Baslinux mailing list

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

> > I suggest shortening libvga.config to only a few lines.
>
> I will consider this.
>
> > For zgv -M, include '#mouse microsoft'
>
> Is that a PS/2 mouse? The manpage was not very clear.

mouse microsoft is serial
mouse PS2 is ps/2
I have used both.

> > and 'mouse PS2' (unless your kernel supports other mice),
>
> You can insmod serial (included). IMPS2 might be useful...

Do you need to insmod serial to use a serial mouse?
(Does serial need some other module inserted first?)

> > and change mouse_accel_type power to mouse_accel_type off (because some mice
> > act really screwy with power).
>
> OK. That section can definitely be trimmed down.
>
> > I doubt any USB computers have plain VGA video,
>
> I doubt that any 586+ PCs do not have a VGA-compatible card.

I will try the Matrox card as plain VGA and report back soon.


> > so I suggest omitting that
> > long list of chipsets and using:
> > chipset VESA
> > (improves resolution for Trident, Tseng, SiS and Virge, but messes up some
> > other video chips, so maybe remark it out.)
>
> It would only take a few bytes if I listed the other chipsets in
> space-delimited form. And I can only access VESA modes with
> chipset VESA.

Okay.
> > #chipset VGA  (I hope this will work with ATI cards, which
> > require special modelines).

> Works with this ATI card. Special modelines?? I have not encountered
> any of that.
There is a file explaining how to change the modelines.  I have not tried 
this yet.  ATI Mach32 and 64 need different modelines, says the README.

> > You could put in a few lines explaining what might need to be edited, in
> > this file and maybe in a readme of some sort somewhere else, with
> > additional instructions on mounting /dev/sda1 and /dev/hda1 etc.
>
> And maybe some additional scripts/aliases for mounting.
>
> > You can leave out the rest.  Save 16K
>
> The 16K is uncompressed.
But it is unnecessary and makes it harder to find the essential parts.

> > and put back 'more'.
>
> How about 'less' instead?
More or less.

> > I notice you have three types of ppp*.o module, but not slhc.
>
> Oops.
>
> > What do we do with the ppp's?
>
> Nothing yet. I should remove them until I actually build a pppd
> that will work with them.

That would be nice - and an eznet?


> > I will take one of these disks to test with mice, keyboards, webcams and
> > printers on Thursday.
>
> webcams will not work. Sorry. Maybe next release.
I tried with mouse today and don't know how to make it work.
> > What is mdev?
>
> It specifies where your mouse is. I have an example line in
> the libvga.config.
>
> > Do you want to ln -s psaux mouse as a default?
>
> Maybe. Or set mdev in libvga.config.
>
> > And set PS2 as default in the .config file?
>
> OK.
>
> > Are more computers using PS/2 than serial mice now?
>
> I believe so. Laptops are mostly PS/2 for internal mice, aren't they?

I only use serial mice if I can't get a PS/2 header to work, which 
sometimes does happen.  One of our boards keeps losing its PS/2 mouse (in 
Win98).  Our 486 and later laptops are PS/2.

> > > printer.o + standard USB hci and usbcore
> > This 1-floppy kernel plus printer.o?
>
> Yes.
>
> > > First you need to mknod /dev/usblp0 or /dev/usb/lp0
> > Thanks.  Should you include that in /dev, next edition?
>
> No, you will want a big distribution for printing.

So is printer.o useful only for detecting the printer's existence, or what 
do we do with it?

> > > I have not seen a USB printer that will print plain text. Usually you
> > > need to get gs and set that up to actually print anything. You might
> > > need something else too, depending on the printer model. Some
> > > printers might print PS or PCL.
> >
> > So you can't use the single-floppy linux to test most usb printers?
>
> Right. You might be able to use ghostscript to convert some files to
> printer language, and then bring them along with you somehow (did
> you notice parport, ppa, and imm.o?)
Yes, for parport zip drives on machines that also have usb.

I need to research usb printer language, don't speak a word of it yet.

> > > > usb-serial?
> > >
> > > I included the generic module. It should work with most devices
> > > after you mknod. If it fails to insert, you can use the vendor= and
> > > product= options to specify the USB device ID of the device that
> > > you are trying to use.
> >
> > Do you do this at boot time?
>
> No, only at insmod time.
>
> > Is this for usb modems?
>
> No. They need acm.o.

So what uses usb-serial?

> > > Yes.
> > >
> > > echo "chipset VGA" >libvga.config
> > > echo "mouse PS2" >>libvga.config
> > > echo "HorizSync 40 70" >>libvga.config
> > >
> > > etc.
> >
> > These lines get added at the end?
>
> Yes. One '>' erases whatever is in libvga.config first.
> Two '>' will append to the end of the file.

> > > Press 'Z' while you are viewing an image to make it the same size as your
> > > screen. I need to add a manual for zgv...
> >
> > Z appears to toggle the resolution.
>
> It appears to toggle the zoom level for me.

Is this not the same thing?

> > After using e3pi to edit libvga.config, press ] to increase resolution.
> > zgv -z (zoom) shows everything screen-size.
>
> Once you add a mouse, you can right-click and get a menu.
>
> David

zgv -h produces several pages of help screen, including -M.

I will test the matrox as chipset VGA.
Sindi