[Solved... sort of] USB keyboard dead

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Bogomips
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Re: USB keyboard dead

Post#16 by Bogomips » 15 Jul 2016, 00:38

@ francois
You beat me to it! That was the next thing was going to mention, to just test usb keyboard driver by getting into the GUI in AF mode, and seeing if usb keyboard then works.
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tmsg
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Re: USB keyboard dead

Post#17 by tmsg » 15 Jul 2016, 17:28

tmsg wrote:The point is that Porteus is simply not stable enough to be used for what I have in mind: using it as a base that gives me access to VirtualBox across a wide range of machine I can't control, eg in Internet cafes.
Probably it was this statement that was deemed too unkind or impolite. And perhaps "stable" is not exactly the right word here, maybe "versatile" or "universal" would have been better. Nevertheless, I really don't know how I can describe my principal problem in more friendly words.

I simply have to accept that Porteus,promising though it looked at first glance, is (currently?) just not capable of doing what I need (quite possibly there's no OS that can do that). Nothing spectacular about that, all sorts of things don't always do what I want. My car comes to mind.

So let's just end this saga (although I have, for the sake of completeness, checked Francois' suggestion; perhaps some other people run into the same problem and are happy with a local solution. If I boot into Porteus with changes disabled so that the encrypted save.dat is ignored the system boots to the XFCE desktop and the USB keyboard then works. So it seems that some needed driver is not yet loaded when the password for save.dat is queried. Why this should happen with that specific machine is an enigma but as I said the simple fact that it does happen (together with other boot problems I encountered before) precludes further use of Porteus as an universal boot platform.)

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Re: USB keyboard dead

Post#18 by francois » 15 Jul 2016, 22:05

You got the point in terms of kindness and in terms of troubleshooting.

We noted on porteus installations that depending on the sequence of loading of modules it might happen that you get into conflicts. So there is essays and error strategies. That is why we wanted to troubleshoot your save changes folder content.

The service is free, and we badly want some competent forum members and participants, but we cannot work more than you if you are not motivated enough. :twisted:
Prendre son temps, profiter de celui qui passe.

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Re: USB keyboard dead

Post#19 by tmsg » 16 Jul 2016, 09:07

francois wrote:The service is free, and we badly want some competent forum members and participants, but we cannot work more than you are if you are not motivated enough. :twisted:
Alas, you still don't seem to understand what my main problem is. I am perfectly willing and superbly motivated to create a system that allows me to boot into an OS that in turn can run VirtualBox. However, I only ever need this system when I am not at home but abroad. And when I am abroad I can't possibly debug a non-booting system (for instance I may be in a Nepalese village w/o internet access).

So the whole thing has to work reliably and, even more importantly, I have to trust that it does. As I wrote repeatedly now, it is utterly possible that such a system does not exist but I can still try to find one.

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Re: USB keyboard dead

Post#20 by Ed_P » 16 Jul 2016, 23:18

tmsg wrote: it is utterly possible that such a system does not exist but I can still try to find one.
:D Utterly true. :)

As an alternative option, find a small netbook that boots the Porteus USB drive and that works successfully for you, screen, keyboard, wi-fi, etc. Take it and the USB drive with you when you travel. It may add an extra pound or two to the load but it will work and isn't a working system the goal?
Ed

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Re: USB keyboard dead

Post#21 by tmsg » 17 Jul 2016, 13:28

Ed_P wrote:As an alternative option, find a small netbook that boots the Porteus USB drive and that works successfully for you, screen, keyboard, wi-fi, etc. Take it and the USB drive with you when you travel. It may add an extra pound or two to the load but it will work and isn't a working system the goal?
I do that with a ThinkPad x220 (superb machine BTW) if bulk and weight is not important. But often it is and then a stick is unbeatable.

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[Solved... sort of] USB keyboard dead

Post#22 by tmsg » 26 Jul 2016, 09:04

I have "solved" the problem (so far...) by moving to AntiX MX-15. This boots on all machines I have tested it on, even those on which Porteus would not boot.

MX-15 has the ability to create a live ISO from a running system, with all installed apps and settings intact and copy this to USB. This live USB system also can be configured to persist changes. So altogether a system that does what Porteus did and boots everywhere... so far at least! (The ISO is slightly bigger though than Porteus but what are a few 100MB these days?)

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Re: [Solved... sort of] USB keyboard dead

Post#23 by francois » 26 Jul 2016, 11:20

Good for you. :wink:
Prendre son temps, profiter de celui qui passe.

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