XFree86 crash log

XFree86 crash log

[james miller]

Hello all:

I posted to the list some time ago about problems I was having getting X 
running. That was on another computer, and I never managed to resolve the 
problems. Now, I'm confronting the problem again and it's high time I figured 
out what I'm doing wrong and fix it. And, I stand to learn alot about X and 
the way the gui works under Linux in the process - knowing, at the moment, 
virtually nothing.

Right now, I am trying to install a minimal Slackware (8.1) version via a 
routine developed by the creator of Basiclinux. The minimal install does not 
have X installed or configured, but it does give one access to the Slackware 
pkgtool and, via this, to the possibility for installing whatever packages one 
wishes from the Slackware CD. I used this routine to install XFree86 4.2. So 
far as I could tell, I installed all necessary packages: I may well have 
missed something important and am simply not sure if my problem may not come 
down to something like this.

In any case, after installing XFree86 and associated packages (e.g., fonts), I 
ran xf86config from the command line. I selected refresh rates that my monitor 
seems likely to support (it is a 14" Epson extended vga) and my video card (S3 
Trio 64v+). When I try to run "startx," the X server crashes with the 
following report dumped to /var/log/:

##############################################################
_XSERVTransSocketOpen: socket() failed for tcp
_XSERVTransSocketOpenCOTSServer: Unable to open socket for tcp
_XSERVTransOpen: transport open failed for tcp/darkstar:0
_XSERVTransMakeAllCOTSServerListeners: failed to open listener for tcp
_XSERVTransSocketOpen: socket() failed for local
_XSERVTransSocketOpenCOTSServer: Unable to open socket for local
_XSERVTransOpen: transport open failed for local/darkstar:0
_XSERVTransMakeAllCOTSServerListeners: failed to open listener for local

Fatal server error:
Cannot establish any listening sockets - Make sure an X server isn't already 
running

When reporting a problem related to a server crash, please send
the full server output, not just the last messages.
This can be found in the log file "/var/log/XFree86.0.log".
###########################################################

Can someone help point me in the right direction for resolving this problem 
and getting a working X install?

Thanks, James

PS This is an old test computer - 486 DX4 100 with 40MB RAM and 1.3 GB HD.

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Re: XFree86 crash log

[Ray Olszewski]

I have not seen this particular error before. And lik many of us here, I am 
not a user of BasicLinux, so the help I can offer is limited.

1. Is this the complete error output (that is, does it match what is in 
"/var/log/XFree86.0.log")? If not, please send complete output, as the 
message tells you to.

2. The sockets the message refers to are probably the local Unix sockets 
that the server uses to accept connections from clients. What does "netstat 
-an" report? Are there listings that resemble this one:

         unix  2      [ ACC 
]     STREAM     LISTENING     427    /tmp/.X11-unix/X0

3. Does the /tmp directory exist (this is a long shot, as it is very 
standard as a part of Linux systems)? Is it mode 777?

4. Does your kernel support Unix domain sockets? If you compiled your own, 
it is an option under "Networking" in the "make menuconfig" method of 
configuring, for 2.4.x kernels. If you are using any stock Slackware 
kernel, it probably supports Unix sockets. If you are using one from 
BasicLinux ... well, the BasicLinux home page says it supports X installs, 
so I suppose the kernel includes what is needed (but I have no way actually 
to know).

5. BasicLinux has a page that lists the Slackware packages needed to run X. 
Its URL is

         http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/baslinux/bas-x.html

Did you include everything this page says to install?

That's about all I can think of without more info. Hope it helps.

