Re: Why is setting up X so arcane?
In article <[🔎] 20010628152206.B19819@harmony.cs.rit.edu>, D-Man wrote:
> Maybe try the SVGA driver with no special features enabled? Try just
> a simple 640x480x8 and see if it is any better. Don't try any special
> RAMDAC/clock chip specs.
If I don't set any "special features", I am assuming (from the drop-down
lists supplied) that the driver will probe the card. I suspect it is the
pobing that is causing the problem.
> Hmm. I have found that if I don't have a modeline I get the "no mode
> named foo" message. If it needs a different HSync of VertRefresh I
> get "mode removed because vertrefresh out of range".
I got the mode removed messages earlier on, but didn't include them in my
mail (because there were so many). Sorry for misleading you.
> | > Summary : use 'vim' (or other editor) to setup the
> | /etc/X11/XF86Config file
> | > properly and use Alt-Ctrl-Del to reboot, not the power button.
> |
> | I would love to use vi to set the config file up properly, if I could
> | find the information I need to do so. I don't know what clock chip is
>
> 'man XF86Config' (works for potato, woody doesn't have such a manpage,
> just use the potato one and the readme on the (few) differences)
I think the information I need most is the details of my VGA card. I'm never
going to find that in the manual, am I.
> | on my video card, and asking XF86Setup to probe it causes the machine
>
> I never probed my cards, nor specified a clock chip or RAMDAC. X4
> (woody) found my clock chip all by itself. Currently I have an
> SiS6326. I used to have an ATI Rage LT Pro that I used with X 3.3.3
> -> 3.3.6, both RH and Debian. I didn't have to do much configuring of
> it by hand with RH 6.2, but RH 7's installer couldn't get it right. I
> simply copied by (backed up) config from 6.2 to 7.0 and Debian without
> any trouble.
If only I had such a backup! I have been assuming that, if you don't specify
things if XF86Setup, the card is probed - otherwise how is the driver going
to talk to the card at all?
> | to hang. When the machine hangs, Ctrl-Alt-Del has no effect, and all
> | ssh sessions in to the machine go dead (no character echo when you type
> | stuff).
>
> I guess your machine really was hosed if the 3-finger-salute didn't
> work. Perhaps it was just slow? That is, maybe X is hogging all the
> CPU (and/or other resources) trying to deal with the display and other
> processes starved? Maybe it is the hardware probing that hoses it?
I'll wait longer (more than 5 minutes) next time.
I'm very reluctant to keep trying, as I hate all those nasty messages from
fsck.
--
Nikki Locke, Trumphurst Ltd. PC & Unix consultancy & programming
nikki@trumphurst.com http://www.trumphurst.com/
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