Continuing saga of the ''bad keyboard'' guitar

Tried a few more Linux distros on my ''bad keyboard'' PC -- the one with the busted PS/2 keyboard ports, that only works with a USB keyboard.

Because the motherboard (or BIOS?) is too old to properly recognize the USB keyboard, the key [pun?] criteria for a Linux distro to work with this machine is that when you put the CD-ROM in the drive, it can't require you to hit ''Enter'' for it to continue. Or, if it does require ''Enter'', it'll time-out after a while, and kick in on its own.

The secondary criteria, of course, is that once everything's running, it has to accept input from the keyboard. Otherwise, the computer's of limited use if'n you can't type anything.

Tried Knoppix 3.7, the ''King of the Live Distros.'' Although it says it requires ''Enter'' to boot, after a pause it kicks in by itself. Serial mouse worked; USB keyboard works! Unfortunately, the word processing program didn't work (could be a bad CD-R burn?). And because I couldn't specify ''English'' at the startup, most of the error messages were in Germish (Knoppix is developed by German folks).

Then tried Kantonix 2005.2, a spin-off of Knoppix. Again, the USB keyboard wasn't accepted at startup, so I couldn't use the up/down arrows to select my preferred language (which ain't Germish). And, I got stuck in an ''error'' loop: it kept trying to insert an ''apm'' device, but no such device -- but would then try again...

Finally, tried my eagerly-awaited Ubuntu 5.10 -- the Live CD. Unfortunately, Ubuntu requires you to press ''Enter'' for it to install. And it didn't have a timeout function -- so I waited, and waited, and waited... Dang. Dissapointing. (But will still try it on the mega-tower, sometime here.)


On the plus side, the fact that Knoppix was able to use the USB keyboard does mean that it's possible for a modern Linux distro to run using my gimpy keyboard situation. But first, I'll need to transfer all my files (mostly digital camera pics) to an external hard drive, prior to wiping the ''bad keyboard PC's'' hard drive.

There is hope... for the future!!!


--GG