Re: Xorg 7 on sparc64

[Steve Pacenka <sp17@cornell.edu>]

On Tuesday 20 June 2006 11:30, Stuart Brady wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 19, 2006 at 11:02:56PM -0400, Steve Pacenka wrote:
> > After installing xserver.xorg, the generated xorg.conf file was good for
> > ATI video.  It needed a keyboard touchup to use the correct map
> > ("sun(type5)" instead of "sun") and I don't yet have Ctrl-Alt-Fn key
> > switching among vts. It assumed a low performance monitor.
>
> That's odd.  I'm using pc105, and it works.  The input layer in
> Linux 2.6 convert to the PC scancodes now.  Are you sure xorg isn't just
> using default rules?

I accepted the defaults presented by xserver-xorg's bare metal setup, which 
for "$ARCH" = "sparc" is XkbRules = "sun" and XkbModel = "type5".

I'm incorrect about using XkbRules = "sun(type5)".  That may be correct for 
kernel 2.4 but it is wrong for 2.6.  The correct values when using a type 5 
keyboard and kernel 2.6 are XkbRules = "xorg" and XkbModel = "pc105".  
Welcome back Ctrl-Alt-Fn.  (These same values worked with 6.9, so upgraders 
may not be affected by the suboptimal Debian config script in xserver-org.)

The problem is that xserver-xorg's Debian config script sets poor default 
keyboard rules for Sparc kernel 2.6.  It uses (excuse pidgin shell)

   if architecture is sparc
      default XkbRules = sun
   else
      default XkbRules = xorg
   fi

It could improve its defaults  for Sparc and for non-Sparc 2.4 kernel users by

   if kernel <= 2.4
      case architecture
         sparc) Xkbrules = sun
         someotherarchitecture) XkbRules = otherarcpopularkeyboard
         *) Xkbrules = xorg
      esac
   else
      Xkbrules = xorg
   fi

-- thanks, SP