From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Tue Dec 22 00:54:44 2015 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 46E4B9D5A7D for ; Tue, 22 Dec 2015 00:54:44 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx01.qsc.de (mx01.qsc.de [213.148.129.14]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id DADA91B01 for ; Tue, 22 Dec 2015 00:54:43 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from r56.edvax.de (port-92-195-17-9.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.17.9]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx01.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTPS id B59353CE91; Tue, 22 Dec 2015 01:54:34 +0100 (CET) Received: from r56.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r56.edvax.de (8.14.5/8.14.5) with SMTP id tBM0sXHS002129; Tue, 22 Dec 2015 01:54:33 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2015 01:54:33 +0100 From: Polytropon To: emailrob@emailrob.com Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: f_10.2_i386 "ctrl_alt_bksp" kills all video , not just x . Message-Id: <20151222015433.599f0c85.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <56789781.6080206@emailrob.com> References: <56789781.6080206@emailrob.com> Reply-To: Polytropon Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 3.1.1 (GTK+ 2.24.5; i386-portbld-freebsd8.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2015 00:54:44 -0000 On Tue, 22 Dec 2015 00:21:21 +0000, spellberg_robert wrote: > it has packages , --only-- , installed , > such as x , firefox , thunderbird and , of course , > a menagerie of dependencies A nice way to say "bloat"... :-) > the problem is this : > on 10.2 , is not recognized , as a command . > "xterm" says that i typed "\0377" [ or "/0377" , i forget which ] . > hmmm ... , what to do ? For further reference: There are two ways to deal with the problem: The first (and probably better) idea is to add the following to /etc/X11/xorg.conf (even if this file does just exist partially): [...] Section "InputDevice" [...] Option "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp" EndSection [...] The other idea is to be applied when X is installed with HAL and DBUS and therefore won't work properly. You'd have to edit the XML file /usr/local/etc/hal/fdi/policy/x11-input.fdi: terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp On modern X, this should not be needed anymore, but you said something about FreeBSD 9, so maybe this still applies there. A third--- three! three ways to do it! ... way to make the default work again is to add setxkbmap -option terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp to the user's X initialization file, ~/.xinitrc or ~/.xsession, depending on the use of a display manager (such as xdm). You've mentioned that this method worked for you. > initially , after "ps" gave me some "pid"s , > methodically , i "kill"ed x_related processes , until x died . > surprise , surprise . > apparently , now , this disables the video output , because > the monitor reports , "monitor is going to sleep" , which it does . > further , > none of the keys take me to a different virtual terminal , > as they do before i invoke "startx" . > notwithstanding the video loss , though , > the 10.2 box is still "up" , because > i can "ssh" over to it , from the 9.3 box . The system is probably still working normal, but you don't see anything. Make sure you got the "sc vs. vt thing" right: https://wiki.freebsd.org/Newcons Check if kern.vty=vt is set in /boot/loader.conf. See "man 4 vt" for details. NB. This is a "well known" problem. :-) > eureka ! > > x recognized "ctrl_alt_bksp" as a command . > you guessed it . > promptly , the video was disabled and > the monitor went to sleep [ snicker ; sigh ] . > i believe that this is the same response as > that which was generated by killing processes . > well , the recognition is --some-- kind of progress . > i should point out that > recognizing ctrl_alt_bksp is not critical , > if i can kill x by using "kill -9 pid" ; > however , it --is-- convenient . > i want to restore the several virtual terminals that existed > before i invoked "startx" . This is the _normal_ behaviour. > has anyone any thoughts ? It looks to me that you're not having an X problem per se, but the known one with the console driver (re-entering text mode)... > p . s . --- > > it is late in my day and > i just had a really goofy thought or , perhaps , > it is an absolutely brilliant idea . > as i said , i can ssh over from another box > [ in fact , one of my xterms is doing just that , at this moment ] . > is there some new command [ i --am-- "su"ed as "root" ] that will > turn on the video system and drive the attached monitor ? It would probably restore the signal when X is started again. > the logical place for this [ to my mind ] is vidcontrol(1) . Correct - vidcontrol is the configuration interface program to the console driver. > i just checked the man_page , but , nothing like that exists . > on_the_other_hand , > reading that page --did-- give me another bright_idea . > perhaps , > some kind of screensaver/blanking system has been enabled , > without my knowledge Probably not. This is not the default. -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...