Re: Reason to use 2.4.x on SparcStation 2?
On Thu, Dec 06, 2001 at 09:00:46PM -0500, Ben Collins wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 07, 2001 at 01:29:21AM +0100, Andreas Behnert wrote:
> > I'm running potato on a SparcStation 2 (sun4c), Kernel 2.2.20. The
> > system is running smooth (more or less since the SS2 is really slow
> > compared to current hardware). Only the X server makes some problems
> > (Xsun) - it behaves extremly sluggish and while running X sometimes
> > messages like "unknown keyboard ioctl" or something like that show
> > up in the syslog. I don't know if the Xsun or the keyboard driver
> > is the problem but I hope that things will get better with woody
> > and XFree 4.1.x (I'm using a cgsix (Turbo-GX) btw).
> > The SS2 will be used as X client (XDMCP via LAN to another box)
> > and apache will serve static data but performance isn't really
> > important, just two clients...
[snip]
> However, upgrading to woody would be a good deal, even on an SS2. I
> have not heard any comparison between Xsun and XFree86 4.x on CGSix
> yet, so I'd be interested in your comments aswell :)
I have a Sparcserver 10, a Sparcstation 5, and an Ultra 1, all with
CGSix cards (although the Ultra 1 has the only monitor right now).
I've been running woody and 2.2.x on all of them for quite a while
with good success. (Someday I'll get around to upgrading the Ultra to
2.4.x, but it's my primary workstation at home, and "if it's not
broke..." :-)
I don't think the CGSix was supported in XFree86 4.0, so I was still
using Xsun then (which worked fine except for the annoying conflict
with gpm.) Upon upgrading to XFree86 4.1, I noticed that screen
painting seemed to be rather sluggish, almost as if hardware bitblt's
were supported in Xsun but not Xfree86. I haven't complained because
I'm just glad it's supported *at all*. :-)
But since this came up, I'll ask: Do I have a config problem, or does
the CGSix driver only provide limited support?
The only other frustrating thing about the CGSix is that it only
supports 8 bit color depth. Which caused me a bit of grief for a
while -- for some reason the gnome panel was using a private colormap,
which meant that either the panel looked like crap, or the rest of the
display looked like crap. I solved it for a while by changing the
default "Visual" to "GrayScale" (rather than "PseudoColor"). I'm not
sure what I did, or if the constant upgrades inherent in running woody
got me a fixed package, but it works now, in color (dithered). On the
other hand, 'eeyes' used to use a private colormap when viewing
pictures to get the best quality, and it doesn't seem to anymore. Did
I manage to configure Xfree86 to prevent apps from using private
colormaps? Anyway, I'm happy with the dithering, so it doesn't
matter, except that it's nice to understand how it all works.
Thanks,
Rob.
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