At 09:23 PM 11/12/02 -0500, james miller wrote:
>Hello all:
>
>I posted to the list some time ago about problems I was having getting X
>running. That was on another computer, and I never managed to resolve the
>problems. Now, I'm confronting the problem again and it's high time I figured
>out what I'm doing wrong and fix it. And, I stand to learn alot about X and
>the way the gui works under Linux in the process - knowing, at the moment,
>virtually nothing.
>
>Right now, I am trying to install a minimal Slackware (8.1) version via a
>routine developed by the creator of Basiclinux. The minimal install does not
>have X installed or configured, but it does give one access to the Slackware
>pkgtool and, via this, to the possibility for installing whatever packages 
>one
>wishes from the Slackware CD. I used this routine to install XFree86 4.2. So
>far as I could tell, I installed all necessary packages: I may well have
>missed something important and am simply not sure if my problem may not come
>down to something like this.
>
>In any case, after installing XFree86 and associated packages (e.g., 
>fonts), I
>ran xf86config from the command line. I selected refresh rates that my 
>monitor
>seems likely to support (it is a 14" Epson extended vga) and my video card 
>(S3
>Trio 64v+). When I try to run "startx," the X server crashes with the
>following report dumped to /var/log/:
>
>##############################################################
>_XSERVTransSocketOpen: socket() failed for tcp
>_XSERVTransSocketOpenCOTSServer: Unable to open socket for tcp
>_XSERVTransOpen: transport open failed for tcp/darkstar:0
>_XSERVTransMakeAllCOTSServerListeners: failed to open listener for tcp
>_XSERVTransSocketOpen: socket() failed for local
>_XSERVTransSocketOpenCOTSServer: Unable to open socket for local
>_XSERVTransOpen: transport open failed for local/darkstar:0
>_XSERVTransMakeAllCOTSServerListeners: failed to open listener for local
>
>Fatal server error:
>Cannot establish any listening sockets - Make sure an X server isn't already
>running
>
>When reporting a problem related to a server crash, please send
>the full server output, not just the last messages.
>This can be found in the log file "/var/log/XFree86.0.log".
>###########################################################
>
>Can someone help point me in the right direction for resolving this problem
>and getting a working X install?
>
>Thanks, James
>
>PS This is an old test computer - 486 DX4 100 with 40MB RAM and 1.3 GB HD.




--
-------------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"--------
Ray Olszewski					-- Han Solo
Palo Alto, California, USA			  ray@comarre.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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RE: XFree86 crash log

[James Miller]

Ray:

I'm not using Basiclinux per se, but what, as I understand it, is 
something that might qualify as a beta for the next release of Basiclinux. 
It's pretty much just a straightforward, highly trimmed Slack 8.1 install. 
Steven, who answers below, seems to have put his finger on the issue: I am 
using a stock Slack 8.1 kernel, but it's the lowmem kernel, as Steven 
mentions. As he points out, it probably doesn't support sockets. There was 
a recommendation to use the more standard kernel if one does not have 
really low memory (< 8MB) once the install was complete. I copied the 
standard kernel from bare.i to the boot partition, but could not get it to 
boot (would just keep rebooting, never getting to the Linux partition). It 
looks like I'm getting into some issues here that are peculair to the 
system I'm trying to use, so I'd probably better direct further inquiries 
to the fashioner of this modified Slack 8.1 install.

Thanks, James

On 13 Nov 2002, ichi@ihug.co.nz wrote:

> james miller wrote:
> > 
> > Right now, I am trying to install a minimal Slackware (8.1) 
> > The minimal install does not have X installed or configured, 
> >
> > Trio 64v+). When I try to run "startx," the X server crashes 
> > with the following report dumped to /var/log/:
> > ##############################################################
> > _XSERVTransSocketOpen: socket() failed for tcp
> 
> Which kernel are you using?  The kernel used to install
> Slackware 8.1 is the lowmem zimage, which (I think) does 
> not support sockets.
> 
> Cheers,
> Steven
> 

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Re: XFree86 crash log

[ichi]

james miller wrote:
> 
> Right now, I am trying to install a minimal Slackware (8.1) 
> The minimal install does not have X installed or configured, 
>
> Trio 64v+). When I try to run "startx," the X server crashes 
> with the following report dumped to /var/log/:
> ##############################################################
> _XSERVTransSocketOpen: socket() failed for tcp

Which kernel are you using?  The kernel used to install
Slackware 8.1 is the lowmem zimage, which (I think) does 
not support sockets.

Cheers,
Steven

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more X problems

[James Miller]

Ok. I think I've now got my X problems down to more standard issues on 
this mnimal Slack 8.1 install (2.4.18 kernel). I was able to get the 
updated kernel to run, and I am no longer getting the crash with its log. 
But something is still wrong. I got the new kernel going, went through 
xf86config again. This time, I managed to find some sync values for my 
monitor (14" epson extended vga -old!) which I entered in (30-35.5; 70) 
and selected my S3 Trio 64V+ video card. There was a caveat about this 
card being "basically unsupported" - whatever that means. So, now, when I 
go "startx" from the command line, the HD runs and things seem to be 
happening, but the screen goes blank and just sits there. By "blank" I 
mean that it goes dark - like screen blanking when you have no screen 
saver. And, it just sits there. I expect it to give some sort of 
background - like crosshatching - and for an "X' to appear for the mouse 
cursor. But no such thing ever happens. It just sits there blank (no 
message about a server crash, no odd activity like HD churning). So, I'm 
not quite sure where to go from here. Could someone advise me? I 
should also mention that I don't have a window manager configured yet, 
though I do have one installed - fvwm95. I assume that is a window manager 
because it has the letters "wm" in its name (hope I'm right). But I 
just don't know if I need a window manager to get any display at all out 
of X.

