Date: Sun, 8 Feb 1998 11:05:05 +1030 From: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> To: Shawn Stone <shawn.stone@westal.com>, questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Metro X Server (RedHat/Caldera Linux) on FreeBSD Message-ID: <19980208110505.30573@freebie.lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <34DCE4B4.9C35331A@westal.com>; from Shawn Stone on Sat, Feb 07, 1998 at 04:48:20PM -0600 References: <199802070102.RAA04953@hub.freebsd.org> <34DCE4B4.9C35331A@westal.com>
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On Sat, 7 February 1998 at 16:48:20 -0600, Shawn Stone wrote: > I have (what I believe to be) a virtual terminal problem. Here it is: > I purchased Caldera OpenLinux over a year ago, before I was made to > realize that FreeBSD is a better product. One thing I did like about > Caldera, though (and about RedHat, for that matter) was the X server. > The only real reason I prefer MetroX is that it supports my card in > 16-bit color, whereas XFree86 does not. (I would either have to replace > my ISA card with a PCI one or revoce all but 14MB of RAM.) I don't understand why this should be so. Would you care to elaborate? > So I installed the Linux libraries, compiled Linux support into the > kernel, installed the rpm package, then rpm'ed the Metro X server onto > my system. All of that went without a glitch. > > Then I tried to configure the server and got the following error > (contents of /var/log/Xerrors): > > Metro-X Version 3.1.2 > > Copyright (c) 1990-1996 by Metro Link Inc. > Copyright (c) 1989-1994 by M.I.T. > Copyright (c) 1994-1996 by X Consortium, Inc. > All Rights Reserved. > Read mouse Serial_MouseMan from Xconfig > Loading /usr/lib/X11/Metro/modules/libsvga.a > > Fatal server error: > Can not find open VT > > Well, I remembered that Linux usually setup 6 virtual terminals instead > of FreeBSD's 4, so I used MAKEDEV to create an additional 3 VTs (one to > grow on!), edited my /etc/ttys to include them and turn them all on (as > in Linux), then SIGHUPed init. No go - same error. Creating the devices is only the external part of creating new VTs. You also need to build a new kernel. But don't do that. Read on. > Edited /etc/ttys again and turned the last 4 back off, restarted > init, and same error. I even created symlinks to the devices named > tty0-tty6 (as in Linux), and again gained no ground. (All right, I > admit that I don't really know whether that last move was the > smartest in the world. Can a symlink actually work with a character > device?) Yes, symlinks work. Of course, there's almost never a reason to create a symlink in the same file system. Use a hard link instead. Or use mknod if it's a special file--a node is smaller than a symlink. But this is probably not the problem. > So now I'm tossing up my hands and asking you guys: Can this be > done? I don't think so. The Linux emulator emulates the Linux user interface, not the Linux kernel. The X server uses kernel features which probably don't correspond to the FreeBSD interface. > Or am I consigned to either buying a different card or settling for > 256 colors? I don't think so. You at least have the option of buying a FreeBSD version of the X server. But I'm not at all convinced that there is a problem. The other answer to this question was off-track, BTW: you *can* run an ISA board with over 16 MB. The 16 MB ISA limit refers to I/O. Transfers to display boards are done via memory, which doesn't have this limitation. I'm running an ATI Mach 8 board on a 64 MB with no problems, though I haven't tried 16 bpp with it. But maybe that's not what you mean. What makes you think that your board won't work with XFree86 in 16 bpp mode? Greg
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