Where input (hotplugging) methods might go - highly speculative (was: Re: Zapping the Xorg server)

[Wolfgang Draxinger]

Am Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:40:39 +1000
schrieb Peter Hutterer <peter.hutterer at who-t.net>:

> like /dev/input/mice?

Kind of, but on steroids. Also in the concept I'm thinking of here,
access to individual devices wasn't impossible. But you'd normally not
need it.

It only made sense in combination with my proposed "Console Sets". Such
a Console Set combines a number of connected input and output devices
(also hotplugging wise). There's a default console set (of course).
Withing each console set a number of VTs was available.

The current kernel level multiseat support already goes into that
direction, but it need a major cleanup.

> we've used that for years, before X itself had hotplugging support.
> Turns out that for plenty of use-cases having the devices available
> in the X server is quite handy.

I know. For example I don't like the touchpand in my notebook, I prefer
the trackpad. You figure the rest.

> you're still free to disable hotplugging and use the mouse and
> keyboard drivers, thus not having the X server see any new devices
> and just handle the kernel accumulated ones.

That, and improve the input handling of the kernel, yes. That's
inevitable anyway if one thinks of how multiseat systems are done right
now *shudders*.


Wolfgang