In closing, I'll just reaffirm my state of confusion regarding the way 
the gui works under Linux. Despite Ray's helpful comments to some 
questions I posed on this list earlier about how it all works, I've become 
even more confused. There are things called, for example, "gdm" or "kdm". 
I take the "dm" part to stand for "display manager." But I don't know how 
display managers relate to window managers or the other things connected 
with X that I asked about previously. Then, there are "session managers," 
which are also a subject of confusion in all this. To top it all off, I 
read an article at Linuxworld on X and Linux display that claimed that 
Gnome and KDE are *not* window managers, but rather thay they *contain* a 
window manager. So this seems some sort of meta-category with regard to 
the 3 part scheme Ray provided in his helpful comments. I don't know if 
I'll ever be able to grasp all this. But this can give an idea of how 
little I know and thus what help might be suitable to offer with respect 
to my X problems.

Hopefully, you won't say "go back to Windows, you dummy!" :)

Thanks, James

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Re: more X problems

[hackob]

Are you sure about your monitor's sync rates?

----- Original Message -----
From: "James Miller" <jamtat@mailandnews.com>
To: "linux-newbie" <linux-newbie@vger.kernel.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2002 1:23 PM
Subject: more X problems


> Ok. I think I've now got my X problems down to more standard issues on
> this mnimal Slack 8.1 install (2.4.18 kernel). I was able to get the
> updated kernel to run, and I am no longer getting the crash with its log.
> But something is still wrong. I got the new kernel going, went through
> xf86config again. This time, I managed to find some sync values for my
> monitor (14" epson extended vga -old!) which I entered in (30-35.5; 70)
> and selected my S3 Trio 64V+ video card. There was a caveat about this
> card being "basically unsupported" - whatever that means. So, now, when I
> go "startx" from the command line, the HD runs and things seem to be
> happening, but the screen goes blank and just sits there. By "blank" I
> mean that it goes dark - like screen blanking when you have no screen
> saver. And, it just sits there. I expect it to give some sort of
> background - like crosshatching - and for an "X' to appear for the mouse
> cursor. But no such thing ever happens. It just sits there blank (no
> message about a server crash, no odd activity like HD churning). So, I'm
> not quite sure where to go from here. Could someone advise me? I
> should also mention that I don't have a window manager configured yet,
> though I do have one installed - fvwm95. I assume that is a window manager
> because it has the letters "wm" in its name (hope I'm right). But I
> just don't know if I need a window manager to get any display at all out
> of X.
>
> In closing, I'll just reaffirm my state of confusion regarding the way
> the gui works under Linux. Despite Ray's helpful comments to some
> questions I posed on this list earlier about how it all works, I've become
> even more confused. There are things called, for example, "gdm" or "kdm".
> I take the "dm" part to stand for "display manager." But I don't know how
> display managers relate to window managers or the other things connected
> with X that I asked about previously. Then, there are "session managers,"
> which are also a subject of confusion in all this. To top it all off, I
> read an article at Linuxworld on X and Linux display that claimed that
> Gnome and KDE are *not* window managers, but rather thay they *contain* a
> window manager. So this seems some sort of meta-category with regard to
> the 3 part scheme Ray provided in his helpful comments. I don't know if
> I'll ever be able to grasp all this. But this can give an idea of how
> little I know and thus what help might be suitable to offer with respect
> to my X problems.
>
> Hopefully, you won't say "go back to Windows, you dummy!" :)
>
> Thanks, James
>
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
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Re: more X problems

[Ray Olszewski]

Comments added inline.

At 01:23 PM 11/13/02 -0600, James Miller wrote:
>Ok. I think I've now got my X problems down to more standard issues on
>this mnimal Slack 8.1 install (2.4.18 kernel). I was able to get the
>updated kernel to run, and I am no longer getting the crash with its log.
>But something is still wrong. I got the new kernel going, went through
>xf86config again. This time, I managed to find some sync values for my
>monitor (14" epson extended vga -old!) which I entered in (30-35.5; 70)
>and selected my S3 Trio 64V+ video card. There was a caveat about this
>card being "basically unsupported" - whatever that means.

