[lug] help on hotplug, insmod and modules

[Phil Rasch]

I just bought a spiffy new toy. It is a device for use in making
presentations. You plug a little RF receiver into the USB port of your
laptop, and then control the presentation using a set of buttons and
switches on a lightweight handheld remote device that includes a laser
pointer.

It took a bit of fussing around to get the thing working.

I am still confused about how to get it to work perfectly, and I would
like to make the setup rock solid before I forget what needs doing.

I am trying to do this on a laptop running a debian test/unstable
distribution, running a 2.4.20 kernel.

When I boot it up. It doesnt recognize the device.

Here are some of the relevant entries from /var/log/messages

Mar  7 18:25:24 squall kernel: usb.c: registered new driver keyboard
Mar  7 18:25:24 squall kernel: input0: Keyspan, a division of InnoSys Inc.  Keyspan RF Remote on usb1:2.0
Mar  7 18:25:24 squall kernel: usbkbd.c: :USB HID Boot Protocol keyboard driver
Mar  7 18:25:24 squall kernel: usb.c: registered new driver hiddev
Mar  7 18:25:24 squall kernel: usb.c: registered new driver hid
Mar  7 18:25:24 squall kernel: input1: USB HID v1.00 Mouse [Keyspan, a division of InnoSys Inc.  Keyspan RF Remote] on usb1:2.1
Mar  7 18:25:24 squall kernel: hid-core.c: v1.8.1 Andreas Gal, Vojtech Pavlik <vojtech at suse.cz>


and then later (perhaps after I have plugged and unplugged the
receiver)


Mar  7 18:33:15 squall kernel: usb.c: deregistering driver keyboard
Mar  7 18:33:16 squall kernel: input0: USB HID v1.00 Keyboard [Keyspan, a division of InnoSys Inc.  Keyspan RF Remote] on usb1:2.0
Mar  7 18:33:22 squall kernel: usb.c: registered new driver usb_mouse
Mar  7 18:33:22 squall kernel: usbmouse.c: v1.6:USB HID Boot Protocol mouse driver
Mar  7 18:33:53 squall kernel: usb.c: USB disconnect on device 00:07.2-1 address 2
Mar  7 18:33:57 squall kernel: hub.c: new USB device 00:07.2-1, assigned address 3
Mar  7 18:33:57 squall kernel: input0: USB HID v1.00 Keyboard [Keyspan, a division of InnoSys Inc.  Keyspan RF Remote] on usb1:3.0
Mar  7 18:33:57 squall kernel: input1: USB HID v1.00 Mouse [Keyspan, a division of InnoSys Inc.  Keyspan RF Remote] on usb1:3.1
Mar  7 18:34:00 squall /etc/hotplug/usb.agent: Setup usbkbd hid usbmouse for USB product 6cd/402/3
Mar  7 18:34:00 squall kernel: usb.c: registered new driver keyboard
Mar  7 18:34:00 squall kernel: usbkbd.c: :USB HID Boot Protocol keyboard driver
Mar  7 18:34:00 squall /etc/hotplug/usb.agent: Setup keybdev mousedev for USB product 6cd/402/3

The log is messed up a bit due to my inexperience. I tried a variety
of things in trying to get it going. What i do know unambiguously is
the following. 

Once the machine is completely booted up (into X) and I do an lsmod it
does not show a module for a usbmouse but does show a module for a usb
keyboard.  If I do an rmmod of usbkbd, then an insmod of usbmouse,
then log out, restart X, and then try it, everything works fine.

So the key thing (I think) is that I have to get hotplug to recognize
that the device is a usbmouse, rather than a usbkeyboard (which I
think it is assuming). I assume all this should really take place
during boot time, so the device is recognized prior to bringing up X.

I guess that I could force usbmouse to be
loaded in the modules.conf file, but I think the right thing to do is
to use the hotplug configuration. But I cant figure out how to do it.

I have grubbed around some on the web, but I cant figure out the
procedure.

Can anybody shed some light on this?

Thanks a bunch

Phil

-- 
Phil Rasch, Climate Modeling Section, National Center for Atmospheric Research
Mail     --> P.O. Box 3000, Boulder CO 80307  
Shipping --> 1850 Table Mesa Dr, Boulder, CO 80305
email: pjr at ucar.edu, Web: http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cms/pjr Phone: 303-497-1368, FAX: 303-497-1324