[gentoo-user] xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[gentoo-user] xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Kevin O'Gorman]

I had tried holding back on xorg-server 1.5, but somewhere in May at
least one package got past my version limits and X broke.  Rather than
to try to revert, I thought surely by now, X would be fixed.  Sigh.

In another thread, after spending 2 months without a working X server,
I got KDM to start.  But without the mouse and keyboard.
The nice folks who got me that far warned and comisserated thus:

On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 7:26 PM, James<wireless@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> Neil Bothwick <neil <at> digimed.co.uk> writes:
>
>
>> > annd this mailing list's archive should be helpful, as there have been
>> > probably dozens of threads about that same problem. :)
>
>> The elog message from the xorg-server emerge also warns about updating
>> drivers.
>
>> emerge --oneshot $(qlist -I x11-drivers)
>
>
> Yep,
> seem my recent
> saga.
>
>
> 'emerge -e1 world' did the trick
> after dropping back to 1.5.3-r7 on xorg-server
> and 8.593 on ati-drivers....
>
> see bug 276953 as gcc-4.3.2 killed outgoing mail
> on seamonkey.....too several days to recover.....
>
>
> ymmv,
>
>
>

Okay, I was hoping for variable mileage, but maybe no dice.
I printed and read the upgrade guide
I recompiled all drivers.
I tried an empty xorg.conf.  No dice.
I put together an xorg.conf by minimal changes. No dice.

The actual symptoms are that touching the keyboard causes a continuous
unending stream of garbage characters.
The mouse can move that outlined "x" (very very jumpy) until KDM gets
displayed and is ignored after that.

I guess I give up.  My choices are to install Ubuntu, or revert
gentoo.  Ubuntu will be a pain because of all the config stuff I'll
have to do to get this thing tweaked again as I like it.  And it may
fail in the same way, but it's easier to try older versions of Ubuntu
than recompile all of gentoo (that's what -el does, right?) and
possibly repeat.  I have spare partitions that allow me to do this
fairly safely.

================ CUT HERE ==================
# This config file is modified from the results of "Xorg -configure"
on 9 July 2009 on host treat.
# Added this to prevent inputless instances (usually involving bugs in
the config)
Section "ServerFlags"
      Option  "AllowEmptyInput"       "false"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "X.org Configured"
	Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
	#InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
	#InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
        InputDevice   "evdev"
EndSection

Section "Files"
	ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc/"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/TTF/"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/OTF"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Type1/"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load  "dbe"
	Load  "extmod"
	Load  "xtrap"
	Load  "record"
EndSection

# Added per Xorg 1.5 Update Guide
Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "evdev"
        Driver      "evdev"
        Option      "GrabDevice"  "False"
EndSection

ZZ
Section "Monitor"
        # Uncommented DisplaySize
	DisplaySize	  410   310	# mm
	Identifier   "Monitor0"
	VendorName   "WDE"
	ModelName    "LCM-20v5"
	HorizSync    30.0 - 82.0
	VertRefresh  56.0 - 76.0
	Option	    "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
        ### [arg]: arg optional
        #Option     "probe_sparse"       	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "accel"              	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "crt_display"        	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "composite_sync"     	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "hw_cursor"          	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "force_pci_mode"     	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "dma_mode"           	# <str>
        #Option     "agp_mode"           	# <i>
        #Option     "agp_size"           	# <i>
        #Option     "local_textures"     	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "buffer_size"        	# <i>
        #Option     "tv_out"             	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "tv_standard"        	# <str>
        #Option     "mmio_cache"         	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "test_mmio_cache"    	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "panel_display"      	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "reference_clock"    	# <freq>
        #Option     "shadow_fb"          	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "sw_cursor"          	# [<bool>]
        #Option     "AccelMethod"        	# <str>
        #Option     "RenderAccel"        	# [<bool>]
	Identifier  "Card0"
	Driver      "mach64"
	VendorName  "ATI Technologies Inc"
	BoardName   "Rage XL"
	BusID       "PCI:7:1:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen0"
	Device     "Card0"
	Monitor    "Monitor0"
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     1
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     4
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     8
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     15
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     16
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection
=========== end snippage ===============



-- 
Kevin O'Gorman, PhD




-- 
Kevin O'Gorman, PhD

[gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[James]

Kevin O'Gorman <kogorman <at> gmail.com> writes:


> > 'emerge -e1 world' did the trick

> Okay, I was hoping for variable mileage, but maybe no dice.

Have you rebuilt HAL?


It might help....

I have rebuilt version hal-0.5.11-r9....

try to get back to what you had before your last (broken)
upgrade. Make sure you are using gcc-4.1.2, as 4.3.2 is
borked (many folks have different issues)....


hth,

James

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Dale]

James wrote:
> Kevin O'Gorman <kogorman <at> gmail.com> writes:
>
>
>   
>>> 'emerge -e1 world' did the trick
>>>       
>
>   
>> Okay, I was hoping for variable mileage, but maybe no dice.
>>     
>
> Have you rebuilt HAL?
>
>
> It might help....
>
> I have rebuilt version hal-0.5.11-r9....
>
> try to get back to what you had before your last (broken)
> upgrade. Make sure you are using gcc-4.1.2, as 4.3.2 is
> borked (many folks have different issues)....
>
>
> hth,
>
> James
>
>
>
>   

If all else fails:

x11-base/xorg-server  -hal

Put that in package.use and re-emerge xorg-server.  You may have to
re-emerge mouse and keyboard too. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Kevin O'Gorman]

On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 8:51 PM, Dale<rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
> James wrote:
>> Kevin O'Gorman <kogorman <at> gmail.com> writes:
>>
>>
>>
>>>> 'emerge -e1 world' did the trick
>>>>
>>
>>
>>> Okay, I was hoping for variable mileage, but maybe no dice.
>>>
>>
>> Have you rebuilt HAL?
>>
>>
>> It might help....
>>
>> I have rebuilt version hal-0.5.11-r9....
>>
>> try to get back to what you had before your last (broken)
>> upgrade. Make sure you are using gcc-4.1.2, as 4.3.2 is
>> borked (many folks have different issues)....
>>
>>
>> hth,
>>
>> James
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> If all else fails:
>
> x11-base/xorg-server  -hal
>
> Put that in package.use and re-emerge xorg-server.  You may have to
> re-emerge mouse and keyboard too.
>
> Dale
>


Okay, I'm re-emerging hal.  I was already using gcc-4.1.2.  I still
have mouse and keyboard emerged, but not mentioned in the xorg.conf.

