Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan2 AT cyberspace.org>]

> With icewm you click on the penguin to get a menu.  In that
> menu you will find an xterm.

I think I read that icewm does not need a mouse.  What file would I look
in for instructions how to use it without a mouse?  (I may not have the
option of using a mouse.)

> > I had answered ttyS0 (com1) in your little program 
> 
> That would have created a link from mouse to /dev/ttyS0.
> 
> > and also filled that in with the configuration program.
> 
> And that probably by-passed the mouse link.

The link is still there and /dev/ttyS0 is in the configuration file.
The mouse worked and then stopped again.  I did not change the link.
 
> > Every few minutes I am getting the message Id S1 respawning 
> > too fast, disabled for 5 minutes - now what is going on?  
> 
> It sounds to me like you changed something in /etc/inittab
> If so, what?

I did nothing to inittab.  This problem has gone away on its own, only
occurred during one session.  Things are acting very unpredictable even
when I don't make any changes - they work, then they don't work, then they
sometimes work again.

> > I have an older keyboard (F1-F10) on the left.  None of my 
> > books tell you how to describe it.  84 keys, I think.  
> 
> man XF86Config
> /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb

Thanks, will look for that man page.


Further peculiarities:

Yesterday the mouse would not work at all, today it worked (for one
session, until I added back icewm).  I think it also worked the very first
time for 2 seconds (I could move the X about an inch) - I thought it was
just a defective or dirty mouse at the time.  IRQ conflict?

Yesterday when I was set to mono I could load X (no xterm at the time) on
the TTL/Hercules screen.  Today it puts itself onto the VGA screen even
when started from the TTL screen.

Yesterday I could toggle between VTs even after loading X.  Today I cannot
- the X screen (after you toggle from and then to it) displays only a lot
of text about modes and mouse problems.  I cannot exit X after this
(Ctrl-Alt-Backspace do nothing).

What package(s) should I uninstall and then reinstall if I want to start
all over again (keeping better notes)?  

Would it help to remove the Hercules card?  To remove (rmmod) mdacon?  To
change to a newer keyboard?  To take out the Pentium overdrive cpu and put
in a standard 486DX2-66?    This intermittent nature of whether things
work leads me to suspect a hardware defect.  Or BL2 simply does not like
my hardware.  It liked it just fine before X.  I was not using a gpm
mouse.

Does Opera 5.05 require a mouse?  Can I edit the XF86Config so there is NO
mouse and see if it will fix the other problems?

I found one mention of the same error message on the web in German but the
writer seemed even more confused than me.  Fatal server error  /dev/ttyS)
unable to get status of mouse fd (Input/output error).

What is 'fd'?  

Thanks for your patience in helping me attack one piece of this at a time.