It means you're on your own with it, as far as the X developers are 
concerned. It may work, or it may not ... but don't bother to send in bug 
reports.

>So, now, when I
>go "startx" from the command line, the HD runs and things seem to be
>happening, but the screen goes blank and just sits there. By "blank" I
>mean that it goes dark - like screen blanking when you have no screen
>saver. And, it just sits there. I expect it to give some sort of
>background - like crosshatching - and for an "X' to appear for the mouse
>cursor. But no such thing ever happens. It just sits there blank (no
>message about a server crash, no odd activity like HD churning). So, I'm
>not quite sure where to go from here. Could someone advise me?

This could be any of several things ... especially with an unsupported card 
... but the most likely is that you have told the X server to use a refresh 
rate (an hsync or vsync ... apparently the variable names these days are 
HorizSync and VertRefresh) that your monitor will not support. Double check 
your values, or switch to more conservative ones.

Also, what default screen size and bit depth are you using? (Check the X 
error log, or redirect X's STDERR to a file, for example with 
"startx >xerrors.txt 2>&1".)  Try making 640x480, 8-bit color the first 
choice, as really old monitors may not support anything better (but rarely 
will fail to support it).

Do you have access to the system from anything othet than the console? (For 
example, can you ssh or telnet in, or do you have a serial display 
connected?) When the screen is "dark", if you press CTRL-ALT-F2, do you get 
a console login back? (This will work for some monitors with sync problems, 
but not all ... you may need to power-cycle the monitor after you press the 
key combination ... and I don't know that even that will work reliably.)

>I
>should also mention that I don't have a window manager configured yet,
>though I do have one installed - fvwm95. I assume that is a window manager
>because it has the letters "wm" in its name (hope I'm right). But I
>just don't know if I need a window manager to get any display at all out
>of X.

fvwm95 is a Window Manager, the one that (if you don't look too closely) 
resembles Windows 95's GUI. There are newer ones, but this one is perfectly 
functional and a resaonable choice for low-end systems (other good choices 
for low-end systems are blackbox, my own preferred WM, and IceWM). And no, 
you don't need a WM to get "any display at all",  just to get the modern 
conveniences (like menus and multiple displays) we expect from GUIs.

>In closing, I'll just reaffirm my state of confusion regarding the way
>the gui works under Linux. Despite Ray's helpful comments to some
>questions I posed on this list earlier about how it all works, I've become
>even more confused. There are things called, for example, "gdm" or "kdm".
>I take the "dm" part to stand for "display manager." But I don't know how
>display managers relate to window managers or the other things connected
>with X that I asked about previously.

These apps (xdm is the one I'm actually familiar with) are login managers 
-- they let you start X from your init scripts or from /etc/inittab 
directly (I think Slackware does it the second way, in runlevel 5) and log 
in directly to X, instead of logging in to a console and running "startx".

>Then, there are "session managers,"
>which are also a subject of confusion in all this.

I'm not acquainted with this term in an X context.

>To top it all off, I
>read an article at Linuxworld on X and Linux display that claimed that
>Gnome and KDE are *not* window managers, but rather thay they *contain* a
>window manager.

Each has a "preferred" WM associated with it (or at least Gnome does; I'm 
insufficiently familiar with KDE to be sure about it). Nonetheless, Gnome, 
and probably KDE, will run on top of any reasonably capable WM.

>So this seems some sort of meta-category with regard to
>the 3 part scheme Ray provided in his helpful comments. I don't know if
>I'll ever be able to grasp all this. But this can give an idea of how
>little I know and thus what help might be suitable to offer with respect
>to my X problems.
>
>Hopefully, you won't say "go back to Windows, you dummy!" :)

Perish the thought. I might say such a thing to someone who is both 
uninterested in trying to understand his or her system, -AND- who expects 
others to do his or her work for him or her, but you clearly do not fall 
into that category.
(Though, sadly, I do see such postings on occasion ... rarely here, 
thankfully.)

