On Fri, 11 Dec 2009, Carmel wrote:
On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:48:36 -0700 (MST)
Warren Block <[email protected]> replied:
On Fri, 11 Dec 2009, Carmel wrote:
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.
Correct me if I am wrong; however, I believe I read that 'HAL' is dead.
"Maintenance mode", so more like a zombie, but yes.
Further work on it is not going to happen. If that is correct, are we
to expect another fiasco when its replacement comes online.
Possibly. It depends on the level of integration and testing done
before release.
The other side of that argument is that Microsoft has supported
hotplugging input devices for more than a decade.
I have often wondered what the delay in developing hot-plugging in
non-win32 systems was. Worse, HAL requiring the creation of of XML
files sort of defeats the entire concept of 'plug & play'.
Normally, the user shouldn't have to create XML files.
The new hal-0.5.13_12 solves some serious problems I had with the
earlier version. Maybe problems other people had too, but there haven't
been any posts about someone trying HAL again and seeing if it works
better now.
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.
I think you are being overly glib regarding this problem. I stand by my
original statement that the parties involved should have tested the
final product more thoroughly.
I admit I was thinking of Monty Python on "how to rid the world of all
known diseases". Point being that "more testing" is easier to say than
do.
As a side note, I officiate youth league sport's programs in my spare
time. I don't get paid either. Still, I would never do a crap job just
because I was not being financially compensated for my efforts.
Of course not: you do the best you can with what you've got. As the
xorg and FreeBSD developers did and continue to do.
You could also offer to help development or testing, either to the
FreeBSD developers or xorg.
I have beta tested applications in the past. I was not aware that Xorg
was releasing beta products aimed at FreeBSD. I was under the
impression that offerings from Xorg were only ported to FreeBSD after
they were released to Linux users.
There's always testing going on before the latest xorg is released on
FreeBSD. Sometimes requests for testing are announced on freebsd-x11.
It's also possible to contact the developers directly and offer to test.
That can be particularly helpful if you have hardware the developers
don't.
-Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota USA
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