Crossing my fingers.

Is there any other advice?

Is there any hope?

++ kevin

-- 
Kevin O'Gorman, PhD

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Dale]

Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 8:51 PM, Dale<rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> James wrote:
>>     
>>> Kevin O'Gorman <kogorman <at> gmail.com> writes:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>       
>>>>> 'emerge -e1 world' did the trick
>>>>>
>>>>>           
>>>       
>>>> Okay, I was hoping for variable mileage, but maybe no dice.
>>>>
>>>>         
>>> Have you rebuilt HAL?
>>>
>>>
>>> It might help....
>>>
>>> I have rebuilt version hal-0.5.11-r9....
>>>
>>> try to get back to what you had before your last (broken)
>>> upgrade. Make sure you are using gcc-4.1.2, as 4.3.2 is
>>> borked (many folks have different issues)....
>>>
>>>
>>> hth,
>>>
>>> James
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>       
>> If all else fails:
>>
>> x11-base/xorg-server  -hal
>>
>> Put that in package.use and re-emerge xorg-server.  You may have to
>> re-emerge mouse and keyboard too.
>>
>> Dale
>>
>>     
>
>
> Okay, I'm re-emerging hal.  I was already using gcc-4.1.2.  I still
> have mouse and keyboard emerged, but not mentioned in the xorg.conf.
>
> Crossing my fingers.
>
> Is there any other advice?
>
> Is there any hope?
>
> ++ kevin
>
>   

If you find yourself without a keyboard or mouse and can't get back to a
console, press and hold alt + sysreq then hit R and E.  I did this the
other day and it took me back to a console.

Since I have yet to get xorg and hal to work, good luck. 

Dale

:-)  :-)

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Kevin O'Gorman]

On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 9:52 PM, Kevin O'Gorman<kogorman@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 8:51 PM, Dale<rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
>> James wrote:
>>> Kevin O'Gorman <kogorman <at> gmail.com> writes:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>> 'emerge -e1 world' did the trick
>>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Okay, I was hoping for variable mileage, but maybe no dice.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Have you rebuilt HAL?
>>>
>>>
>>> It might help....
>>>
>>> I have rebuilt version hal-0.5.11-r9....
>>>
>>> try to get back to what you had before your last (broken)
>>> upgrade. Make sure you are using gcc-4.1.2, as 4.3.2 is
>>> borked (many folks have different issues)....
>>>
>>>
>>> hth,
>>>
>>> James
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> If all else fails:
>>
>> x11-base/xorg-server  -hal
>>
>> Put that in package.use and re-emerge xorg-server.  You may have to
>> re-emerge mouse and keyboard too.
>>
>> Dale
>>
>
>
> Okay, I'm re-emerging hal.  I was already using gcc-4.1.2.  I still
> have mouse and keyboard emerged, but not mentioned in the xorg.conf.
>
> Crossing my fingers.
>
> Is there any other advice?
>
> Is there any hope?
>

A new HAL made no difference.  Sigh.

Another option occurs to me: get a new video card and stop using the
onboard one.  I've barely paid any attention to the threads about ATI
vs NVIDIA, and don't know if there are any others worth considering.
Care to make a suggestion for someone who rarely (read: almost never)
plays games or does other work that stress a video card, and just
wants the stuff to work?  In current machines, it would be a PCI-X
(not PCI-E) card.

++ kevin

-- 
Kevin O'Gorman, PhD

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Kevin O'Gorman]

On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 10:02 PM, Dale<rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
> Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
>> On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 8:51 PM, Dale<rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> James wrote:
>>>
>>>> Kevin O'Gorman <kogorman <at> gmail.com> writes:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>> 'emerge -e1 world' did the trick
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Okay, I was hoping for variable mileage, but maybe no dice.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> Have you rebuilt HAL?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> It might help....
>>>>
>>>> I have rebuilt version hal-0.5.11-r9....
>>>>
>>>> try to get back to what you had before your last (broken)
>>>> upgrade. Make sure you are using gcc-4.1.2, as 4.3.2 is
>>>> borked (many folks have different issues)....
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> hth,
>>>>
>>>> James
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> If all else fails:
>>>
>>> x11-base/xorg-server  -hal
>>>
>>> Put that in package.use and re-emerge xorg-server.  You may have to
>>> re-emerge mouse and keyboard too.
>>>
>>> Dale
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> Okay, I'm re-emerging hal.  I was already using gcc-4.1.2.  I still
>> have mouse and keyboard emerged, but not mentioned in the xorg.conf.
>>
>> Crossing my fingers.
>>
>> Is there any other advice?
>>
>> Is there any hope?
>>
>> ++ kevin
>>
>>
>
> If you find yourself without a keyboard or mouse and can't get back to a
> console, press and hold alt + sysreq then hit R and E.  I did this the
> other day and it took me back to a console.
>
> Since I have yet to get xorg and hal to work, good luck.
>
> Dale

Thanks.  Ctl-Alt-BS is still working for me.

I'm now rebuilding xorg-server, xf86-input-mouse and
xf86-input-keyboard with -hal.

