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Date:      Wed, 18 Sep 1996 08:45:55 -0500 (CDT)
From:      Jerry Dunham <jdunham@fc.net>
To:        davidn@sdev.blaze.net.au (David Nugent)
Cc:        questions@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: XF86 & fvwm Problem, Help? (fwd)
Message-ID:  <199609181345.IAA14647@freeside.fc.net>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.95.960918225908.5872C-100000@sdev.blaze.net.au> from "David Nugent" at Sep 18, 96 11:11:10 pm

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David Nugent babbled:
> Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 23:11:10 +0000 ()
> From: David Nugent <davidn@sdev.blaze.net.au>
> 
> On Wed, 18 Sep 1996, Jerry Dunham wrote:
> 
> >> >>  to the others using the <ctrl><Alt><f[1-3]>.  By way of note...  you
> >> >>  can switch back to the x console using <alt><f4>. 
> >
> >I tried this here this morning, and it doesn't work.  The <ctl><alt>
> ><F1> part worked to get me back to a text console, but then I was never
> >able to return to the X session.
> 
> Well, you can.

I remain unconvinced (mostly because I can't figure out how to do it).

> Exactly what to press depends on how many vt
> consoles you have enabled (which is a kernel compile option -
> take a look at /sys/i386/conf/LINT for details).

Never looked there before.  Is it MAXCONS=16?  I thought I only had 12,
but I'm apparently wrong.  I'd check, but I'm afraid if I get out of this
X session with <ctl><alt><Fwhatever> I won't be able to get back.

> Take a look at
> your /etc/ttys file, which will probably look something like
> this:
> 
> #
> [..]
> #
> ttyv0	"/usr/libexec/getty Pc"		cons25 	on  secure
> # Virtual terminals
> ttyv1	"/usr/libexec/getty Pc"		cons25 	on secure
> ttyv2	"/usr/libexec/getty Pc"		cons25 	on secure
> ttyv3	"/usr/libexec/getty Pc"		cons25 	on secure
> ttyv4	"/usr/libexec/getty Pc"		cons25 off secure
> # Hardwired terminals
> [.. and so on ..]
> 
> Now, the very first entry that describes an "off" tty, or if none
> are, the one right after the last one, THIS is where the (first)
> X server is actually running. 

It looks like that except for ttyvanything being off.  I'm beginning
to wonder if this is what would be required for X to work like you
say it should.

> So, just like it was a normal tty, you press Alt-Fn (Alt-F5, in
> the above example), and back comes X.

Nope.  Doesn't happen.  At least not that I can tell.

> >I tried it a couple of times to make sure I was doing as
> >instructed, but without success.  Apparently SOME- thing must be
> >configured differently to make this work. 
> 
> Doubt it. Doesn't matter how it is configured, the above still
> works, whether from an xdm or startx/xinit.

Maybe on YOUR machine, but not here.

> >> > Is there some way of starting xdm there automatically upon
> >> > system boot?
> >> 
> >> Sure. Start it from /etc/rc.local in daemon mode, or put it into
> >> your /etc/ttys and start it up on any vt.
> >
> >So what would I put in either of those places to make it work, and
> >what are the relative advantages and disadvantage of the two?
> 
> Already discussed on the list.

Perhaps, but not at a newbie level.

> If you start xdm in /etc/rc.local,
> then if you kill the xdm process, it'll turn off X completely. If
> you put it into /etc/ttys, then init will restart it each time
> you kill it off.

I guess I'll go experiment with rc.local.

> > I assume that in ttys I turn ttyv3 off, but what else?
> 
> Well, you can either turn off ttyv3, or leave it the way it is an
> add an extra (see below). Since I assume X works right now with
> ttyv3 enabled, then ttyv4 has obviously been configured into the
> kernel (how many consoles you actually have is stated in the
> startup messages, which you can view with dmesg or via
> /var/log/messages).

If I knew what to look for.  A quick scan didn't show it up, but I'll
devote a bit more time to it once I get out of mail.  I think I'll go
turn ttyv3 off and see what comes of that.

> Now, to put xdm under auto-control of init, you use something
> like this:
> 
> #
> [..]
> #
> ttyv0	"/usr/libexec/getty Pc"		cons25 	on  secure
> # Virtual terminals
> ttyv1	"/usr/libexec/getty Pc"		cons25 	on secure
> ttyv2	"/usr/libexec/getty Pc"		cons25 	on secure
> ttyv3	"/usr/libexec/getty Pc"		cons25 	on secure
> ttyv4	"/usr/X11R6/bin/xdm -nodaemon"  xterm   on secure
> [.. and so on ..]
> 
> This starts one X server up on ttyv4 (and yes, as someone already
> mentioned, you can have multiple :-)).

This also looks to be worth experimenting with.  Thanks for all the help
and suggestions.  Sorry to be so dense.  Someday this may all make sense.


-- 
Jerry Dunham                 Atarian ordinaire           (512)432-8598 (O)
jdunham@fc.net                    GS650G                 (512)335-0674 (H)
dunham@isd.tandem.com                              dunham_jerry@tandem.com

                    There's no such thing as a free lunch.



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