--
-------------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"--------
Ray Olszewski					-- Han Solo
Palo Alto, California, USA			  ray@comarre.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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RE: more X problems

[James Miller]

On 13 Nov 2002, hackob wrote:

> Are you sure about your monitor's sync rates?
> 
I got the sync rates from the 'net by entering the monitor's model # into 
a search engine. That took me to Monitorworld's site. I can't say whether 
their information is correct: this is a second hand monitor and came with 
no documentation. I suppose I could try different refresh rates (say, some 
of the standard ones offered under xf86config) and see if those work. Not 
sure which ones to try, though. Any input on that?

Thanks, James

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RE: more X problems

[James Miller]

On 13 Nov 2002, Ray Olszewski wrote:
> This could be any of several things ... especially with an unsupported card 
> .... but the most likely is that you have told the X server to use a refresh 
> rate (an hsync or vsync ... apparently the variable names these days are 
> HorizSync and VertRefresh) that your monitor will not support. Double check 
> your values, or switch to more conservative ones.
> 
> Also, what default screen size and bit depth are you using? (Check the X 
> error log, or redirect X's STDERR to a file, for example with 
> "startx >xerrors.txt 2>&1".)  Try making 640x480, 8-bit color the first 
> choice, as really old monitors may not support anything better (but rarely 
> will fail to support it).
> 

I tried several - 4, 8 and 16 bit. I tried 640x480 like you suggested at 8 
and 4 bit, but no luck. Other than the h and v sync values I found on the 
'net for this monitor, I've tried 31.5 at 640x480 with 50-70. Still no 
display.

> Do you have access to the system from anything othet than the console? (For 
> example, can you ssh or telnet in, or do you have a serial display 
> connected?) 

No. Sorry.

When the screen is "dark", if you press CTRL-ALT-F2, do you get 
> a console login back? (This will work for some monitors with sync problems, 
> but not all ... you may need to power-cycle the monitor after you press the 
> key combination ... and I don't know that even that will work reliably.)
> 

No. I tried ctrl-alt-f2 - which I know in other Linuxes I've used takes 
one to a console. That didn't work. Just continues to sit there blank. I 
eventually hit ctrl-alt-del, which reboots the system.

The saga continues . . .

James

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RE: more X problems

[Ray Olszewski]

At 02:29 PM 11/13/02 -0600, James Miller wrote:
>On 13 Nov 2002, hackob wrote:
>
> > Are you sure about your monitor's sync rates?
> >
>I got the sync rates from the 'net by entering the monitor's model # into
>a search engine. That took me to Monitorworld's site. I can't say whether
>their information is correct: this is a second hand monitor and came with
>no documentation. I suppose I could try different refresh rates (say, some
>of the standard ones offered under xf86config) and see if those work. Not
>sure which ones to try, though. Any input on that?

For hsync, try choice 1 (or maybe 2) from the list.

For vsync, try choice 1 from the list.

Do beware -- there is ALWAYS some risk of hardware damage when you guess 
about monitor settings. I've never experienced any problems with these 
choices, but my past experience does not translate into a guarantee about 
your future experience. So act at your own risk.




--
-------------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"--------
Ray Olszewski					-- Han Solo
Palo Alto, California, USA			  ray@comarre.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: more X problems

[hackob]

What happen if you press Ctrl+Alt+Del?


----- Original Message -----
From: "James Miller" <jamtat@mailandnews.com>
To: "Linux" <linux-newbie@vger.kernel.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2002 2:29 PM
Subject: RE: more X problems


> On 13 Nov 2002, hackob wrote:
>
> > Are you sure about your monitor's sync rates?
> >
> I got the sync rates from the 'net by entering the monitor's model # into
> a search engine. That took me to Monitorworld's site. I can't say whether
> their information is correct: this is a second hand monitor and came with
> no documentation. I suppose I could try different refresh rates (say, some
> of the standard ones offered under xf86config) and see if those work. Not
> sure which ones to try, though. Any input on that?
>
> Thanks, James
>
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
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RE: more X problems

[James Miller]

On 13 Nov 2002, Ray Olszewski wrote:
> 
> For hsync, try choice 1 (or maybe 2) from the list.
> 
> For vsync, try choice 1 from the list.
> 
> Do beware -- there is ALWAYS some risk of hardware damage when you guess 
> about monitor settings. I've never experienced any problems with these 
> choices, but my past experience does not translate into a guarantee about 
> your future experience. So act at your own risk.
> 
Ray:

I've tried both choices (1 & 2 from the list) for h-sync and choice 1 from 
the second list, but to no avail. While I wouldn't be happy if I hosed 
this monitor, since I got it for free it wouldn't be a big loss.