++ kevin

-- 
Kevin O'Gorman, PhD

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Dale]

Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
>
>
> A new HAL made no difference.  Sigh.
>
> Another option occurs to me: get a new video card and stop using the
> onboard one.  I've barely paid any attention to the threads about ATI
> vs NVIDIA, and don't know if there are any others worth considering.
> Care to make a suggestion for someone who rarely (read: almost never)
> plays games or does other work that stress a video card, and just
> wants the stuff to work?  In current machines, it would be a PCI-X
> (not PCI-E) card.
>
> ++ kevin
>
>   

I have a old FX-5200 and it does all right.  I tested KDE 4 the other
day, it is not the fastest thing on that.  I'm not sure if it is a
setting on my part or just needs a better card.  I'm on the old PCI
stuff too. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Robin Atwood]

On Friday 10 July 2009, Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 9:52 PM, Kevin O'Gorman<kogorman@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Okay, I'm re-emerging hal.  I was already using gcc-4.1.2.  I still
> > have mouse and keyboard emerged, but not mentioned in the xorg.conf.

I am coming late to the party here but I not so long ago did this on an old 
ATI R300 card and and an NVidia FX-5200. All I had to do was to make sure to 
emerge evdev by:

INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse evdev"

in /etc/make.conf and then comment out the mouse/keyboard stanzas in my 
existing xorg.conf. And then it worked. 

If you really feel you need a new video card, I recently got a GeForce 9400 
GT. It has 512MB of RAM, is inexpensive and KDE 4.2 performance is very 
acceptable.

HTH
-Robin
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Robin Atwood.

"Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
 Where there ain't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst"
         from "Mandalay" by Rudyard Kipling
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: [gentoo-user] xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Keith Dart]

On Thu, 9 Jul 2009 20:03:36 -0700
"Kevin O'Gorman" <kogorman@gmail.com> wrote:

> I had tried holding back on xorg-server 1.5, but somewhere in May at
> least one package got past my version limits and X broke.  Rather than
> to try to revert, I thought surely by now, X would be fixed.  Sigh.

Set the "hal" use flag and emerge x11-drivers/xf86-input-evdev. See if
that helps you.



-- 

-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   Keith Dart <keith@dartworks.biz>
   public key: ID: 19017044
   <http://www.dartworks.biz/>
   =====================================================================

Re: [gentoo-user] xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Keith Dart]

On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:18:35 -0700
Keith Dart <keith@dartworks.biz> wrote:

> Set the "hal" use flag and emerge x11-drivers/xf86-input-evdev. See if
> that helps you.

Also make sure you have this in your make.conf:


INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse evdev"

Remove mouse and keyboard sections in your xorg.conf file also.

The evdev and HAL are supposed to make X much simpler to set up and
use. ;-)


-- 

-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   Keith Dart <keith@dartworks.biz>
   public key: ID: 19017044
   <http://www.dartworks.biz/>
   =====================================================================

Re: [gentoo-user] xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Helmut Jarausch]

On  9 Jul, Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
> I had tried holding back on xorg-server 1.5, but somewhere in May at
> least one package got past my version limits and X broke.  Rather than
> to try to revert, I thought surely by now, X would be fixed.  Sigh.
> 
> In another thread, after spending 2 months without a working X server,
> I got KDM to start.  But without the mouse and keyboard.
> The nice folks who got me that far warned and comisserated thus:
> 

I had a similar problem. Finally I added hald to boot

rc-update add hald boot

and rebooted. From now on Xorg 1.5 and now 1.6 work just fine
with hal. I wonder why this hasn't been done/checked by the
xorg-server ebuild.

Good luck,
Helmut.

-- 
Helmut Jarausch

Lehrstuhl fuer Numerische Mathematik
RWTH - Aachen University
D 52056 Aachen, Germany

Re: [gentoo-user] xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Kevin O'Gorman]

On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 1:24 AM, Keith Dart<keith@dartworks.biz> wrote:
> On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:18:35 -0700
> Keith Dart <keith@dartworks.biz> wrote:
>
>> Set the "hal" use flag and emerge x11-drivers/xf86-input-evdev. See if
>> that helps you.
>
> Also make sure you have this in your make.conf:
>
>
> INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse evdev"
>
> Remove mouse and keyboard sections in your xorg.conf file also.
>
> The evdev and HAL are supposed to make X much simpler to set up and
> use. ;-)

For me, at least, it was impossible use.  Useless is more like it.

I am using evdev, but not compiling xorg for HAL.  I'm not sure how
that works out in detail, because hald is still running and the "hal"
use flag is in use everywhere but xorg-server.

++ kevin

-- 
Kevin O'Gorman, PhD

Re: [gentoo-user] xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Kevin O'Gorman]

On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 1:18 AM, Keith Dart<keith@dartworks.biz> wrote:
> On Thu, 9 Jul 2009 20:03:36 -0700
> "Kevin O'Gorman" <kogorman@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I had tried holding back on xorg-server 1.5, but somewhere in May at
>> least one package got past my version limits and X broke.  Rather than
>> to try to revert, I thought surely by now, X would be fixed.  Sigh.
>
> Set the "hal" use flag and emerge x11-drivers/xf86-input-evdev. See if
> that helps you.

Just the opposite.  "hal" has been in effect for a while here.  My
newest attempt was to "-hal" on xorg-server, and BEOHOLD! there's a
working X and KDE.  "hal" remains in effect on everything else and
hald is in the default runlevel (not boot).

++kevin

-- 
Kevin O'Gorman, PhD

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Philip Webb]

090709 Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
>> On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 8:51 PM, Dale<rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> If all else fails:
>>> x11-base/xorg-server  -hal
>> Is there any other advice?
> A new HAL made no difference.  Sigh.

I ran into this twice, first on my frontline machine, then on the stand-by.
The solution was 'USE="-hal" emerge xorg-server', then remerge all drivers.
There was a Gentoo help doc re it, which gave this as the simplest option.

'evdev' is a separate matter: you need to include it in your kernel,
than you can simplify your drivers.

