I'm surprised that XFree86 doesn't downgrade automatically though.
Why? The X server generally tries to behave as requested, and if
that's
not possible, it aborts. Even if you don't like this policy, and
assuming that it knows that the depth causes the problem (I doubt it,
but I have to admit I'd have to dig into the code a bit to tell for
sure
:), initialization is almost complete based on the requested depth at
this point.
It seems that you're right, because changing the DefaultDepth to 8
enabled him
to start XFree86. I was surprised because Default sounded like it would
downgrade. But it only uses the default when another value is not
specified
on the command line (or in xdm's config, in this case). Just a
brain-freeze
on my part.
Two other things for you, Steven. One is that you should re-enable the
authorization that I recommended you disable.
(DisplayManager*authorize: true
in /etc/X11/xdm/xdm-config.) Xpmac didn't support it, but XFree86
does, and
you should have it enabled.
The second thing is with your XF86Config-4 file. Depending on what you
selected when you installed the xserver-xfree86, dexconf might
overwrite your
settings on the next upgrade. To avoid this, I recommend the following:
Copy your existing (working) /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 to another location.
Then run `dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86` as root. The two things
that you
probably changed by hand are the questions "Select the desired X server
driver." (you want 3, fbdev), "Please enter the video card's bus
identifier."
(you want nothing here), "Use kernel framebuffer device interface?"
(you want
yes), and "Please select your desired default color depth in bits."
(you want
8-bits, so select 3).
Once you've tested this config, you can toss the old version. But by
using
dexconf consistiently, you can avoid headaches later.
Frank