I'm beginning to think I may have overlooked something in installing X. 
I'll look and think that over a bit before posting further.

Thanks, James

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RE: more X problems

[James Miller]

Wow. The confusion just multiplied exponentially. I've heard talk of 
differing xservers for different video cards, but this is the first time 
I've had to confront it in practice. I'm still not quite sure what it 
means and what I must do. I'll have to let that sink in for a bit.

I took a look in the /pasture directory for Slack 8.1 and it comtains a 
further subdirectory called /XFree86-3.3.6-servers . I'm guessing I need 
to look within that sub directory? I've already installed XFree86 4.2.0. I'm not 
sure how, or if, two different XFree86 releases work together. Probably 
I'll have to ditch 4.2.0 to use my video card, no?

In crystalizing confusion, James

On 14 Nov 2002, ichi@ihug.co.nz wrote:

> James Miller wrote:
> > 
> > I'm beginning to think I may have overlooked something 
> > in installing X. I'll look and think that over a bit 
> > before posting further.
> 
> Which X server are you using?  The default X server in
> Slackware 8.1 is designed for VESA cards -- but not the
> old VESA cards.  There is a cut-off point, but I don't
> remember what it is.  1.2 ?   2.0 ?
> 
> You say you have an S3 Trio 64V+ video card.  I believe 
> this card is VESA 1.2.  That VESA may be too old to work
> with the default X server.  If so, try the S3 X server 
> from the /pasture directory of Slackware 8.1.
> 
> Cheers,
> Steven
> 

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RE: more X problems

[Ray Olszewski]

At 07:34 PM 11/13/02 -0600, James Miller wrote:
>Wow. The confusion just multiplied exponentially. I've heard talk of
>differing xservers for different video cards, but this is the first time
>I've had to confront it in practice. I'm still not quite sure what it
>means and what I must do. I'll have to let that sink in for a bit.
>
>I took a look in the /pasture directory for Slack 8.1 and it comtains a
>further subdirectory called /XFree86-3.3.6-servers . I'm guessing I need
>to look within that sub directory? I've already installed XFree86 4.2.0. 
>I'm not
>sure how, or if, two different XFree86 releases work together. Probably
>I'll have to ditch 4.2.0 to use my video card, no?

Very possibly. There was an architecture change in X between 3.x.x and 
4.x.x . 4.x.x uses a single executable, with server (video card) selected 
in the config file. X 3.x.x was actually a set of a dozen or so related 
executables, each a server for a specific set of video cards (or chipsets); 
you actually ran the specific X server needed by your hardware.

It may be that support for your card was abandoned in the move to XFree86 
4.x.x. There are cardlist files somewhere at www.xfree86.org that might let 
you see if XFree96 3.3.6 (the last 3-series version, I believe) supports 
your hardware.


--
-------------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"--------
Ray Olszewski					-- Han Solo
Palo Alto, California, USA			  ray@comarre.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: XFree86 crash log

[Peter]

When I upgraded on my old PS1 from RH7.0 to RH7.1 I had a lot of problems, 
like system hangs, X not opening and a lot of exchanges on this forum. I had 
also SW7.? running and could not make SW8.0 run at all.
Finally someone asked what computer I have and I said PS1 and he said no 
wonder those new kernels will not run on those old machines. I bought a new 
PS2 motherboard and all problems were solved till I encountered RH7.3. But 
that's another story.

Regards
-- 
Peter


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RE: more X problems

[James Miller]

Thanks, Ray.

The text file that accompanies the xserver file Steven suggested does, in 
fact, mention support for the S3Trio 64+ (not V+, as my card is supposed 
to be). But then, if XFree86 4.2.0 does not support this card, why is it 
listed in the database of cards one can choose when running xf86config 
under XFree86 4.2.0? Doesn't make much sense to me.

But, let's suppose for the moment that there is some profound rationale 
for that which I am incapable of penetrating, and that, in order to get X 
going on my machine, I've got to use the older, 3.3.6 release. In order to 
install and configure that, I've got to uninstall XFree86 4.2.0, do I not? 
I can't, for example, install the one file Steven references 
(xs3-3.3.6-i386-1.tgz) and expect that to fit in to the XFree86 4.2.0 
complex I currenlty have installed, correct? Wouldn't I need to unistall 
the whole of the 4.2.0 stuff, and then install 3.3.6 with its associated packages?

