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[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

> From August of this year (2005).

I have two computers with two PCI Tseng video cards, both VESA 2.0, which 
I can use with David's framebuffer kernel to get 100 and 132 column small 
text, or for xfbdev.   I can also get 100 column text without framebuffer 
using any Tseng card, which S3 can't do (just 132).  So I am persisting in 
trying to make the cards work in Linux.

BL2 xset does not work with BL2 Xvesa (from delilinux) or xfbdev (complied 
by David Moberg) and therefore since Abiword requires xset to set the 
fonts directory, I need to use standard X for Abiword and BL2. (BL3 xset 
works properly with Xvesa).  Standard X did not work correctly with rxvt 
until I edited rgb.txt to correct an error (related to Black or black - I 
had to add one of these, I forget which).

I can't use BL3 xset easily with BL2 because it uses a different 
libX11.so.6.  I think there is some way to point xset at an older version 
of this library but if possible I would prefer not to get into that.

The 2.5MB Tseng video card in one computer works well with the SVGA 
server because xset works with normal X (but not with Xvesa).

Both cards display with Xvesa but they crash frequently on exit from X 
(making the VT unusable until I reboot).  (And Abiword won't work with 
Xvesa because xset won't work with it).

The second Tseng card (with 2MB  RAM) won't work for me with SVGA server 
and horizsync 31.5-56.4 or even lower frequencies on an IBM monitor that 
worked okay with a Matrox card at 56.4 horizsync.

My other PCI video cards are not VESA 2.0 so won't do framebuffer.
My AGP video cards are VESA 2.0 but can't be used together with a Hercules 
(MGA) card, which I use in order to view on two monitors at once (MGA uses 
different RAM from the text part of PCI VGA).  So I really want to be able 
to use this PCI VESA 2.0 card with X.

When I try to run X (xinit) using SGVA X server on this second card:

Using VESA driver ..... VBE 2.0
_X11TransSocketUNIXCOnnect:  Can't connect:  errno = 111
(I get many repeats of this until I Ctrl-C to give up).

I set up XF86Config using xf86config (I think I also first tried Steven's 
default for 256 colors, which is enough for Abiword).

BL3 works fine with Abiword and Xvesa.  BL2 Xvesa won't work with BL2 
xset.

So I can chroot to BL3 to run Abiword if needed, but there is still the 
problem of Xvesa crashing with this Tseng card.  It also sometimes freezes 
up, or does other odd things (moves the screen halfway to the left and 
wraps, with xpdf).

I have not tried W32 driver.  It and SVGA worked equally well on the other 
Tseng.  Should I try it?  Or attempt to make BL3 xset work in BL2 and if 
so please remind me how to point it at the libc5 libX11.so.6.

I am back to this because today someone to whom I sent a text file wanted 
it in WORD format.  I tried VDE under dosemu, but it would not Import any 
format (invalid key) and I did not want to retype the file as a WORD file. 
WP5.1 does not work properly under dosemu.  They were in a hurry so I did 
not want to reboot into DOS, import to WP51, reformat, reboot into Linux, 
and go back online to send the file.  In the meantime they found someone 
else to do the job in WORD.

I should have thought of using Abiword in BL3.  But xpdf was also having 
problems under Xvesa.  And then X crashed on exit.


On Thu, 18 Aug 2005, sindi keesan wrote:

