What happened to Ctrl-Atl-Fx?

titopoquito · 07-08-2007, 04:33 AM

Same problem here with NVidia card and proprietary driver -- can switch to console from within a X session but cannot get back to X. I had to remotely log in via ssh or I would have to do a cold reset.

kevkim55 · 07-08-2007, 04:36 PM

Don't know what to say. Lookz like slackware broke things somewhere. Wait for a new updates or revert back to older version.

There's a config file where you can specify what VTs to enable/disable, don't remember the name of the file. Check to see if the upgrade changed these things somewhere.

I had the same problem quite some time back, don't remember much about it now except the xkb settings I talked about.

titopoquito · 07-08-2007, 05:08 PM

My problem might have to do with compiz. After I disabled it this afternoon and restarted X the freezing problem has gone. What about you boys, any compiz involved?

thegoofeedude · 07-08-2007, 07:11 PM

No Compiz involved for me... With dual monitors and xinerama, dri isn't an option, so no Comiz. I'll either have to try MergedFB (which looks a little experimental/early for me) or install the fglrx drivers -- which I am not sure are ready for Slack 12.

dunric · 07-08-2007, 07:21 PM

Concerning not working Ctrl+Alt+Fnx and other combinations like group switching using the Alt key are caused by bug in xkeyboard-config of XOrg 7.2 - it is not a Slackware's bug. All distros have this problem unless vendors patched original file.

I've found following working fix published on ArchLinux forums:
(patch for file level3 in /etc/X11/xkb/symbols/ or in the original source)

Code:

--- xkeyboard-config-0.9/symbols/level3.orig	2006-10-09 23:53:27.000000000 +0200
+++ xkeyboard-config-0.9/symbols/level3	2007-07-06 01:34:56.000000000 +0200
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// $XKeyboardConfig: xkbdesc/symbols/level3,v 1.14 2006/10/09 21:53:27 svu Exp $
+// $XKeyboardConfig: xkbdesc/symbols/level3,v 1.15 2006/10/16 20:17:16 svu Exp $
 
 // these variants assign various XKB keycodes to ISO_Level3_Shift so that
 // the third shift level can be reached
@@ -14,7 +14,26 @@
     type[Group1]="ONE_LEVEL",
     symbols[Group1] = [ ISO_Level3_Shift ]
     };
-  modifier_map Mod5   { <RALT> };
+  modifier_map Mod5 { ISO_Level3_Shift };
+};
+
+// Right Alt key never chooses 3rd level.
+// This option attempts to undo the effect of a layout's
+// including ralt_switch. You may also want to select another
+// level3 option that maps the level3 shift to some other key.
+partial modifier_keys
+xkb_symbols "ralt_alt" {
+  key <RALT> { 
+    type[Group1]="TWO_LEVEL",
+    type[Group2]="TWO_LEVEL",
+    type[Group3]="TWO_LEVEL",
+    type[Group4]="TWO_LEVEL",
+    symbols[Group1] = [ Alt_R, Meta_R ], 
+    symbols[Group2] = [ Alt_R, Meta_R ], 
+    symbols[Group3] = [ Alt_R, Meta_R ], 
+    symbols[Group4] = [ Alt_R, Meta_R ]
+    };
+  modifier_map Mod1 { <RALT> };
 };
 
 partial modifier_keys
@@ -66,7 +85,7 @@
     type[Group1]="ONE_LEVEL",
     symbols[Group1] = [ ISO_Level3_Shift ]
     };
-  modifier_map Mod5   { <RCTL> };
+  modifier_map Mod5 { ISO_Level3_Shift };
 };
 
 // using the level(menu_switch) map, the Menu key temporarily
@@ -77,7 +96,7 @@
     type[Group1]="ONE_LEVEL",
     symbols[Group1] = [ ISO_Level3_Shift ]
     };
-  modifier_map Mod5   { <MENU> };
+  modifier_map Mod5 { ISO_Level3_Shift };
 };
 
 // using the level3(win_switch) map, the either Windows' logo key
@@ -96,7 +115,7 @@
     type[Group1]="ONE_LEVEL",
     symbols[Group1] = [ ISO_Level3_Shift ]
     };
-  modifier_map Mod5   { <LWIN> };
+  modifier_map Mod5 { ISO_Level3_Shift };
 };
 
 // using the level(rwin_switch) map, the right Windows' logo key
@@ -109,7 +128,7 @@
     type[Group1]="ONE_LEVEL",
     symbols[Group1] = [ ISO_Level3_Shift ]
     };
-  modifier_map Mod5   { <RWIN> };
+  modifier_map Mod5 { ISO_Level3_Shift };
 };
 
 // using the level3(enter_switch) map, the Enter key on the keypad
@@ -121,5 +140,5 @@
     type[Group1]="ONE_LEVEL",
     symbols[Group1] = [ ISO_Level3_Shift ]
     };
-  modifier_map Mod5   { <KPEN> };
+  modifier_map Mod5 { ISO_Level3_Shift };
 };

2Gnu · 07-08-2007, 07:47 PM

Hmm. Just looking at /etc/X11/xkb/rules there were a lot of symlinks to the old config following the upgrade. I copied all of the base files from /etc/X11/xkb.old.bak/rules to the xkb/rules dir, replacing the links. No change.

