'X' vs. 'Mouse'

[Warren Block]

On Fri, 11 Dec 2009, Carmel wrote:

> Honestly, did the 'X' developers go out of their way to break mouse,
> and to a lesser degree, keyboard support when upgrading?

No, they were trying to upgrade a very old, static system (X11) to 
support their users.  One thing that had been lacking was any support 
for hotplugging input devices.  To implement that, they used HAL, 
because basically it's the only thing available.

So now we have a combination of several unfortunate things:

* Users are used to an X11 that has been unchanged for years.
* At the same time, xorg users and developers want new features.
* The only way to support some of the features is with new software, and
   HAL was the only thing out there that ran on multiple systems and
   supported hotplug detection.
* HAL is totally unlike X and uses XML config files.
* Most xorg development takes place on Linux, where HAL is more common
   than on FreeBSD.
* There are only a couple of FreeBSD developers actively working on the huge
   and complicated job of porting and supporting xorg.
* The first port of xorg-server with HAL support on FreeBSD had a bug.
   The bug workaround is still being applied by users, long after the bug
   was fixed, and sometimes--but not always!--it unfixes things.

So add all this confusion together, and you end up where we are now.  I 
suspect it seems worse than it really is, since the current xorg will 
run on a lot of systems without an xorg.conf at all.

> This forum has been riddled with questions on why their hardware 
> (mouse) has stopped working and how to get it working again. If 
> Microsoft had pulled a bone-headed stunt like this, they would be 
> chastised; however, hardly a word has been uttered regarding the poor 
> choices made by the 'X' development team.

The other side of that argument is that Microsoft has supported 
hotplugging input devices for more than a decade.

> I question whether they actually tested this product prior to 
> releasing it. I have been following a few forums besides this one and 
> they all report the same problem. I realize that 'HAL' has something 
> to do with this situation also. Perhaps if all the concerned parties 
> would get their acts together this sort of fiasco would not 
> continually happen.

You could go to the xorg mailing lists at freedesktop.org and set them 
straight.  They might cheerfully offer to refund your money.

You could also offer to help development or testing, either to the 
FreeBSD developers or xorg.

> It is really hard to push the merits of an operating system when you
> have to give detailed instructions to the potential end user on how to
> get a "mouse" to work, when all they have to do in a Win32 based system
> is plug it in.

xorg is not FreeBSD, but if you're looking for an integrated GUI 
operating system based on FreeBSD, PC-BSD seems to be well-regarded.

> I really cannot fathom a seven year old having to modify
> an XML document to facilitate their playing a "How to Spell" CD,
> assuming that they could even get the CD operational.

Normally you'd start by finding out whether they prefer vi or emacs.

-Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota USA