> On Thu, 18 Aug 2005, David Moberg wrote:
>
> > On 8/18/05, sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org> wrote:
>
>  Or Abiword once I set it up
> > > for
> > > > BL2 (I need to add xset or something that David explained).  I could also
> > > > do my typing with the text editor and import the file into Abiword to add
> > > > underlines, which would certainly be easier to learn if not to do.
> > >
> > > I added xset (from xbin.tgz) to BL2 and all the dependencies are present.
> > > (In BL3 I do not have dependency libX11.so.6 but Abiword works anyway).
> >
> > I thought that BL3 came with libX11.so.6.
>
> Mine does not have it.  Abiword still works but maybe xset it not needed.
>
> > > Before this and on the other computer, typing abiword gives me
> > > error messages:
> > >
> > > "AbiWord could not load the following font or fontset from the X Window
> > > System display server:
> > > ....Times New Roman - regular .......
> > >
> > > Often this error is the result of invoking AbiWord directly instead of
> > > through its wrapper shell script.  The script dynamically adds the
> > > AbiSuite font directory to your X Window System display server font path
> > > before running the executable."
> > >
> > > Where do I get a wrapper shell script?
> >
> > It comes with the BL3 abiword.tgz package. It is located at
> > /usr/local/AbiSuite/bin/AbiWord.
>
> I get the same error message using the script as with plain abiword.
> If I try to use xset I get a different error message.
>
> > > It is not needed in BL3, is it?
> >
> > It is needed in BL3.
> >
> > > I tried adding to /etc/profile ':/usr/local/AbiSuite/fonts' (without the '
> > > ') which did not help. Where is the X display server font path specified?
> >
> > On full-size XFree86, it is specified in XF86Config. Sometimes the X
> > font server also provides fonts for X. Otherwise, you can add additional
> > font paths with xset. On both Xvesa and full-size X, you can add
> > additional font paths on the Xserver command line.
>
> BL3 has no XF86Config, I looked.  xset is not working for me.
> mkfontdir
> xset fp+ /usr/X11R6/AbiSuite/fonts   - gives error messages
> xset rehash
>
>
> How do I add font paths on the command line (for Xves or xfbdev - which
> works better with Tseng as I was able to exit three different ways without
> crashing)?
>
>
> > > Steven must have done something clever to get it to work in BL3.
> >
> > He statically compiled it, for one thing. I think he also needed to modify
> > xinit or something like that so that Xvesa would work with it.
>
> I am using the static version from BL3.
> In .xinitrc:cd
> export DISPLAY=localhost:0.0 - it did not help to add this to BL2.
> I think it has something to do with using BL3 in X as a terminal.
>
> > > Clicking OK got me back to the rxvt with:
> > > Xlib:  extension "XFree86-Misc" missing or display ":0.0".
> >
> > Did this error come from xset?
> >
> > > Has David or Steven or anyone successfully used the static abiword in BL2?
> >
> > I haven't tried to use it in BL2.
> >
> > Since the script seems to not work for you, try running xset first (to set up
> > the font path):
> >
> > xset +fp /usr/local/AbiSuite/fonts/
>
> I tried this, also fp+ (to add at end instead of beginning).
>
> X Error:  86
> Request Major code 51 0 (big O)
> Error Serial #7
> Current Serial #9
>
>
> > Now check that this worked (use xset q to display the new font path).
>
> I get some more error messages including
> Xlib:  extension "XFree86-Misc" missing on display ":0.0".
>
> > Make sure that /usr/local/AbiSuite/fonts contains the fonts and that there
> > are no broken links or missing fonts.dir/alias files.
>
> Lots of fonts there including fonts.dir and fonts.scale but not
> fonts.alias (which I do have in BL3 in another fonts directory under
> X11R6).  Do I need to copy that over?  It did not contain Times.
> I checked every font directory I could find in both BLs.
>
> > AbiWord should work now. You can run the actual binary with
> > /usr/local/AbiSuite//bin/AbiWord_s (but you will probably need to
> > use the AbiWord script to set up the environment variables).
>
> It does not, maybe because xset fp+ does not seem to work.
> Have you a copy of static Abiword to try with BL2?
>
> Does Abiword really need 2.4MB of fonts?  Could I reduce this to just one
> monospaced and one proportional font and set up some alias to point to
> these?  I don't print with Abiword, just want to be able to type files and
> email them to someone who will edit them and decorate to their own liking.
>
> I can always use Abiword after chrooting to BL3.
>
> > David
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>
> keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org
> SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org
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keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org