I searched for the patch described above for some detail but didn't find it. Can you tell me more about exactly which file to patch?

Thanks.

thegoofeedude · 07-08-2007, 09:55 PM

I believe I have pinpointed my particular problem to the ati driver or xinerama. Here's how I narrowed it down:
1. I ssh'ed into my Slackware 12 box from another computer.
2. I tried Ctrl+Alt+Fn on my Slackware box, leading to a suppposedly unrecoverable blank screen.
3. At the blank screen, I typed in my username and password and logged into the virtual terminal (using ssh I was able to confirm that the login was successful, and keyboard worked perfectly the whole time.)
4. I killed X from ssh, and screen stayed blank.
5. On the blank screen where I was logged in (on the local keyboard,) I typed startx, and successfully started X again -- getting to the KDE desktop.

All of the above had xinerama enabled with the ati driver. I copied Slackware's default xorg.conf-vesa to xorg.conf, and restarted X (no xinerama.) Virtual terminals worked perfectly at this time. In both of these xorg.conf's, the keyboard section is identical. The only difference is in the monitor, device, and serverlayout sections.

Has anybody successfully installed the fglrx driver in Slackware 12?

P.S. At all times during the above tests, "cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log |grep EE" showed no X errors.

onebuck · 07-08-2007, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2Gnu

Tried modifying the keyboard section as follows, no change:

Code:

Section "InputDevice"

    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
    Option     "XkbRules"      "xorg"
    Option     "XkbModel"      "pc105"
    Option     "XkbLayout"     "us"
    Option     "XkbVariant"    ""
    Option     "XkbOptions"    ""

EndSection

Hi,

I think the Section should be;

Code:

Section "InputDevice"

    Identifier  "Keyboard1"
    Driver      "kbd"
    Option      "XkbRules"      "xorg"
    Option      "XkbModel"      "pc105"
    Option      "XkbLayout"     "us"
EndSection

I don't think you should be passing a null to the 'XkbVariant' & 'XkbOptions' options. Instead comment them out.

2Gnu · 07-08-2007, 11:25 PM

Thanks. I added those lines from a sample file with comments that listed them as default settings. In or out, they made no difference.

dunric · 07-09-2007, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2Gnu

Hmm. Just looking at /etc/X11/xkb/rules there were a lot of symlinks to the old config following the upgrade. I copied all of the base files from /etc/X11/xkb.old.bak/rules to the xkb/rules dir, replacing the links. No change.

I searched for the patch described above for some detail but didn't find it. Can you tell me more about exactly which file to patch?

Thanks.

save above code in file xkeyboard-config.patch f.E.

run as root

Code:

patch -d /etc/X11/xkb/symbols < /path/to/saved/patch/xkeyboard-config.patch

It shoud display something like "patching file level3" and without errors. This will fix improper settings for Alt key. After X server restart Alt-based key combinations should finally work.

trashbird1240 · 07-09-2007, 09:44 AM

This threw me off last night too.

You have to add the virtual terminals to the getty lines in inittab: if you upgraded to 12.0 and replaced inittab with inittab.new, you have now gone back to the default inittab, which only has the virtual terminal on tty6 for runlevel 4.

Joel

2Gnu · 07-09-2007, 10:12 AM

dunric,

Thanks for hanging with me on this one.
My Slack systems have no "symbols" file in /etc/X11/xkb, but rather a symbols directory with a long list of language layouts and a symbols.dir file. Both are copied from the backup xkb dir.

trashbird1240,

I went to inittab when I first saw the symptom. All is well there and I haven't copied the inittab.new to inittab yet. I understand that in a standard Slack install, not all of the gettys work, but even Ctrl-Alt-F6 no longer works for me in 12.0.

dunric · 07-09-2007, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2Gnu

My Slack systems have no "symbols" file in /etc/X11/xkb, but rather a symbols directory with a long list of language layouts and a symbols.dir file. Both are copied from the backup xkb dir.

Gee, it's about level3 file in /etc/X11/xkb/symbols directory as mentioned in both of my posts

Files come from xkeyboard-config-0.9-noarch-2 package so check if installed.

2Gnu · 07-09-2007, 11:23 AM

Sorry for being dense. I misread it and didn't understand the -d switch for the patch command. I learned two new things today.

Patched as per your instructions. No errors. No change in symptoms. Still no console from ctrl-alt-f6.

edit: In the interest of being thorough, things I've tried since the patch:
Booting to 2.6.18, commenting out the Xinerama, XkbVariant and XkbOptions lines in xorg.conf, using the nv driver and trying KDE instead of XFCE4.

One last piece of data. The Win + b key combo in Amarok doesn't advance to the next track; it puts a b in the search field.

syvy · 07-10-2007, 04:26 AM

Deactivating the keyboard-layouts and xkb-options in kde-settings did it here. Now ctrl+alt+F6 works.