[gentoo-user] X11 + framebuffer - does it work?

[gentoo-user] X11 + framebuffer - does it work?

[Rohit and Bhavana]

Hi,

Is there anyone on the list who has the following configured on their
workstations?

    * bootsplash giving them a nice picture at the startup [ in runlevel
      boot]
    * bootsplash giving them a nice picture later [ in runlevel default]
    * Then X11 starting on their nvidia card configured with xf86 or
      xorg with X working in default runlevel
    * Switching back to consol with control-alt-F[n] and being able to
      work without locking up your box - and without framebuffer corruption.

What I want to do is have my virtual consoles [alt-F1 through to alt-FN
except for F7 of course] having individual pretty images on each of
them, and X windows working at the same time.

Is it even possible?

If yes, then if you know anyone has everything working, I would be
obliged to note the version numbers etc and any pointers.

I have looked at the net [I must admit, not in the last two weeks
though] and was baffled by the following.

- framebuffer corruption just wouldn't go away.
- machine lockups
- many a times, no errors but the framebuffer image still wouldn't show
up at the startup
- not being clear about difference between gensplash and bootsplash
[they seem to serve the same purpose] which one should I use on my
system. Should I emerge one, or both or one of them and themes for both?
[You can tell how confused I am].

I know this is long - so if you can take some patient time out for me, I
would be very grateful. Else I could use any pointers/links given by you
on my own time.

Time to rebuild my box is close anyway - need to repartition whole thing
to make more room for Oracle/Gentoo and MySQL/Gentoo.

Best regards,
Rohit
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Re: [gentoo-user] X11 + framebuffer - does it work?

[Richard Fish]

On 4/15/06, Rohit and Bhavana <bhavhit@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Is there anyone on the list who has the following configured on their
> workstations?
>
>     * bootsplash giving them a nice picture at the startup [ in runlevel
>       boot]
>     * bootsplash giving them a nice picture later [ in runlevel default]
>     * Then X11 starting on their nvidia card configured with xf86 or
>       xorg with X working in default runlevel
>     * Switching back to consol with control-alt-F[n] and being able to
>       work without locking up your box - and without framebuffer corruption.

I have all of this working on my Dell e1705 laptop.  Significant details:

2.6.15-suspend2-r8
[ebuild   R   ] media-video/nvidia-kernel-1.0.8756  0 kB
[ebuild   R   ] x11-base/xorg-server-1.0.2-r3  USE="dri -debug -ipv6
-minimal -xprint" 0 kB

Also I use the vesafb-tng framebuffer driver.

> If yes, then if you know anyone has everything working, I would be
> obliged to note the version numbers etc and any pointers.

> - not being clear about difference between gensplash and bootsplash
> [they seem to serve the same purpose] which one should I use on my
> system. Should I emerge one, or both or one of them and themes for both?

I would suggest not dealing with bootsplash issues at this point, and
work on getting a stable framebuffer working.  Once you have that, the
bootsplash side of things is pretty straight-forward.

-Richard

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Re: [gentoo-user] X11 + framebuffer - does it work?

[Rohit Sharma]

Richard Fish wrote:

>I would suggest not dealing with bootsplash issues at this point, and
>work on getting a stable framebuffer working.  Once you have that, the
>bootsplash side of things is pretty straight-forward.
>  
>
Thank, Richard - I shall follow you advice. You chose the following I
presume?
- kernel sources [gentoo-sources]
- in kernel config [chose framebuffer-tng]
- X11 served by Xorg

Any tips for me to ensure that my consoles are not corrupted once X
starts and I want command line ob consoles. I think that is what you
meant by stable-framebuffer, didn't you? Please bear with me in case
this has been answered before. Apologies in that case - and I would
really appreciate any pointers.

Thank you so much
Rohit
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Re: [gentoo-user] X11 + framebuffer - does it work?

[lordsauronthegreat]

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On Saturday 15 April 2006 07:55 pm, Richard Fish wrote:
> On 4/15/06, Rohit and Bhavana <bhavhit@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > Is there anyone on the list who has the following configured on their
> > workstations?
> >
> >     * bootsplash giving them a nice picture at the startup [ in runlevel
> >       boot]

I do that on my laptop.  IBM X40 Type 2386-1CU with some weird Intel Extreme 
Graphics II chip I've never previously heard of and honestly don't want to 
see again (it really sucks - the X40's wonderfully light though, I'd 
reccommend it any day!  Works perfectly with Linux, too!)

> >     * bootsplash giving them a nice picture later [ in runlevel default]

You mean like the livecd-2006.0 theme?  Where it has pretty framebuffer 
graphics and puts console at 1024x768 (a must-have, IMHO) but then has a 
picturized boot process?  Yeah, I do that.  Then by whacking F2 I can go back 
to the verbose process but still with the pretty graphics.

The info you need is in http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_fbsplash (as reccommended 
to me by Bo Andresen).

> >     * Then X11 starting on their nvidia card configured with xf86 or
> >       xorg with X working in default runlevel

On my server I'm working to get spash working with an nVidia card.  The 
problems aren't from the nVidia card, however, but rather from Genkernel, 
which I find totally inferior to make in every way (why do I need to 
recompile the whole kernel every time?  I know, I've been spoiled by only 
compiling what's changed).

> >     * Switching back to consol with control-alt-F[n] and being able to
> >       work without locking up your box - and without framebuffer
> > corruption.

Never had a problem here.  When I kill X11 and KDM for a console login, it 
goes back to the beautified console, but sacrificing no functionality that I 
know of.

> I have all of this working on my Dell e1705 laptop.  Significant details:
>
> 2.6.15-suspend2-r8
> [ebuild   R   ] media-video/nvidia-kernel-1.0.8756  0 kB
> [ebuild   R   ] x11-base/xorg-server-1.0.2-r3  USE="dri -debug -ipv6
> -minimal -xprint" 0 kB
>
> Also I use the vesafb-tng framebuffer driver.
>
> > If yes, then if you know anyone has everything working, I would be
> > obliged to note the version numbers etc and any pointers.
> >
> > - not being clear about difference between gensplash and bootsplash
> > [they seem to serve the same purpose] which one should I use on my
> > system. Should I emerge one, or both or one of them and themes for both?

I used splashutils with great success.  I can't comment about any others 
though - I've never tried them.

> I would suggest not dealing with bootsplash issues at this point, and
> work on getting a stable framebuffer working.  Once you have that, the
> bootsplash side of things is pretty straight-forward.

I'd reccommend that Wiki.  I walked through it and came out alive, and with 
linux looking artful enough to shut up all the Windoze zealots that I am 
burdened to come into contact with.

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Re: [gentoo-user] X11 + framebuffer - does it work?

[Richard Fish]

On 4/15/06, Rohit Sharma <bhavhit@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
> Thank, Richard - I shall follow you advice. You chose the following I
> presume?
> - kernel sources [gentoo-sources]

I'm using suspend2-sources (notice the 'suspend2' in my kernel
version), but gentoo-sources should work also.

Everything else is ok.
>
> Any tips for me to ensure that my consoles are not corrupted once X
> starts and I want command line ob consoles. I think that is what you
> meant by stable-framebuffer, didn't you?

Not really...it should just work.  If it doesn't, I guess you could
experiment with different resolutions for the console.

Remember that you can choose the console resolution by changing the
video= option passed to the kernel at boot time (e.g.
video=vesafb:1400x1050-32@60), or with the fbres command (part of
splashutils).

-Richard

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