Sunblade 1000 type 6 usb keyboard problem

[Ulot]

Hello all,

I've done a quite a few Intel Gentoo installs, but this is my first Sparc one. UltraSparc III Sunblade 1000 to be more exact. Sadly, I know next to nothing about Sun hardware and I'm just completely winging this one.

I used the 1.4_rc4 Sparc64 iso to boot the machine up. Started just fine until I got to the login prompt. It seems my keyboard (Type 6 USB) isn't mapped properly. I get different characters for different keys and such. I read that there is a sunkeymap. Do I need to use that? If so how? Am I missing a boot option to get it going?

I also tried a Dell USB keyboard, but the system won't even startup with that attached. The whole lack of a working keyboard is no fun.

Thanks

[Ulot]

Well I've solved my problem. Kind folks in the IRC channel suggested that I try to connect via serial cable. That did work, but I also discovered that when I booted with the 'gentoo serial' command the keyboard works fine. I have no clue why it won't work without the command, but it works fine if you add the serial. Oh well.

EDIT: Seems there is a keymap that is loaded when you use just gentoo that isn't loaded when you use gentoo serial. Anyone know which keymap that is? I would guess that is what caused the problems.

[Red_Weasel]

With any luck a SB1000 is similar to the SB100 (even though the SB100 has a UltraSPARC IIi instead of a III). Here's what I found out:

1. By default, the KEYMAP="" in the default /etc/rc.conf references "sun" which doesn't exist.
2. If you look in /usr/share/keymap* you'll see there is a "sunkeymap.map.gz" which seems like the right one. Wrong. This only works for the "PS/2-style" used by the older "UltraSPARC II" systems (Ultra 1/2/5/10, E250, etc).
3. If you use KEYMAP="us" like normal Gentoo x86 systems, it'll work fine.

It seems to be specifically with the grey/purple Sun USB keyboards. I haven't check the "Stop-A" or other special keys, but I was just happy to be able to type again.