In message <20031023192523.GA6837@rek.tjls.com>, Thor Lancelot Simon writes:
>On Thu, Oct 23, 2003 at 02:22:10PM -0500, Eric Haszlakiewicz wrote:
>>
>> 	well, my knee jerk reaction here is "deal with it.  the keys are
>> only one row apart".  On the other hand, I can understand how annoying
>> it can be to have to change a old ingrained behaviour.  If switching
>> F1-F4 and 1-4 makes the common case now more similar to the common case
>> before, then I'd say go ahead.
>
>I don't agree -- it's basically impossible to know what key combination
>on a serial console will generate what the bootselector thinks is "F1";
>on some terminals, *there may be no such key combination*.  I've had
>truly horrible experiences with this exact issue making it impossible to
>enter serial BIOS configuration screens without hooking up an actual AT
>keyboard.
>
>Bear in mind that if one's using BIOS console redirection, we may not be
>able to tell if the console's "VGA" or "serial".  I think the old behaviour
>was a serious bug, and that the change should stay.

Frankly, I prefer the old behavior.  But your point about serial 
consoles is very valid, and as far as I'm concerned settles the issue.
Let's stick with the new behavior.


		--Steve Bellovin, http://www.research.att.com/~smb