Zounds, James

On 13 Nov 2002, Ray Olszewski wrote:

> At 07:34 PM 11/13/02 -0600, James Miller wrote:
> >Wow. The confusion just multiplied exponentially. I've heard talk of
> >differing xservers for different video cards, but this is the first time
> >I've had to confront it in practice. I'm still not quite sure what it
> >means and what I must do. I'll have to let that sink in for a bit.
> >
> >I took a look in the /pasture directory for Slack 8.1 and it comtains a
> >further subdirectory called /XFree86-3.3.6-servers . I'm guessing I need
> >to look within that sub directory? I've already installed XFree86 4.2.0. 
> >I'm not
> >sure how, or if, two different XFree86 releases work together. Probably
> >I'll have to ditch 4.2.0 to use my video card, no?
> 
> Very possibly. There was an architecture change in X between 3.x.x and 
> 4.x.x . 4.x.x uses a single executable, with server (video card) selected 
> in the config file. X 3.x.x was actually a set of a dozen or so related 
> executables, each a server for a specific set of video cards (or chipsets); 
> you actually ran the specific X server needed by your hardware.
> 
> It may be that support for your card was abandoned in the move to XFree86 
> 4.x.x. There are cardlist files somewhere at www.xfree86.org that might let 
> you see if XFree96 3.3.6 (the last 3-series version, I believe) supports 
> your hardware.
> 
> 
> --
> -------------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"--------
> Ray Olszewski					-- Han Solo
> Palo Alto, California, USA			  ray@comarre.com
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in
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RE: XFree86 crash log

[James Miller]

On 13 Nov 2002, Peter wrote:

> When I upgraded on my old PS1 from RH7.0 to RH7.1 I had a lot of problems, 
> like system hangs, X not opening and a lot of exchanges on this forum. I had 
> also SW7.? running and could not make SW8.0 run at all.
> Finally someone asked what computer I have and I said PS1 and he said no 
> wonder those new kernels will not run on those old machines. I bought a new 
> PS2 motherboard and all problems were solved till I encountered RH7.3. But 
> that's another story.
> 
So far, the only problem has been getting X running - but this *is* a 
minimal Slack 8.1 install (probably up to about 50-70MB with X installed). 
The kernel boots fine. Maybe further problems await, though. We'll see.

James

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RE: more X problems

[James Miller]

On 14 Nov 2002, ichi@ihug.co.nz wrote:
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Questions to James:  Have you tried xfree86setup?
>                      If so, what happened?
> 
Steven:

Just now tried it. At the initial screen, it asks if you'd like it to 
probe your video hardware and mouse so that it can write an initial 
configuration file (/etc/X11/XF98Config). When I assent to its doing so, 
the screen blanks, never to return to life until I reboot with 
ctrl-alt-del. Apparently, it's having trouble probing the video hardware, 
wouldn't you say?

James

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Re: more X problems

[ichi]

James Miller wrote:
> 
> I'm beginning to think I may have overlooked something 
> in installing X. I'll look and think that over a bit 
> before posting further.

Which X server are you using?  The default X server in
Slackware 8.1 is designed for VESA cards -- but not the
old VESA cards.  There is a cut-off point, but I don't
remember what it is.  1.2 ?   2.0 ?

You say you have an S3 Trio 64V+ video card.  I believe 
this card is VESA 1.2.  That VESA may be too old to work
with the default X server.  If so, try the S3 X server 
from the /pasture directory of Slackware 8.1.

Cheers,
Steven

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Re: XFree86 crash log

[ichi]

Ray Olszewski wrote:
> 
> 4. Does your kernel support Unix domain sockets? 
> If you are using any stock Slackware kernel, it probably 
> supports Unix sockets. 

James was using the stock lowmem.i kernel from Slackware.
-------------------------------
# Networking options
#
CONFIG_PACKET=y
# CONFIG_PACKET_MMAP is not set
# CONFIG_NETLINK_DEV is not set
# CONFIG_NETFILTER is not set
# CONFIG_FILTER is not set
CONFIG_UNIX=y
# CONFIG_INET is not set
--------------------------------

> If you are using one from BasicLinux ... well, the BasicLinux 
> home page says it supports X installs, so I suppose the kernel 
> includes what is needed 

BasicLinux uses a stock Slackware kernel (bare.i).

> 5. BasicLinux has a page that lists the Slackware packages 
> needed to run X.  Did you include everything this page says 
> to install?

