Squeeze with xserver-xfbdev but no /dev/fb0 so no X

ukiuki · 12-01-2011, 12:07 PM

Hi

I have been trying to get this to work but no go so far after a lot of searching/googling and some failed atempts.

The reason why im using this xserver is cos the video card only can share 8Mb of RAM, that is the max value and that server is the tiny X.

My hardware:
motherboard: m598lmr
processor: AMD K6-II 450Mhz
256Mb RAM
video: SiS 530/620 PCI/AGP VGA Display adapter.

My system: Debian Squeeze 6.0.3 minimal install
Custom kernel 3.0.4
I did make sure to have the framebuffer options included,
Kernel boots and works fine.

xserver-xfbdev is installed and have all it's dependencies.

The 1st atempt after install running startx i got:

Code:

$startx
xauth: creating new authority file /user/.Xauthority

exec: 3: /usr/bin/X: not found
giving up.
xinit: No such file or directory (errno 2): unable to connect to X server
xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error.

Ok here i didn't had much trouble to fix it editing the file:

Code:

#nano /etc/X11/xinit/*xserverrc

and so here is the change:

Code:

#!/binsh
#exec /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp "$@"
exec /usr/bin/Xfbdev -nolisten tcp "$@"

This 1st part worked but then:

Code:

startx

Error opening framebuffer /dev/fb0: No such file or directory

Fatal server error:
no screens found
giving up
xinit: No such file or directory (errno 2): unable to connect to X server
xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error.

The /dev/fb0 should be created on boot, but it isn't happening.

So i tried different things check the links if you like:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ectory-359219/
http://www.sysresccd.org/forums/view...php?f=4&t=3030
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-859501.html
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2...rectfb-bringup

Then the solution was to create the missing /dev/fd0 and so i did:

Code:

/dev#mknod fb0 c 0 0

also tried:

Code:

#export FRAMEBUFFER=/dev/fb0

and

Code:

fbset -fb /dev/fb0
open /dev/fb0: No such device or adress

Im out of ammo any help would be great appreciated,
thanks in advance!

EDDY1 · 12-02-2011, 11:39 PM

Are you using the sis driver?
http://packages.debian.org/search?ke...xorg-video-sis

ukiuki · 12-03-2011, 05:25 AM

I don't have it installed, doesn't it depend on xserver-xorg, xserver-xorg-core? What im trying to avoid cos it gets really choppy and slow in this machine. Maybe I'm wrong but doesn't xserver-fbdev have it's won drivers? Since it is based on Kdrive, http://www.xfree86.org/current/TinyX.1.html , http://www.xfree86.org/current/Xfbdev.1.html. I will try that and see if it doesn't bother with the dependencies and if works.
I'll let you know.

Thank you

62chevy · 12-03-2011, 01:31 PM

Did all the dependencies get installed? http://packages.debian.org/stable/xserver-xfbdev

ukiuki · 12-05-2011, 01:16 PM

@EDDY1 The xserver-xorg-video-sis depends on xerver-xorg and xerver-xorg-core, that is definitely a no, machine can't handle well.

@62chevy I just check again the dependencies they are all there.

The thing here is how to get that /dev/fb0 to load on boot.
No luck so far.

ukiuki · 12-11-2011, 01:00 AM

Good news i got the frame buffer working /dev/fb0 is been created on boot and i have a nice 1280x1024 on the console, but i still having problems to get the Xfbdev to run properly, so I'm posting what I got so far:

I had to to compile the kernel, to make sure the frame buffer will work, the following things must be included:

Code:

General setup --->
[*] Initial RAM filesystem and RAM disk (initramfs/initrd) support

Processor type and features --->
[*] MTRR (Memory Type Range Register) support[*]   MTRR cleanup support
(0)   MTRR cleanup enable value (0-1)
(1)   MTRR cleanup spare reg num (1-7)

Device Drivers ---> Block Devices --->
[M] Loopback device support
[M] RAM block device support
(16) Default number of RAM disks
(4096) Default RAM disk size (kbites)

Device Drivers ---> Graphic Support ---> <*> Support for frame buffer devices --->
[*] VESA VGA graphics support

Device Drivers ---> Graphic Support ---> Console display driver support --->
[*] VGA text console
<*> Frame buffer console support
[*]Map the console to the primary display device

Device Drivers ---> Graphic Support ---> Bootup logo --->
[*] Standard black and white Linux logo
[*] Standard 16-color Linux logo
[*] Standard 256-color Linux logo

Next thing is add the code into grub:

Code:

vesafb:mtrr,ywrap vga=0x31A

note the vga value must be something that your monitor can handle: Linux Video Mode Numbers
If you have grub2 then edit the file: /etc/default/grub
the line:

Code:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet vesafb:mtrr,ywrap vga=0x31A"

then update grub:

Code:

#update-grub

And you will have the frame buffer working if you did everything right !!

I'll update when the Xfbdev is working.

ukiuki · 12-12-2011, 01:44 PM

Ok im struggling now with the xserver-fxbdev, when i try to run it, looks like it goes up for a sec with a blanck screen then it shutdown and take me back to the console.

What have tried, in the file /etc/X11/xinint/*xserverrc

Code:

#!/binsh
#exec /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp "$@"
exec /usr/bin/Xfbdev -screen 1280x1024x16 -2button -mouse mouse,/dev/input/mice -nolisten tcp -I

when issuing startx i got this output:

Code:

SElinux: Disabled on system, not enabling in X server
[dix] Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unsvaled, removing from list !
[dix] Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unsvaled, removing from list !
[dix] Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1, removing from list !
[dix] Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi, removing from list !
[dix] Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi, removing from list !
[dix] Could not init font path element /var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType, removing from list !
ignoring device from udev.
ignoring device from udev.
ignoring device from udev.
ignoring device from udev.

waiting for X server to shut down

I believe the fonts are not the problem, but what is that 'ignoring device from udev' means?
Any help would be great appreciated, thanks in advance !

ukiuki · 10-18-2013, 03:11 AM

Ok i decided to come back to this and now i have some progress but not solved yet.

The Xfbdev is running with slim login manager with this in the config file(slim.conf):

Code:

#default_xserver     /usr/bin/X11/X
default_xserver     /usr/bin/Xfbdev

...but isn't possible to type name/password, although
it is possible to drop to a tty via ctrl+alt+F... only the login manager isn't catching the keyboard.
The process is running:

Code:

root       721  0.9  1.5   9152  3412 ?        Ss   09:56   0:19 /usr/bin/slim -d
root       727  0.1  3.2  12620  7120 ?        S    09:56   0:02 /usr/bin/Xfbdev -nolisten tcp -auth /var/run/slim.auth vt07

I been doing quite some research on this but it is really difficult to find information.
So now the question is how to make the login screen to catch the keyboard?

Regards