[Xgl/Xegl] Input Devices

[Dane Rushton]

Hi,

I've been researching this over the last week or so (spare time only - I
work full time) and have read the XInputHotplug page and your paper on
http://www.linuxsymposium.org/2005/ .

Having just finished reading the thread between Kristian, Keith and
yourself
(http://lists.freedesktop.org/pipermail/xorg/2004-August/002054.html)
from last August, it looks like most of this has been discussed before. 
Though last time the conversation appears to have stopped abruptly 
without much resolution.
Lets get that going again!

I think we all know what kind of high level features are wanted. So lets 
discuss possible implementation ideas.

Ok some points to discuss:

1) Expand XInput into XInputHotplug? Any real progress here?
	Advantages:
	Disadvantages:

2) Use HAL over other hardware detection mechanisms?
	Advantages:
	Disadvantages:

3) Use EVDEV as primary input driver interface? My preliminary research 
of EVDEV leads me to believe this is a powerful and useful mechanism.
	Advantages:
	Disadvantages:

4) Which legacy input drivers and device types do we want to support?
	Details:

5) How do device settings (mouse acceleration) get set as devices are 
added, replaced, and when switching users (Virtual Terminals)?
	Possible strategies:

6) [Add your own here]


Dane


Jim Gettys wrote:
> Kristian has been busy with Cairo, and I've been busy with other
> personal business and OLS.
> 
> I presented a paper on OLS that describes a vision of where to go, and
> you can find it at: http://www.freedesktop.org/~jg/Papers/ols2005.pdf
> 
> Once you've had a chance to read it, let's chat.
> 
> 				- Jim
> 
> 
> On Mon, 2005-07-25 at 11:15 -0700, Johnson, Charles F wrote:
> 
>>This sounds very similar to the XinputHotplug work described by:
>>http://xorg.freedesktop.org/wiki/XInputHotplug
>>
>>I've been trying to get the status of this work, but have not been able
>>to get hold of Kristian Hogsberg.  
>>
>>Any update on this would be appreciated.
>>
>>Thanks.
>>
>>Charles Johnson
>>Intel Corp.
>>charles.f.johnson at intel.com
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: xorg-bounces at lists.freedesktop.org
>>[mailto:xorg-bounces at lists.freedesktop.org] On Behalf Of Dane Rushton
>>Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 1:00 AM
>>To: xorg at freedesktop.org
>>Subject: [Xgl/Xegl] Input Devices
>>
>>Hi All,
>>
>>I'm going to have ago at developing the input subsystem for Xegl, and
>>possible for other X's.
>>I'm in the early research/requirements gathering stage, so I'm after
>>some input from the experts and your thoughts on the likely direction of
>>input drivers in Linux and other Unix-like OS's.
>>I know Jon Smirl has put together a basic system using EVDEV for Xegl.
>>The Event Interface (EVDEV) is quite new to Linux, and may not be
>>available in other OS's, so is it worth using? Or should it be one of
>>several options?
>>
>>Xegl is aimed at a Free Desktop that is user friendly and feature rich,
>>so most things should "Just Work (tm)" without any configuration except
>>when the user is trying to do something advanced.
>>
>>The core requirements, as I see them are:
>>1)	Auto-detect devices attached prior to X server initialisation.
>>	No config files for basic stuff!
>>2)	Auto-detect devices added or removed during X server run-time.
>>	The HAL system available on Linux would be excellent for this,
>>	but again it isn't available for other systems yet.
>>	What are people's thoughts on utilizing technologies such as
>>	HAL?
>>3)	Most workstations and home PC's will want all pointing devices
>>	to be combined into a common input. For example a laptop with an
>>	integrated touchpad and an attached USB mouse.
>>	The default setting should be to detect all pointing devices at
>>	startup (and any changes during execution) and just use them.
>>	Linux currently has a /dev/input/mice node which combines
>>	/dev/input/mouse* devices, but that isn't available in EVDEV
>>	(as far as I know) if we go that way.
>>4)	The same should occur for keyboards or other similar devices.
>>	Examples are laptops with external keyboards, barcode scanners,
>>	left-handed number pads etc.
>>5)	For advanced situations the user may have multiple X server
>>	instances running, each with their own screen, keyboard and
>>	mouse. This situation is less likely, and would be okay to
>>	require manual configuration. In that situation the server will
>>	take a list of which devices it can use. I don't know what
>>	should happen when devices are added at runtime, i.e. which
>>	server should get it etc.
>>
>>Additions, corrections, comments and general discussion welcome.
>>
>>Cheers
>>Dane Rushton
>>
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