I have two questions:
1. Would anyone be willing to give me a link to a simple USB keyboard that you
think would work with this machine at boot time? Perhaps on Amazon.com or
Newegg.com, etc.?
2. Do you know of a Debian CD of some type that will load a kernel without the
need of a key press before the kernel loads? Debian install CD's and Live CD's
require a key press at boot in order to load a kernel. I'm not sure about Knoppix
but thought I would ask before wasting a DVD disc to find out that it won't boot.
Here is what's going on with this machine:
The USB keyboard that I have is not supported by the motherboard for some
reason. However, the keyboard does work however after a kernel loads.
My keyboard is a an AZZA brand, model number KME381U. It has buttons on
it that will (in Windows) launch a web browser, change the speaker volume, etc.
The motherboard has no PS/2 connector. I do have a PS/2 keyboard that I
could use, but there is no place on the motherboard to plug it in.
The motherboard does not have a clear CMOS jumper that I could find. There
is a CMOS jumper on the motherboard, however, when this jumper is switched,
when the computer boots, it puts me directly into CMOS and the keyboard
did not work while in CMOS.
I did take out the battery, waited a while, left the battery out, turned on the
computer with the CMOS jumper moved and wound up back in CMOS but
the keyboard was still not working.
I was able to install Debian by changing the windows bootloader to boot the
Debian installer as I described earlier. Now Debian is the only OS on the
machine. I was planning to only use this computer via SSH connection. So,
I only need a keyboard if I want to change CMOS settings or select an option
from the Grub boot menu.
So, it appears that my only solution is to get a different USB keyboard for this
machine.