... Anywhere
617/646-7703 (voice/fax)        |       info@alfalfa.com

I'm not sure which upsets me more: that people are so unwilling to accept
responsibility for their own actions, or that they are so eager to regulate
everyone else's.

krowitz@RICHTER.MIT.EDU (David Krowitz) (03/29/91)

It depends on whether you are talking about HP Chelmsford (Apollo) which
has almost entirely KBD 3 keyboards on their DN35xx/45xx and DK10K, or
HP Corvalis (real HP) which is where the X Windows development was sent
after the Chelmsford X Windows group was disbanded. Ever wonder why the
X11 R4 server is not share mode like the R3 server? After all, it *is*
a real value-added feature to be able to run both native graphics and
X graphics on the same machine -- it allows for *both* standards *and*
inovation on the same box. I'll give you a hint. The people who did
the R3 server mostly don't work for HP/Apollo anymore. Right, Kee? ;-)

== Dave