linux-kernel - RE: Dell docking station & Dell Embedded Controller & PS/2 devices

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Message-ID: <6825f48ea6da41799979d83ed37adf73@ausx13mpc124.AMER.DELL.COM>
Date:   Mon, 7 May 2018 20:18:30 +0000
From:   <Mario.Limonciello@...l.com>
To:     <pali.rohar@...il.com>
CC:     <dmitry.torokhov@...il.com>, <linux-input@...r.kernel.org>,
        <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: RE: Dell docking station & Dell Embedded Controller & PS/2 devices

> > > So I guess you could write a platform driver that would install i8042
> > > filter on Dell laptops/portables, monitor keyboard data stream and kick
> > > of rescans on serio ports. The problem is filter gets "serio" so you do
> > > not really know whether ACK is spurious or not. And I would really
> > > prefer keeping this crap out of atkbd proper... And all of this is racy
> > > as hell. What happens if we get keyboard reconnected as we reinitialize
> > > it?
> >
> > If it's done as a platform driver I would suspect it's possible to tell whether
> > a dock is connected to at least give you some heuristic here to have a better
> > guess whether it's spurious.
> 
> Apparently checking for docking station is not enough. There are also
> Dell Legacy Extenders (or how it is called) which exports internal PS/2,
> Parallel and Serial Ports. It is also connecting to bottom of laptop.
> But currently I do not have them for testing.
> 
> > Pali on your system that supports this dock, check and see how many
> > System Enclosure SMBIOS tables (structure type 03) are present.
> 
> Do you mean DMI type 3 structure? Here is something from dmidecode:
> 
> Handle 0x0003, DMI type 3, 22 bytes
> Chassis Information
>         Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
>         Type: Laptop
>         Lock: Not Present
>         Version: Not Specified
>         Serial Number: --REMOVED--
>         Asset Tag: Not Specified
>         Boot-up State: Safe
>         Power Supply State: Safe
>         Thermal State: Safe
>         Security Status: None
>         OEM Information: 0x00000000
>         Height: Unspecified
>         Number Of Power Cords: 1
>         Contained Elements: 0
>         SKU Number: To be filled by O.E.M.
> 
> But probably you mean something different?

Plug in your dock before you boot up and see if you have a second structure like
that type produced.

If not, then I guess this isn't a reliable way to find the dock
on that system and I'll have to see if there is another.