On Fri, 25 May 2001, SI Reasoning wrote:
> I cannot get XFdrake to properly read my system.with
> the new XFree86. First it does not give the 3.3.6 or 4
> choice anymore. Then after it asks questions and I set
> it to config that I always do, it will totally lock up
> the system when doing the test until I have to hard
> reboot. Immediately upon X the first thing I notice is
> that the mouse does not work, then I notice that
> nothing else does either including our favorite ctrl +
> Alt + BS.Often after such a hard lock, the system will
> kick out to maintenance where I have to do a manual fsck.
Not a solution, but something that might come in handy:
Executing the command "/usr/bin/kbd_mode -a" will take away XF86's control
of the keyboard, and you can then use Alt-F1 to get back to a console and
find out what's going wrong with X. If you use gpm's repeater mode
(rather than letting X talk to the mouse directly), then you can use gpm's
"Special commands" feature which enables you to associate commands with
unlikely mouse sequences (such as triple-clicks). You can therefore set
up gpm to execute "/usr/bin/kbd_mode -a" if you e.g. triple-click both
buttons then wait for a beep and click the left button again, thus giving
you a handy escape route if XF86 freezes up.
Incidentally, I've found that mouse behaviour in X is a lot better when
routed via gpm - X refused to acknowledge the middle button on some mice
but gpm picked it up happily and forwarded it to X in a way that X
understood. Using gpm also means that you can plug the mouse in after
starting X, or even change from a serial to a PS/2 mouse in the middle of
an X session.
HTH,
Michael