Sorry for the confusion.  BasicLinux is not the problem.  James
is running pure, unadulterated Slackware 8.1.  Yes, it is a
mini-installation (26mb of HD space) -- but it's 100% Slackware.

The confusion arises because the author of BasicLinux (who is
a strong supporter of using Linux on old PCs) produced a special 
installation routine to enable old PCs to install Slackware 8.1.  
The normal installation routine for Slackware 8.1 requires 16mb 
RAM.  The special installation routine runs happily on a system
with 4mb RAM and 80mb HD.
-------------------------------------------
http://www.volny.cz/basiclinux/slack81.html
-------------------------------------------
Although this installation package for Slackware 8.1 is stored
at the BasicLinux site, it is quite different from BasicLinux.

Cheers,
Steven

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Re: more X problems

[ichi]

James Miller wrote:
> 
> The text file that accompanies the xserver file Steven 
> suggested does, in fact, mention support for the S3Trio 64+ 
> (not V+, as my card is supposed to be). But then, if 
> XFree86 4.2.0 does not support this card, why is it listed 
> in the database of cards one can choose when running xf86config
> under XFree86 4.2.0? Doesn't make much sense to me.

False alarm.  Your card is supported.  I found this 
at http://www.xfree86.org/4.2.0/Status28.html#28 
-----------------------------------------------
4.2.0: Support for the 964 (revisions 0 and 1), 
968, Trio32, Trio64, Trio64, Trio64V+,
-----------------------------------------------

However, I also found (elsewhere) that the framebuffer (fb) 
requires VESA 2.0.  It does not work with VESA 1.2 (which 
is what the Trio ^64+ is).  What effect (if any) this has 
on XFree 4.2.0, I do not know.

Cheers,
Steven

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Re: more X problems

[ichi]

In an earlier message I wrote:
> 
> However, I also found (elsewhere) that the framebuffer (fb)
> requires VESA 2.0.  It does not work with VESA 1.2 (which
> is what the Trio V64+ is).  What effect (if any) this has
> on XFree 4.2.0, I do not know.

The follow passage from the HOWTO in Slackware 8.1:
--------------------------------------------------------------
Configuring X can be a complex task.  The reason for this 
is the vast numbers of video cards available for the PC 
architecture, most of which use different programming 
interfaces.  Luckily, most cards today support basic video 
standards known as VESA, and if your card is among them you'll
be able to start X using the "startx" command right out of 
the box.
--------------------------------------------------------------

I deduce from this that it comes pre-configured for the
framebuffer.  So, if you have a VESA (2.0) video card,
you simply type 'startx' without the need to configure.
The HOWTO continues:
--------------------------------------------------------
If this doesn't work with your card, then you'll need to 
reconfigure X.  To configure X, you'll need to make an 
/etc/XF86Config file.  It's a very complex configuration 
file, but fortunately there are several programs to help 
create one for you.  We'll mention a few of them here:
------------
xfree86setup
------------
This is a simple menu driven frontend that's similar in 
feel to the Slackware installer.  It simply tells the X 
server to take a look at the card, and then set up the 
best initial configuration file it can make based on the 
information it gathers.  The generated /etc/X11/XF86Config
file should be a good starting point for most systems (and 
should work without modification).
----------------------------------------------------------

Questions to James:  Have you tried xfree86setup?
                     If so, what happened?


Cheers,
Steven

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Re: XFree86 crash log

[Peter]

On 13 Nov 2002, Peter wrote:

> When I upgraded on my old PS1 from RH7.0 to RH7.1 I had a lot of problems, 
> like system hangs, X not opening and a lot of exchanges on this forum. I had 
> also SW7.? running and could not make SW8.0 run at all.
> Finally someone asked what computer I have and I said PS1 and he said no 
> wonder those new kernels will not run on those old machines. I bought a new 
> PS2 motherboard and all problems were solved till I encountered RH7.3. But 
> that's another story.
> 
jamtat@mailandnews.com said:
> So far, the only problem has been getting X running - but this *is* a
> minimal Slack 8.1 install (probably up to about 50-70MB with X
> installed).  The kernel boots fine. Maybe further problems await,
> though. We'll see. 

To be more specific, RH7.1 did not install normally it hang after the 3rd Text 
window and I had to force it somehow. SW8.0 installed and booted yet I could 
not run X.


-- 
Peter

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