New Boot Loader Menu

[John Baldwin]

On Tuesday, October 09, 2012 3:03:17 pm John Baldwin wrote:
> On Tuesday, October 09, 2012 2:41:29 pm Devin Teske wrote:
> > 
> > On Oct 9, 2012, at 11:18 AM, John Baldwin wrote:
> > 
> > > On Tuesday, October 09, 2012 11:25:19 am Devin Teske wrote:
> > >> …Re-adding the list… (good point)
> > >> 
> > >> On Oct 9, 2012, at 8:15 AM, Garrett Cooper wrote:
> > >> 
> > >>> On Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 8:05 AM, Devin Teske <devin.teske at fisglobal.com> 
> wrote:
> > >>>> …Re-adding the list…
> > >>>> 
> > >>>> On Oct 8, 2012, at 12:42 PM, olli hauer wrote:
> > >>>> 
> > >>>>> ...
> > >>>>> 
> > >>>>>> You'll also get zero argument out of me that putting "Delete" on-
> screen 
> > > is not only to-be-avoided for the opposing situation (that some keyboards 
> may 
> > > not have a "Delete" but instead "Backspace") but indeed "Delete" is worse 
> > > because the implied connotation associated with the "Delete" key 
> (_someone_ 
> > > might be confused into thinking "Delete" will purge the menu from memory).
> > >>>>>> 
> > >>>>>> I will play with keycodes.
> > >>>>>> 
> > >>>>>> Just be aware that currently left arrow CANNOT work. That is a bad 
> > > suggestion (read why below).
> > >>>>>> 
> > >>>>>> In Forth, I'm using the "key" primitive which -- rather unfortunately 
> > > -- produces a zero for "left-arrow", "right-arrow", "up-arrow", "down-
> arrow", 
> > > "F1", "F2", "F3", "F4", "F5", "F6", "F7", "F8", "F9", and "F10" (note: it 
> > > doesn't catch "F11", "F12", "F13", "F14", "F15", or "F16").
> > >>>>>> 
> > >>>>>> So all those key options are right-out when it comes to "using them 
> > > instead of Backspace" (I simply can't identify in the loader when those 
> keys 
> > > are pressed).
> > >>>>>> 
> > >>>>> 
> > >>>>> ...
> > >>>>> 
> > >>>>> will the space key work for a general back to or up one entry?
> > >>>>> I suspect the space bar has the same keycode on all platforms 
> > > (intel/appel/ppc/sparc ...)
> > >>>>> 
> > >>>>> Anyway nice work :)
> > >>>>> 
> > >>>> 
> > >>>> By golly, I think olli is on to something here!
> > >>>> 
> > >>>> What does everybody think about space?
> > >>>> 
> > >>>> I like it because it's a NICE BIG TARGET (and it's not used by anything 
> else).
> > >>> 
> > >>> It was used once upon a time to pause the bootloader countdown…
> > >> 
> > >> Well… that hasn't *really* been true since r222417 (16+ months ago).
> > > 
> > > Yes, you completely destroyed POLA for users used to hitting various keys
> > > to catch the boot loader before it passed by over remote KVMs.
> > 
> > Wait, what?
> > 
> > I did no such thing.
> > 
> > If you had users mashing random keys during the menu, the old functionality 
> was to keep the timer rolling while they mashed away.
> 
> No, not random keys.  Keys like '6' to escape to the loader prompt or '4' to 
> boot into single user.
> 
> It's water under the bridge as far as the new menu in 9.0 (and I thought that 
> in that instance renumbering everything might be worth it to make the keys 
> more logical as a one-time hit), but gratuitously changing the mappings of 
> what specific keys mean is not helpful to users, and based on your reply, you 
> don't get that at all.  It is the lack of empathy for other use cases that 
> most worries me. :(

FWIW, I hadn't realized / remembered correctly that someone else changed the
order in 9.0 and that your original menu changes preserved the bindings.  I
would just like to avoid changing existing key bindings as much as possible
going forward.

-- 
John Baldwin