Note: There ought to be a sticky on Xorg. Maybe there is, but I haven't found it. Since I run Etch, I'll post here.

How is one supposed to configure Xorg 7? I have tried dpkg-reconfigure Xserver-xorg, Xorg -configure and X -configure and all of them fail. None of them ask me any questions, none of them can find my mouse and they all go straight to a list of error messages. I have also tried a number of other configuration instructions, but none of them work. The only thing that works is editing the old XF86Config-4.

So, what's the trick? When I google around, the only instructions I can find have to do with other distros and don't seem to help on Debian. It does look like there are a lot of problems migrating from 6.9 to 7+.

You should be editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf. You could also try dpkg-reconfigure -plow xserver-xorg, but I think you'll probably encouter the same problems.

Updating from Sarge to Etch causes a lot of problems for some people because of the conversion from XFree86 to Xorg. I would recommend backing up your data and doing a fresh install of Etch.

Whatever happened to xorgconfig? Has it been removed? I don't find it in my system after the upgrade to 7.

My /etc/X11/xorg.conf is simply a renamed XF86Config-4. I upgraded to Etch by changing sources and dist-upgrade; there is no going back. Actually, moving to Etch did not generate the problems, moving from Xorg 6.9 to Xorg 7 did.

Gee! That's too bad. As I said, it causes problems for lots of people.

Did you try dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg?

Hi rickh,
We're coming closer and closer to the Windows-world: "encounter any problems, just do a fresh install"!
No, you weren't the first one suggesting this in this DEBIAN (let the underlying thought of Linux also melt on your tongue) -group; I've read that suggestion, increasingly in occurence, already too much in the past to not protest against that. It's therefore absolutely NO attack or whatsoever against you in person or all the others, trying to help a stuck fellow, when they also don't see another workable solution to the best of their knowledge.
Innumerable honest computer-magazines all over the world praise Debian already for years and years for its well-wrought concept and specially the efforts, that the big community of unpaid, but nevertheless 100% and more dedicated, guys and girls also all over the world stick into the development and maintainance of this project. My deep respect for them.
However there seems to arise an arrogant and out-of-reality spirit in the toplevel of the Debian-management. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I feel that and you may bash me for that.
Instead of giving their whole energy into the maintainance and development of the Debian-project, they more and more deviate into secondary (but also important, I don't question that!) issues. What's the real benefit for Debian to spend hours and hours and kilobytes and kilobytes of messages on matters as the logo of Firefox or an - in wording slightly different - license of cdrecord?
NO, that is really important and all the rest of the project is unsignificant anymore.
That the saying: "Debian once installed needn't ever be stopped but can be updated on the fly forever" is not valid, we all know (regrettably) already for some time. But this gets from bad to worse as the efforts of the team-leaders diverge to political matters i.s.o. purely concentrating on the concerned program-code.

Well, I'll get a bang on my head of the moderator for this (I admit) more or less off-topic statement. But I feel and felt like so.

However a positive and on-topic statement also, honestly: If you start with "testing" (not Etch or whatever it's called, just so) in the sources.list AND you stick with that all the time, you won't experience big troubles! Almost no troubles I would say. It's the best of 2 worlds. You get fairly recent programs (contrary to stable) but not the newest ones (contrary to unstable/experimental), but these are already tested widerspread and the chance of something "rotten" in them is 10% or less.

Fresh installs, like anything else have a place. I dabble in Sid and experimental, and every now and then I really bollix up the box. My /home is a separate partition, so reinstalling is a 30 minute process. Much faster than troubleshooting. My box is a hobby, not a critical use server. Sometimes I troubleshoot rather than reinstall because I can see that I'll learn something with a future value. Problems involving the conversion from Xfree to Xorg don't qualify.

My Debian has been on this computer since the 2.2 kernel. I've been replacing kernels and doing dist-upgrades. Now, it's a sort of challenge to keep it going. My big problem now is that my mobo is crashing (it's deteriorating) so, I'm going to replace it. Thus, I need to be able to reconfigure if I encounter any problems, which brings me back to the purpose of this thread.

What am I missing that I can't do dpkg-reconfigure Xserver-xorg, Xorg -configure or X -configure ?

amazing how people want to have a smooth flawless upgrade from STABLE to a TESTING or UNSTABLE branch.. if you want the move fro Sarge to Etch to go flawless I suggest you wait unilt ETCH is the new Stable at which point that dist upgrade should go flawlessly, until then think about what you are asking... a fast changing Testing or Unstable branch should be held to the standards of the Stable branch.. that's just crazy talk. in this instance I would agree that the reinstall clean with testing isn't a bad suggestion BECAUSE all the bugs haven't been cleaned out yet.. else Etch would already be stable..


On topic.. Sorry I don't have an answer for your xorg question .. I haven't updated my sid box recently..
Could be you need to wait a week or so and check for another update to fix the issue you are having.. wouldn't be the first time something in testing or unstable was broken for a little while..

When I moved to Etch, I knew there would be risks. Yes, many things are being fixed. As I said above, moving to Etch did not generate the problems, moving from Xorg 6.9 to Xorg 7 did. There are a lot of complaints all over the net from a variety of distros about these changes, particularly regarding fonts. Xorg 7 handles a variety of chores differently from Xorg 6.9; thus the problems. I think that Debian and Xorg are both developing in the right direction, but there are some growing pains, not the least of which is delayed documentation.

http://sonique54.free.fr/xgl/xgl.htm

It seems that xgl has problems with Xorg 7 and wrecked my Etch install. It doesn't seem able to repair or at least not easily. I read the FAQ after installing, and it says xgl is in development for 7 and to follow other directions, so I tried to uninstall the nvidia driver and reinstall it. While trying to uninstall it, I got the message that it had been altered, changed, and that it would be removed as much as it could, so I continued. Then I installed it. After that, I tried startx again, and this time I saw messages about glx module does not exist and unable to load and the same thing with the nvidia driver. Seems like my system is really damaged beyond repair.

Oh, I doubt it. Tackle the messages one at a time. I suggest sitting down with a mug of your favorite brew and work it through. It is mostlikely missing some little file.

Google is your friend. Plug error messages into Google and see what comes up.

nvidia driver install from start to finish...
Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf if necesary

it's really that easy..

cougyr,

Upgrading to Xorg 7 is a little traumatic, I agree.

Just a couple of thoughts.

1. Are you using a proprietary graphics driver or an open source one? it may help to use the Open Source one until you resolve the problems.

2. Are you using the latest version of the driver?

3. Have you updated the GLX and other files?

You could try commenting out the load statements in xorg.conf to pinpoint the problem. Don't do this on a one by one basis. Comment out half, see what happens, comment out the other half etc, ie do a binary chop.

My problem were GLX related. and took 2 mugs of coffee and about 10 cigarettes to solve. Your mileage may vary.