Re: /dev/psaux-Interface

[Jamie Lokier <jamie@shareable.org>]

Arjan van de Ven wrote:
> well, it's the kernels job to abstract hardware. You don't also expose
> raw scsi and ide devices to userspace, you abstract them away and
> provide a uniform "block device" interface to userspace.

Not quite.  Both SCSI and IDE layers offer "generic" access for
sending commands to the device which the kernel doesn't understand.

> The input layer tries to do the same wrt HID devices and imo it makes
> sense. Why should userspace care if a mouse is attached to the USB port
> or via the USB->PS/2 connector thingy to the PS/2 port. Requiring
> different configuration for both cases, and potentially even requiring
> different userspace applications for each type make it sound like
> abstracting this away from userspace does have merit. 

I agree in this case: the touchpad should be handled by the input
layer, for uniformity if nothing else.

However, what happens when the thing connected to the PS/2 port isn't
a mouse or keyboard, just a strange device talking bytes?  With 2.4
kernels you could talk to it.

-- Jamie