HTH

-- 
========================,,============================================
SUPPORT     ___________//___,  Philip Webb : purslow@chass.utoronto.ca
ELECTRIC   /] [] [] [] [] []|  Centre for Urban & Community Studies
TRANSIT    `-O----------O---'  University of Toronto

Re: [gentoo-user] xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Dale]

Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 1:18 AM, Keith Dart<keith@dartworks.biz> wrote:
>   
>> On Thu, 9 Jul 2009 20:03:36 -0700
>> "Kevin O'Gorman" <kogorman@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> I had tried holding back on xorg-server 1.5, but somewhere in May at
>>> least one package got past my version limits and X broke.  Rather than
>>> to try to revert, I thought surely by now, X would be fixed.  Sigh.
>>>       
>> Set the "hal" use flag and emerge x11-drivers/xf86-input-evdev. See if
>> that helps you.
>>     
>
> Just the opposite.  "hal" has been in effect for a while here.  My
> newest attempt was to "-hal" on xorg-server, and BEOHOLD! there's a
> working X and KDE.  "hal" remains in effect on everything else and
> hald is in the default runlevel (not boot).
>
> ++kevin
>
>   

Same thing here.  I just tried again to get hal, evdev and all his
"drive me crazy" friends to work, it doesn't.  It appears to me that hal
will be disabled in package.use for xorg-server FOREVER.  I'm sick of
messing with evdev.  I'm waiting on something better to come along.  I
bet someone does come up with something better too.  This has been a
PITA since it came out.

I'm sticking with what works, xorg,conf and no evdev.  It has worked for
years and it still does. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Paul Hartman]

On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 8:19 AM, Dale<rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
> Same thing here.  I just tried again to get hal, evdev and all his
> "drive me crazy" friends to work, it doesn't.  It appears to me that hal
> will be disabled in package.use for xorg-server FOREVER.  I'm sick of
> messing with evdev.  I'm waiting on something better to come along.  I
> bet someone does come up with something better too.  This has been a
> PITA since it came out.

Well you'll be happy to know HAL is being deprecated in favor if
DeviceKit, so you may have yet something else new to try in the
future... you can begin preparing by reading this description:

http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/hal/2008-May/011560.html

:)

Re: [gentoo-user] xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Helmut Jarausch]

On 10 Jul, Dale wrote:

> Same thing here.  I just tried again to get hal, evdev and all his
> "drive me crazy" friends to work, it doesn't.  It appears to me that hal
> will be disabled in package.use for xorg-server FOREVER.  I'm sick of
> messing with evdev.  I'm waiting on something better to come along.  I
> bet someone does come up with something better too.  This has been a
> PITA since it came out.

Yes, I did have some problems with xorg + hal. But now it's working even
better with hal than without (e.g. I had problems with using my mouse
and my Wacom tablet simultaneously).

Now I'm running xorg-server-1.6.2

The following steps seem to be essential:

emerge everything X-related with hal (I've put it into /etc/make.conf)

Let hald start at boot time (very important)
i.e.  rc-update add hald boot

Make a minimal xorg.conf (no drivers for any input device)
the first lines being

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "Default"
	Screen      0  "Screen 0" 0 0
#	Option         "AllowEmptyInput" "false"
        Option       "AIGLX" "on"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
#	Option	"DontZap" "true"
	Option "AutoAddDevices" "on"
	Option "AutoEnableDevices" "on"
	Option "AllowEmptyInput" "on"
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
        Option "Composite" "On"
EndSection
.......

In /etc/make.conf  (here)
INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse evdev wacom"

add the file /etc/hal/fdi/policy/x11-input.fdi

here:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<deviceinfo version="0.2">
<device>
<match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.keyboard">
<append key="info.callouts.add" type="strlist">hal-setup-keymap</append>
 <merge key="input.x11_options.XkbModel" type="string">microsoft</merge>
 <merge key="input.x11_options.XkbRules" type="string">xorg</merge>
 <merge key="input.x11_options.XkbLayout" type="string">en_US</merge>
 <merge key="input.xkb.layout" type="string">en_US</merge>
 <merge key="input.xkb.model" type="string">microsoft</merge>
 <merge key="input.xkb.rules" type="string">xorg</merge>
</match>

<match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.mouse">
 <merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">evdev</merge>
 <merge key="input.x11_options.WHEELRelativeAxisButtons" type="string">7 6</merge>
 <merge key="input.x11_options.HWHEELRelativeAxisButtons" type="string">5 4</merge>
 <merge key="input.x11_options.Buttons" type="int">8</merge>
 <merge key="input.x11_options.ZAxisMapping" type="string">4 5</merge>
 <merge key="input.x11_options.Sensitivity" type="int">30</merge>
 <merge key="input.x11_options.CorePointer" type="string">true</merge>
</match>

</device>
</deviceinfo>

Very import when upgrading to 1.6.*
re-emerge everything that is installed from x11-drivers/*

Now, you should have the best X11 ever (note, I'm using the
bleeding-edge stuff (unstable isn't the wright word)
i.e. I have
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~amd64"   (or ~x86 on a 32 bits machine)

Helmut.



-- 
Helmut Jarausch

Lehrstuhl fuer Numerische Mathematik
RWTH - Aachen University
D 52056 Aachen, Germany

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Kevin O'Gorman]

On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 4:55 AM, Philip Webb<purslow@ca.inter.net> wrote:
> 090709 Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
>>> On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 8:51 PM, Dale<rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> If all else fails:
>>>> x11-base/xorg-server  -hal
>>> Is there any other advice?
>> A new HAL made no difference.  Sigh.
>
> I ran into this twice, first on my frontline machine, then on the stand-by.
> The solution was 'USE="-hal" emerge xorg-server', then remerge all drivers.
> There was a Gentoo help doc re it, which gave this as the simplest option.
>
> 'evdev' is a separate matter: you need to include it in your kernel,
> than you can simplify your drivers.
>
> HTH

Evdev has been included in my kernels throughout this mess.  It hasn't
helped.  The Gentoo doc on the upgrade was a bit scetchy about
configuring HAL; now that I find that disabling HAL in xorg is the
solution, I suspect that the underlying problem is HAL configuration.
After all, there's nothing at all special about my mouse or keyboard.

