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Old February 19th 09, 02:34 AM posted to alt.sys.pc-clone.compaq
William R. Walsh
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Posts: 930
Default Failure of keyboard and mouse on a Compaq DeskPro EN.

Hi!

But the NO installer diskette with Oberon0 works properly. The keyboard

and
mouse code it installs to the hdd is exactly the same as the code it runs.


Does it run a keyboard and mouse driver at setup time? I think it would have
to run a mouse driver, but it could rely on the BIOS to do the heavy lifting
for the keyboard related tasks. Some keyboard drivers are naughty (or poorly
written if you prefer) and attempt to "know better" than the system's own
BIOS by changing things such as the default scan code set. Sometimes that
doesn't go over too well.

The I/O controllers in these systems are highly integrated and packaged into
a component known as a Low Pin Count I/O controller. Compaq appears to have
used an SMSC part, although I think they customized it somewhat to add
functions for the case lock (if equipped) and "tattler switch" that
indicates case intrusion.

There will be emulation code in the BIOS to let a USB mouse and keyboard act
like they were connected to the PS/2 port. I think this emulation can be
turned off via a setting in the BIOS setup utility, but I'm not sure of
that. The USB ports can be disabled.

I have not examined the Compaq ROM for these systems too deeply, but from
what I've seen it appears to be well designed. These are some of the last
systems to use a "real" Compaq developed BIOS.

William