Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Working around dragons with the Lemote Yeeloong laptop and OpenBSD

oldvcr.blogspot.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 43 posts

Re: Working around dragons with the Lemote Yeeloong laptop and OpenBSD

#21

Post by justin66 »

walrus01 wrote: post #20
justin66 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A decade’s worth of SGI machines combined MIPS processors with PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports.

To be fair to that there wasn't really any other viable mass-market interface that the keyboard manufacturers in China/Taiwan could standardize on. The PS/2 keyboard interface was backwards compatible with an AT keyboard through the user of a passive physical pin adapter. And USB didn't exist yet.

Oddly enough, the SGI Fuel (also the Tezro, I think) had PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports but also offered USB ports and support for HID devices in IRIX.

I have no idea whether the keyboard and mouse that shipped with those later SGIs were PS/2 or USB devices.

edit: IMO there was nothing wrong with preferring PS/2 to USB 20-some years ago. Higher theoretical refresh rate on the PS/2 mouse at that time and the PS/2 keyboard offered better n-key rollover, although I question whether any of that mattered one way or the other to an SGI owner

Re: Working around dragons with the Lemote Yeeloong laptop and OpenBSD

#22

Post by walrus01 »

justin66 wrote: post #21
walrus01 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair to that there wasn't really any other viable mass-market interface that the keyboard manufacturers in China/Taiwan could standardize on. The PS/2 keyboard interface was backwards compatible with an AT keyboard through the user of a passive physical pin adapter. And USB didn't exist yet.

Oddly enough, the SGI Fuel (also the Tezro, I think) had PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports but also offered USB ports and support for HID devices in IRIX. I have no idea whether the keyboard and mouse that shipped with those later SGIs were PS/2 or USB devices. edit: IMO there was nothing wrong with preferring PS/2 to USB 20-some years ago. Higher theoretical refresh rate on the PS/2 mouse at that time and the PS/2 keybo…

In x86 i386 world there was a good long overlap of ATX/MicroATX motherboards shipping with both PS/2 keyboard/mouse ports and also USB ports on them, starting from 1998 era Pentium 2/3 systems when USB first became commonplace and continuing until probably 2010 or so.

Re: Working around dragons with the Lemote Yeeloong laptop and OpenBSD

#23

Post by brynet »

userbinator wrote: post #14

I don't think these machines achieved much popularity in China either, as standard PCs were far more common and compatible with the existing software base. the keyboard and trackpad are internally PS/2. Interesting that the PC influence is still there, although I'm pretty sure a MIPS doesn't have them on port 60h/64h, or indeed any I/O ports. I remember having a similar moment of surprise when I played around with an…

> I'm pretty sure a MIPS doesn't have them on port 60h/64h, or indeed any I/O ports.

Funnily enough, it does. They're just sitting behind a AMD CS5536 PCI-to-ISA bridge.

https://man.openbsd.org/man4/loongson/glxpcib.4

https://man.openbsd.org/pckbc

...

> glxpcib0 at pci0 dev 14 function 0 "AMD CS5536 ISA" rev 0x03: rev 3, 32-bit 3579545Hz timer, watchdog, gpio, i2c

> isa0 at glxpcib0

> pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60/5 irq 1 irq 12

> pckbd0 at pckbc0 (kbd slot)

> wskbd0 at pckbd0: console keyboard, using wsdisplay0

> pms0 at pckbc0 (aux slot)

> wsmouse0 at pms0 mux 0

> mcclock0 at isa0 port 0x70/2: mc146818 or compatible

...

Other machines, such as the DEC Alpha were similar.

Re: Working around dragons with the Lemote Yeeloong laptop and OpenBSD

#24

Post by yunnpp »

sellmesoap wrote: post #6
em-bee wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what is shocking about it?

I think because it's RMS champion of digital openess using using an archaine Chinese laptop, it's the dichotomy of China providing a product that's essentially more free (of binary blob firmware) then a western equivalent laptop. Take heed and dispare oh ye providers of win modems!

RMS is a man of principle. He saw freedom radiating from that laptop and subscribed, doesn't care for geopolitics.

Re: Working around dragons with the Lemote Yeeloong laptop and OpenBSD

#26

Post by bitwize »

sellmesoap wrote: post #6
em-bee wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what is shocking about it?

I think because it's RMS champion of digital openess using using an archaine Chinese laptop, it's the dichotomy of China providing a product that's essentially more free (of binary blob firmware) then a western equivalent laptop. Take heed and dispare oh ye providers of win modems!

Based and redpilled, Stallman is.

Re: Working around dragons with the Lemote Yeeloong laptop and OpenBSD

#27

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

em-bee wrote: post #3
stevefan1999 wrote: post #2

I still think it is very cursed to see that image of RMS using that laptop despite I was shocked to see it 12 years ago. Still shocks me to this day.

what is shocking about it?

If you want to really shock, have Midjourney make a pic of him, using a MacBook. I seriously doubt there’s a real one, out there.

Haven’t heard from him in a while. I know he was suffering health issues.

Re: Working around dragons with the Lemote Yeeloong laptop and OpenBSD

#28

Post by cl3misch »

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #19

"However, I can find no evidence that Richard Stallman had/has a dog, or indeed any pet." According to his own disclosures, he has a fear of dogs https://web.archive.org/web/20120119135147if_/https://secure...

His long list of conditions is an interesting read. It comes off as arrogant in places, but I guess if you really travel a lot and have unusual requirements it's best for everyone to be upfront about it!

Re: Working around dragons with the Lemote Yeeloong laptop and OpenBSD

#29

Post by ronjakoi »

mattst88 wrote: post #18
shrubble wrote: post #9

It’s tough to find them on eBay; I wonder what the right search terms are?

I think they're super uncommon in the west. I think they're also super useless, to be honest. Incredibly slow. Linux support continued to degrade the entire time I owned mine. The keyboard and display are far too small to be usable. The graphics chip accelerates basically nothing. I sold mine [1] on eBay back in October. I hope the new owner enjoys it more than I did :) [1] https://mattst88.com/computers/yeeloong/

I have one stashed away. Bought it from a Dutch importer in the late 2000s. I also ran OpenBSD on it for a while.
Post reply on HN