Why should we have to configure HAL manually?  Since the stone ages,
Linux installations have determined what keyboard we have and have set
things up for us.  How different can PS/2 or USB mice be?

SO: if anyone succeeded with xorg and HAL, with a USA keyboard and a
wheel mouse,  would please tell me about their HAL config, I'd sure
love to see it.

++ kevin

-- 
Kevin O'Gorman, PhD

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Dale]

Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 4:55 AM, Philip Webb<purslow@ca.inter.net> wrote:
>   
>> 090709 Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
>>     
>>>> On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 8:51 PM, Dale<rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>         
>>>>> If all else fails:
>>>>> x11-base/xorg-server  -hal
>>>>>           
>>>> Is there any other advice?
>>>>         
>>> A new HAL made no difference.  Sigh.
>>>       
>> I ran into this twice, first on my frontline machine, then on the stand-by.
>> The solution was 'USE="-hal" emerge xorg-server', then remerge all drivers.
>> There was a Gentoo help doc re it, which gave this as the simplest option.
>>
>> 'evdev' is a separate matter: you need to include it in your kernel,
>> than you can simplify your drivers.
>>
>> HTH
>>     
>
> Evdev has been included in my kernels throughout this mess.  It hasn't
> helped.  The Gentoo doc on the upgrade was a bit scetchy about
> configuring HAL; now that I find that disabling HAL in xorg is the
> solution, I suspect that the underlying problem is HAL configuration.
> After all, there's nothing at all special about my mouse or keyboard.
>
> Why should we have to configure HAL manually?  Since the stone ages,
> Linux installations have determined what keyboard we have and have set
> things up for us.  How different can PS/2 or USB mice be?
>
> SO: if anyone succeeded with xorg and HAL, with a USA keyboard and a
> wheel mouse,  would please tell me about their HAL config, I'd sure
> love to see it.
>
> ++ kevin
>
>   

Same here.  I have a old keyboard that has been around for a loooong
time.  It's a Dell Quietkey.  My mouse is a decent Logitech that cost
about $20.00 or so a few years ago.  It worked with Mandrake and Gentoo
all this time then someone comes up with a mouse trap that don't like it.

I'm with you. 

Dale

:-)   :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Dale]

Helmut Jarausch wrote:
> On 10 Jul, Dale wrote:
>
>   
>> Same thing here.  I just tried again to get hal, evdev and all his
>> "drive me crazy" friends to work, it doesn't.  It appears to me that hal
>> will be disabled in package.use for xorg-server FOREVER.  I'm sick of
>> messing with evdev.  I'm waiting on something better to come along.  I
>> bet someone does come up with something better too.  This has been a
>> PITA since it came out.
>>     
>
> Yes, I did have some problems with xorg + hal. But now it's working even
> better with hal than without (e.g. I had problems with using my mouse
> and my Wacom tablet simultaneously).
>
> Now I'm running xorg-server-1.6.2
>
> The following steps seem to be essential:
>
> emerge everything X-related with hal (I've put it into /etc/make.conf)
>
> Let hald start at boot time (very important)
> i.e.  rc-update add hald boot
>
> Make a minimal xorg.conf (no drivers for any input device)
> the first lines being
>
> Section "ServerLayout"
> 	Identifier     "Default"
> 	Screen      0  "Screen 0" 0 0
> #	Option         "AllowEmptyInput" "false"
>         Option       "AIGLX" "on"
> EndSection
>
> Section "ServerFlags"
> #	Option	"DontZap" "true"
> 	Option "AutoAddDevices" "on"
> 	Option "AutoEnableDevices" "on"
> 	Option "AllowEmptyInput" "on"
> EndSection
>
> Section "Extensions"
>         Option "Composite" "On"
> EndSection
> .......
>
> In /etc/make.conf  (here)
> INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse evdev wacom"
>
> add the file /etc/hal/fdi/policy/x11-input.fdi
>
> here:
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
> <deviceinfo version="0.2">
> <device>
> <match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.keyboard">
> <append key="info.callouts.add" type="strlist">hal-setup-keymap</append>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.XkbModel" type="string">microsoft</merge>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.XkbRules" type="string">xorg</merge>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.XkbLayout" type="string">en_US</merge>
>  <merge key="input.xkb.layout" type="string">en_US</merge>
>  <merge key="input.xkb.model" type="string">microsoft</merge>
>  <merge key="input.xkb.rules" type="string">xorg</merge>
> </match>
>
> <match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.mouse">
>  <merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">evdev</merge>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.WHEELRelativeAxisButtons" type="string">7 6</merge>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.HWHEELRelativeAxisButtons" type="string">5 4</merge>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.Buttons" type="int">8</merge>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.ZAxisMapping" type="string">4 5</merge>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.Sensitivity" type="int">30</merge>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.CorePointer" type="string">true</merge>
> </match>
>
> </device>
> </deviceinfo>
>
> Very import when upgrading to 1.6.*
> re-emerge everything that is installed from x11-drivers/*
>
> Now, you should have the best X11 ever (note, I'm using the
> bleeding-edge stuff (unstable isn't the wright word)
> i.e. I have
> ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~amd64"   (or ~x86 on a 32 bits machine)
>
> Helmut.
>
>
>
>   

I printed this but I'm not sure I want to even try this mess again.  I'm
to the point that until what I have doesn't work anymore, I'm sticking
with what does.  This has left a bad taste in my mouth.  Tasted like a
skunk that died about 4 days ago, in the hot sun I might add.  Yep, it
is ripe.

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Kevin O'Gorman]

Synopsis: I suspect this setup is too specific -- will it work for
both wheel mice and non-wheel mice, and for non-MS keyboards?

