On Thu, Sep 13, 2007 at 12:39:15AM -0500, Gordon Pedersen wrote: > On 9/12/07, Andrew Sackville-West <andrew@farwestbilliards.com> wrote: > > On Wed, Sep 12, 2007 at 11:10:04AM -0500, Gordon Pedersen wrote: > > > I'm seeking alternative ways to get X up and running on this newly > > > installed lenny box. > > > > > > > see my other post for more discussion of this problem. in the > > meantime, try the "vesa" driver. > > I reinstalled etch 4.0r1 from scratch. So all below refers to stable. okay. > Then, it's late so will be terse. Hope the meaning is plain. I > don't see what's up yet but we're making progress. Here's what I did > post-install. definitely progress, and don't forget to sleep... > > # apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-vesa > > Made no changes to xorg.conf (see it below). > > Then did (as errors revealed missing pkgs): > # apt-get install xfonts-base xfonts-100dpi xfonts-scalable > # apt-get install xterm > > # apt-show-versions |sort| grep ^xserver > xserver-xorg-core/etch uptodate 2:1.1.1-21etch1 > xserver-xorg/etch uptodate 1:7.1.0-19 > xserver-xorg-input-all/etch uptodate 1:7.1.0-19 > xserver-xorg-input-evdev/etch uptodate 1:1.1.2-6 > xserver-xorg-input-kbd/etch uptodate 1:1.1.0-4 > xserver-xorg-input-mouse/etch uptodate 1:1.1.1-3 > xserver-xorg-input-synaptics/etch uptodate 0.14.6-1 > xserver-xorg-input-wacom/etch uptodate 0.7.4.1-5 > xserver-xorg-video-vesa/etch uptodate 1:1.3.0-1 > > Now I tried to start X 3 different ways. > > ----- SCENARIO 1 ----- > 1. Create ~/.xsession like so (reproduced same with .xinitrc instead, too): > #!/bin/sh > xsetroot -solid skyblue > # tried both with and without the next line > #xterm -title "Debian GNU/Linux" -ls -geometry 80x24+99+0 & > > # Issue this command > # startx -- -logverbose > > SYMPTOMS: > The session seems to start, then ends immediately, no particular cause that I > can see. see comments on #3 below. the '&' at the end of the xterm line above is wrong. That will cause the X session to terminate immediately. X will only stay up as long as the init script (.xsession, .xinitrc) is still running. when you put the & after xterm , you essentially fork xterm into the background and allow execution to continue through the init script, which containing no other commands, dies taking X with it. :). > > ----- SCENARIO 2 ----- > 2. Have no ~/.xinitrc nor ~/.xsession > (thus seemingly reliant on existing stock /etc/X11/Xsession) > > # Issue this command > # startx -- -logverbose > > SYMPTOMS: > Session starts a totally blank screen but it stays open. I have to kill > by the usual ctrl-alt-backspace. that means X is working. just that there is nothing running in the session (how that works, I don't know, because without a client X shoudl die, but we'll take what we get...) > > ----- SCENARIO 3 ----- > 3. Same setup as 2. above, but different command > > # Issue this command > # startx xterm -- -logverbose > > SYMPTOMS: > The session seems to start, then ends immediately. > Afterwards I see this error message on terminal: > xterm: bad command line option "xterm" > This is followed by the xterm brief help message (ie, list of options). > the X session is dying because it has no client. It has no client because xterm is bombing because it doesn't like whatever its getting for a command line. So go back to #1 and make your ~/.xinitrc look *just* like this: xsetroot -solid skyblue xterm save it and run just startx without the extra stuff. It *should* just work. If it does, you can start down two paths 1) installing whatever you want for a desktop and configuring it. It should continue to function using the vesa driver, though performance won't be all that great and you may be missing some resolution options. you can start up the GUI using whatever tool you like, likely gdm or kdm, and still get access to that bare bones xterm startup by killing the gui (something like /etc/init.d/gdm stop) and then issuing startx from a VT. 2) working on getting the intel driver to work. go ahead and install the driver and try it by just changing the Driver "vesa" line to Driver "intel" and see what happens. Don't change anything else and you can always change back to vesa. use that plain old startx with just an xterm with no options, or at least with options that allow it to start properly. You can futz with the options later. With a known working setup using vesa, it should be much easier to diagnose what's going on with intel. follow? A -- current song: Ice-T - Lethal Weapon
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