Re: Surefire Xorg driver/config?

["Gordon Pedersen" <gordon@visi.com>]

On 9/13/07, Andrew Sackville-West <andrew@farwestbilliards.com> wrote:
> 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 reinstalled etch 4.0r1 from scratch.  So all below refers to stable.
> > ...
> > Now I tried to start X 3 different ways.
> >
> > ----- SCENARIO 1 -----
> > 1.  Create ~/.xsession like so (reproduced same with .xinitrc instead, too):
> > # startx -- -logverbose
>
> 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.

Oh, yeah, thanks for reminding me; I was too tuckered last night to
remember that.

>
> >
> > ----- 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...)

I ran ps on that X session.  In a nutshell, it looks like there is a
default /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc script being invoked and it starts
xterm ultimately.

>
> >
> > ----- 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.

I did  this (and in fact other permutations of .xinitrc) and I see the
same blank screen I saw for original scenario #2 above.  X is
apparently running.  But the screen is totally blank, and when I type,
nothing shows.  I kill the session using ctrl-alt-backspace.

I tried also using ~/.xsession with identical contents instead of
~/.xinitrc; identical symptoms.

(My keyboard is a trusty old IBM without a separate keypad so although
I tried, I can't test cycling through the possible active modes.)

I looked using "ps fax" and see the following while that blank screen
is up (trimming some output):

\_/bin/sh /usr/bin/startx
    \_ xinit /root/.xinitrc -- /etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc -aut[rest cut off]
         \_ /usr/bin/X11/X -dpi 100 -nolisten tcp
              \_ sh /root/.xinitrc
                   \_ xterm
                       \_ bash

Looks okay to me, but I don't know what to look for in an obscure case
like this.

The sync setting happen to be displayed on this CRT when modes change.
 What is displayed is
  48 kHz / 60 Hz
These fall within acceptable limits for my monitor:  H 31-115, V 50-160.

Any thoughts?

gp