On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 7:32 AM, Helmut
Jarausch<jarausch@igpm.rwth-aachen.de> wrote:
> On 10 Jul, Dale wrote:
>
>> Same thing here.  I just tried again to get hal, evdev and all his
>> "drive me crazy" friends to work, it doesn't.  It appears to me that hal
>> will be disabled in package.use for xorg-server FOREVER.  I'm sick of
>> messing with evdev.  I'm waiting on something better to come along.  I
>> bet someone does come up with something better too.  This has been a
>> PITA since it came out.
>
> Yes, I did have some problems with xorg + hal. But now it's working even
> better with hal than without (e.g. I had problems with using my mouse
> and my Wacom tablet simultaneously).
>
> Now I'm running xorg-server-1.6.2
>
> The following steps seem to be essential:
>
> emerge everything X-related with hal (I've put it into /etc/make.conf)
>
> Let hald start at boot time (very important)
> i.e.  rc-update add hald boot
>
> Make a minimal xorg.conf (no drivers for any input device)
> the first lines being
>
> Section "ServerLayout"
>        Identifier     "Default"
>        Screen      0  "Screen 0" 0 0
> #       Option         "AllowEmptyInput" "false"
>        Option       "AIGLX" "on"
> EndSection
>
> Section "ServerFlags"
> #       Option  "DontZap" "true"
>        Option "AutoAddDevices" "on"
>        Option "AutoEnableDevices" "on"
>        Option "AllowEmptyInput" "on"
> EndSection
>
> Section "Extensions"
>        Option "Composite" "On"
> EndSection
> .......
>
> In /etc/make.conf  (here)
> INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse evdev wacom"
>
> add the file /etc/hal/fdi/policy/x11-input.fdi
>
> here:
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
> <deviceinfo version="0.2">
> <device>
> <match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.keyboard">
> <append key="info.callouts.add" type="strlist">hal-setup-keymap</append>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.XkbModel" type="string">microsoft</merge>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.XkbRules" type="string">xorg</merge>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.XkbLayout" type="string">en_US</merge>
>  <merge key="input.xkb.layout" type="string">en_US</merge>
>  <merge key="input.xkb.model" type="string">microsoft</merge>
>  <merge key="input.xkb.rules" type="string">xorg</merge>
> </match>
>
> <match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.mouse">
>  <merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">evdev</merge>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.WHEELRelativeAxisButtons" type="string">7 6</merge>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.HWHEELRelativeAxisButtons" type="string">5 4</merge>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.Buttons" type="int">8</merge>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.ZAxisMapping" type="string">4 5</merge>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.Sensitivity" type="int">30</merge>
>  <merge key="input.x11_options.CorePointer" type="string">true</merge>
> </match>
>
> </device>
> </deviceinfo>
>
> Very import when upgrading to 1.6.*
> re-emerge everything that is installed from x11-drivers/*
>
> Now, you should have the best X11 ever (note, I'm using the
> bleeding-edge stuff (unstable isn't the wright word)
> i.e. I have
> ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~amd64"   (or ~x86 on a 32 bits machine)
>
> Helmut.

Please also describe your keyboard and mouse.  I suspect mine are
different, and I am not at all sure how to adjust the setup for my
hardware.

++ kevin

-- 
Kevin O'Gorman, PhD

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Alan McKinnon]

On Friday 10 July 2009 17:43:44 Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 4:55 AM, Philip Webb<purslow@ca.inter.net> wrote:
> > 090709 Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
> >>> On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 8:51 PM, Dale<rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>> If all else fails:
> >>>> x11-base/xorg-server  -hal
> >>>
> >>> Is there any other advice?
> >>
> >> A new HAL made no difference.  Sigh.
> >
> > I ran into this twice, first on my frontline machine, then on the
> > stand-by. The solution was 'USE="-hal" emerge xorg-server', then remerge
> > all drivers. There was a Gentoo help doc re it, which gave this as the
> > simplest option.
> >
> > 'evdev' is a separate matter: you need to include it in your kernel,
> > than you can simplify your drivers.
> >
> > HTH
>
> Evdev has been included in my kernels throughout this mess.  It hasn't
> helped.  The Gentoo doc on the upgrade was a bit scetchy about
> configuring HAL; now that I find that disabling HAL in xorg is the
> solution, I suspect that the underlying problem is HAL configuration.
> After all, there's nothing at all special about my mouse or keyboard.
>
> Why should we have to configure HAL manually?  Since the stone ages,
> Linux installations have determined what keyboard we have and have set
> things up for us.  How different can PS/2 or USB mice be?
>
> SO: if anyone succeeded with xorg and HAL, with a USA keyboard and a
> wheel mouse,  would please tell me about their HAL config, I'd sure
> love to see it.

I run latest unstable here with a regular USA layout on a Dell XPS M1530 with 
nvidia driver, hal and evdev. The HAL config is empty apart from a policy file 
for a touch pad, and it's a dual-screen setup. Here's my xorg.conf:

# egrep -v '^$|^#' /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
EndSection
Section "Files"
EndSection
Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "glx"
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Samsung SyncMaster"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection
Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 8600M GT"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "NoLogo" "True"
    Option         "TwinView" "1"
    Option         "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0"
    Option         "metamodes" "CRT: nvidia-auto-select @1440x900 +1920+0, 
DFP: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

It all JustWorks for me, I assume in my case at least it's working as 
designed.

-- 
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Dale]

