[Techtalk] Debian 3 and X-server

[Conor Daly]

On Wed, Oct 02, 2002 at 11:09:42PM -0700 or so it is rumoured hereabouts, 
Dave North thought:
> > finally I succeded in installing Debian 3,X-server and a windowmanager
> > too (Icewm as you suggested)!
> > The only thing is the "style" of my desktop is really something
> > particular : windows spread all over the screen when I activate
> > them really a strange effect (similar at when you see a bug in graphical
> > applications ....I mean anyway I don't think that there is a bug in
> > Icewm,really)......
> > another trouble to solve for me.....
> 
> That sounds like a sync problem -- like it doesn't have quite the right
> settings for your screen.
> 	But you're making progress. To be honest, this is more trouble
> than I've seen in a while. Looks like you just got lucky.
> 	Check in /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 and see if it looks like the Device
> is right, and what the HorizSync and VertRefresh are. If they look weird,
> post them and I'll stare at them.
> 	Another thing that will cause weirdness is a poorly configured
> mouse, but if you can move the cursor around with reasonable accuracy,
> that's probably not it.
> 	Anybody else have a clue on this one?

Don't really have a clue (for the details at least...).  One thing to
remember is that /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 is used _only_ by XFree v4.x and
/etc/X11/XF86Config is used by XFree v3.x  You can tell which you're using
by doing an "ls -l /etc/X11"  'X' should be a symlink to either
"/usr/X11R6/bin/XFree86" or to something like "/usr/X11R6/bin/XF86_SVGA"

If the link points to XFree86 , you're using XFree v4.x and you should be
able to generate an XF86config like this...

/usr/X11R6/bin/XFree86 -configure

This will probe your hardware and will write "XF86Config.new".  This may
or may not work for _your_ hardware but I've had it work for me a number
of times.  I _have_ had to tweak it a bit (particularly for the mouse) but
it has generally worked for me.

Conor
-- 
Conor Daly <conor.daly at oceanfree.net>

Domestic Sysadmin :-)
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