Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2016 16:03:42 +0000 From: Chris <syseng@gfsys.co.uk> To: freebsd-sparc64@freebsd.org Subject: Xvnc Remote Framebuffer Message-ID: <580F825E.70000@gfsys.co.uk>
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Gordon, I think you should be fine with 11.0. I did an install from the ftp site 11.0-Release iso around 22/09, but it seems that was a bit premature, since that was updated a few days later because of some last minute changes. Anyway, stuck with the initial version for now and it seems pretty solid. Did a kernel rebuild with all the sound, wireles, usb and also IPV6 removed, as I don't need any of that for a V215 and in the case of IPV6, dont want it cluttering up the system when it's not going to be used in the forseeable future. Have been working through the various Sparc releases since June, building packages and trying to find a way to get some sort of graphics capability working. Haven't tried all of them, but the drivers (radeon etc) won't build at all for Sparc and not sure the infrstructure to to support it is there. The lightbulb moment was to think, remote frame buffer and get vnc built and working. Xvnc takes several hours to build on a V215, (V245 is same m/b, 2u box, but builds without issue. Package is: /usr/ports/network/vnc and have it configured under inetd. On remote client access, I get a blank grey vnc screen. Next thing was to get xdm (X login) built, no problem, configured, not so easy. Whatever I thought I once knew about X internals, was long forgotten. Not so much info on Xvnc either, but dug out some early X books and it seems that for vnc (network access) xdmcp is used via localhost to talk to xdm. Xvnc isn't just a vnc server, but also has a built in X server. tcpdump run against localhost shows the packets between the two quite clearly. Once we had the login screen, built twm to start, which worked, then IceWM and FVWM, both of which build and work without issue. Next step may be the mate desktop, which is based on gnome two and thus perhaps less bloatware, but there are dozens of dependencies and initial attempts threw up loads of showstoppers. Right now i'm trying to build Firefox, just to see how far I can get. Again, dozens of dependencies and showstoppers, which i'm working through. As proof of concept, seems like Xvnc is a valid alternative to a local framebuffer. Plenty fast enough for everyday use and more convenient for development than console, multiple ssh and vi sessions. Have built a few other packages: xterm, rxvt, fr (file runner file manager) and my favourite f/s editor, nedit, which also builds the Motif library. Most of the issues getting this working were due to lack of knowledge and configuration issues for the various packages, but once sorted, seems pretty solid. Have had an IceWM session running here for a couple of weeks now and currently in use. There's a running log file of the various steps and workarounds etc to get this far and happy to mail to anyone interested. Would be good if someone else could run with this, repeat and verify, as well as build and test related packages... Regards, Chris
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