Alan McKinnon wrote:
> On Friday 10 July 2009 17:43:44 Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
>   
>> On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 4:55 AM, Philip Webb<purslow@ca.inter.net> wrote:
>>     
>>> 090709 Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
>>>       
>>>>> On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 8:51 PM, Dale<rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>           
>>>>>> If all else fails:
>>>>>> x11-base/xorg-server  -hal
>>>>>>             
>>>>> Is there any other advice?
>>>>>           
>>>> A new HAL made no difference.  Sigh.
>>>>         
>>> I ran into this twice, first on my frontline machine, then on the
>>> stand-by. The solution was 'USE="-hal" emerge xorg-server', then remerge
>>> all drivers. There was a Gentoo help doc re it, which gave this as the
>>> simplest option.
>>>
>>> 'evdev' is a separate matter: you need to include it in your kernel,
>>> than you can simplify your drivers.
>>>
>>> HTH
>>>       
>> Evdev has been included in my kernels throughout this mess.  It hasn't
>> helped.  The Gentoo doc on the upgrade was a bit scetchy about
>> configuring HAL; now that I find that disabling HAL in xorg is the
>> solution, I suspect that the underlying problem is HAL configuration.
>> After all, there's nothing at all special about my mouse or keyboard.
>>
>> Why should we have to configure HAL manually?  Since the stone ages,
>> Linux installations have determined what keyboard we have and have set
>> things up for us.  How different can PS/2 or USB mice be?
>>
>> SO: if anyone succeeded with xorg and HAL, with a USA keyboard and a
>> wheel mouse,  would please tell me about their HAL config, I'd sure
>> love to see it.
>>     
>
> I run latest unstable here with a regular USA layout on a Dell XPS M1530 with 
> nvidia driver, hal and evdev. The HAL config is empty apart from a policy file 
> for a touch pad, and it's a dual-screen setup. Here's my xorg.conf:
>
> # egrep -v '^$|^#' /etc/X11/xorg.conf
> Section "ServerLayout"
>     Identifier     "Layout0"
>     Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
> EndSection
> Section "Files"
> EndSection
> Section "Module"
>     Load           "dbe"
>     Load           "extmod"
>     Load           "glx"
> EndSection
> Section "ServerFlags"
>     Option         "Xinerama" "0"
> EndSection
> Section "Monitor"
>     # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
>     Identifier     "Monitor0"
>     VendorName     "Unknown"
>     ModelName      "Samsung SyncMaster"
>     HorizSync       30.0 - 81.0
>     VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
>     Option         "DPMS"
> EndSection
> Section "Device"
>     Identifier     "Device0"
>     Driver         "nvidia"
>     VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
>     BoardName      "GeForce 8600M GT"
> EndSection
> Section "Screen"
>     Identifier     "Screen0"
>     Device         "Device0"
>     Monitor        "Monitor0"
>     DefaultDepth    24
>     Option         "NoLogo" "True"
>     Option         "TwinView" "1"
>     Option         "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0"
>     Option         "metamodes" "CRT: nvidia-auto-select @1440x900 +1920+0, 
> DFP: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
>     SubSection     "Display"
>         Depth       24
>     EndSubSection
> EndSection
>
> It all JustWorks for me, I assume in my case at least it's working as 
> designed.
>
>   

What gets me is this, I even did a fresh install on another hard drive,
it don't work there either.  hal and friends were included from the very
start of the install too.  Either I am missing something that is not in
the guide or it just don't like my hardware.  My mouse is a old P/S2
type mouse.  It's not even as complicated as a USB thingy.

Dale

:-)  :-) 

[gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[walt]

On 07/10/2009 01:29 AM, Helmut Jarausch wrote:
> On  9 Jul, Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
>> I had tried holding back on xorg-server 1.5, but somewhere in May at
>> least one package got past my version limits and X broke.  Rather than
>> to try to revert, I thought surely by now, X would be fixed.  Sigh.
>>
>> In another thread, after spending 2 months without a working X server,
>> I got KDM to start.  But without the mouse and keyboard.
>> The nice folks who got me that far warned and comisserated thus:
>>
>
> I had a similar problem. Finally I added hald to boot

Was hald in 'default' before that?

> rc-update add hald boot
>
> and rebooted. From now on Xorg 1.5 and now 1.6 work just fine
> with hal. I wonder why this hasn't been done/checked by the
> xorg-server ebuild.

Interesting, I never noticed until now that I have hald in 'default'
like Kevin and yet I have no problems with input devices.

I'm using only USB mice but PS/2 keyboard with X+hal and only evdev,
not keyboard or mouse drivers.  No InputDevice sections at all in
xorg.conf.

I'm wondering if this could be related to APCI or BIOS somehow, which
seems to be a major source of different bugs from machine-to-machine.

Dunno, but it's frustrating to watch you guys have so much trouble with
this problem.

Kevin, I have two mice, one very non-standard and the other bog-standard
as the Brits like to say.  The Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse has two
buttons and a wheel, and it works well under evdev except that I like
to use Emulate3Buttons.

My InputDevice sections are gone completely, as I mentioned, so I wrote
a new conf file /etc/hal/fdi/policy/10-emulate3buttons.fdi:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<deviceinfo version="0.2">
   <device>
    <match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.mouse">
     <merge key="input.x11_options.Emulate3Buttons" type="string">true</merge>
    </match>
   </device>
</deviceinfo>

I just edited the system input file from /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy after
studying the sytax for awhile, and it worked :o)

Basically, anything you'd put in an InputDevice section of xorg.conf is
transformed into the "input.x11_options" syntax above.  I made another
file for my non-standard mouse adding things like EmulateWheel but the
syntax was identical to above.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[David]

Mine is working fine also, I did have to rebuild all the drivers after 
every update, using 1.6.1.901-r5 currently;

This is a desktop, I have nothing in /etc/hal/fdi/policy/

david [02:54 PM] opteron ~ $ ls /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/input/
evdev_drv.so  kbd_drv.so  mouse_drv.so

Here is xorg.conf and Xorg.0.log
http://dwabbott.com/xorg/

I use a wireless usb keyboard/mouse

Both dbus and hald are in runlevel default

I read this over plus the 1.5 guide;
http://dberkholz.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/xorg-server-16-preview-in-x11-overlay/

I feel your pain. hope something can help.

-- 
Powered by Gentoo GNU/Linux
http://linuxcrazy.com

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Kevin O'Gorman]

On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 11:50 AM, walt<w41ter@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 07/10/2009 01:29 AM, Helmut Jarausch wrote:
>>
>> On  9 Jul, Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
>>>
>>> I had tried holding back on xorg-server 1.5, but somewhere in May at
>>> least one package got past my version limits and X broke.  Rather than
>>> to try to revert, I thought surely by now, X would be fixed.  Sigh.
>>>
>>> In another thread, after spending 2 months without a working X server,
>>> I got KDM to start.  But without the mouse and keyboard.
>>> The nice folks who got me that far warned and comisserated thus:
>>>
>>
>> I had a similar problem. Finally I added hald to boot
>
> Was hald in 'default' before that?
>
>> rc-update add hald boot
>>
>> and rebooted. From now on Xorg 1.5 and now 1.6 work just fine
>> with hal. I wonder why this hasn't been done/checked by the
>> xorg-server ebuild.
>
> Interesting, I never noticed until now that I have hald in 'default'
> like Kevin and yet I have no problems with input devices.
>
> I'm using only USB mice but PS/2 keyboard with X+hal and only evdev,
> not keyboard or mouse drivers.  No InputDevice sections at all in
> xorg.conf.
>
> I'm wondering if this could be related to APCI or BIOS somehow, which
> seems to be a major source of different bugs from machine-to-machine.
>
> Dunno, but it's frustrating to watch you guys have so much trouble with
> this problem.
>
> Kevin, I have two mice, one very non-standard and the other bog-standard
> as the Brits like to say.  The Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse has two
> buttons and a wheel, and it works well under evdev except that I like
> to use Emulate3Buttons.
>
> My InputDevice sections are gone completely, as I mentioned, so I wrote
> a new conf file /etc/hal/fdi/policy/10-emulate3buttons.fdi:
>
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
> <deviceinfo version="0.2">
>  <device>
>   <match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.mouse">
>    <merge key="input.x11_options.Emulate3Buttons" type="string">true</merge>
>   </match>
>  </device>
> </deviceinfo>
>
> I just edited the system input file from /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy after
> studying the sytax for awhile, and it worked :o)
>
> Basically, anything you'd put in an InputDevice section of xorg.conf is
> transformed into the "input.x11_options" syntax above.  I made another
> file for my non-standard mouse adding things like EmulateWheel but the
> syntax was identical to above.

Well, thanks for the commisseration.  I put -hal on xorg-xerver in
packages.use, and all is well.
There's little chance I'm going to throw more time into this
particular hole.  I have to spend it on my Ubuntu system, which was
also hosed by an xorg upgrade: I'm reverting that one to a year-old
LTS install that I can rely on for at least another year.

This is NOT the way for Linux to make progress in the desktop wars, folks.

++ kevin
-- 
Kevin O'Gorman, PhD

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Keith Dart]

On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:53:22 -0700
"Kevin O'Gorman" <kogorman@gmail.com> wrote:

> This is NOT the way for Linux to make progress in the desktop wars,
> folks.

Works for me. ;-)

But its true that Xorg is making some rapid progress. There's some
growing pains.  If you are running Gentoo unstable mask (~<X>) then
you are on the "bleeding edge" of open source development. Therefore
occasional breakage is to be expected. File a bug, make it better. 

If you want stable, then use Ubuntu LTS release, or CentOS. Stable, but
boring. ;-)



-- 
-- --------------------
Keith Dart
<keith@dartworks.biz>
=======================

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Keith Dart]

On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:47:09 -0500
Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:

> What gets me is this, I even did a fresh install on another hard
> drive, it don't work there either.  hal and friends were included
> from the very start of the install too.  Either I am missing
> something that is not in the guide or it just don't like my
> hardware.  My mouse is a old P/S2 type mouse.  It's not even as
> complicated as a USB thingy.

Did you add the acpid, hald and dbus to the default runlevel?


-- 
-- --------------------
Keith Dart
<keith@dartworks.biz>
=======================

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Dale]

Keith Dart wrote:
> On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:47:09 -0500
> Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> What gets me is this, I even did a fresh install on another hard
>> drive, it don't work there either.  hal and friends were included
>> from the very start of the install too.  Either I am missing
>> something that is not in the guide or it just don't like my
>> hardware.  My mouse is a old P/S2 type mouse.  It's not even as
>> complicated as a USB thingy.
>>     
>
> Did you add the acpid, hald and dbus to the default runlevel?
>
>
>   

acpid, nope.  The rest, yes.  I have never used acpid before either.  It
seems that I tried that a long time ago and it didn't work.  Maybe
something else close to that tho.  It's been a while.

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: xorg-server mouse and keyboard woes

[Kevin O'Gorman]

On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 10:46 PM, Keith Dart<keith@dartworks.biz> wrote:
> On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:53:22 -0700
> "Kevin O'Gorman" <kogorman@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> This is NOT the way for Linux to make progress in the desktop wars,
>> folks.
>
> Works for me. ;-)
>
> But its true that Xorg is making some rapid progress. There's some
> growing pains.  If you are running Gentoo unstable mask (~<X>) then
> you are on the "bleeding edge" of open source development. Therefore
> occasional breakage is to be expected. File a bug, make it better.
>
> If you want stable, then use Ubuntu LTS release, or CentOS. Stable, but
> boring. ;-)


Thanks for the sermon, pastor.  I guess.

Why did you jump to the conclusion that I am running unstable? I'm
not.  I never have, though I occasionally (like twice in the 7 years
I've been using gentoo) marked a particular package for unstable.  So
by elimination, the term for what I have should be "stable".  Why then
try to exile me to a distro I don't want?

I do, however, pretty much need "working".  A black screen, dead input
devices, and impossibly esoteric config files just don't cut it.  (The
HAL learning curve is a danger in itself, and is just not worth it to
me.  I don't expect to touch it for years, which means that when it
eventually gets broken I'll have forgotten it completely and have no
idea how to proceed safely).

I got a solution by disabling HAL in gentoo.  And for my broken ubuntu
systems, I did indeed go back to LTS, but not so much because of the
LT, it's just that 8.04 is the last one that worked.  That's the
upside of a binary distro -- my November backup was good enough (i.e.
it worked), and an overnight update brought everything up to speed and
up to snuff. The things that change a lot are all in /home, which was
not affected.

Hopefully, I can now get on with my summer projects.  I'm done with
HAL and X.  Until next time.

++ kevin

-- 
Kevin O'Gorman, PhD