Re: Tasks

[Andrew Doran <ad%NetBSD.org@localhost>]

On Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 09:49:12AM +0000, Stephen Borrill wrote:

> On Fri, 13 Feb 2009, Andrew Doran wrote:
> >- Another part is getting X to autoconfigure. From my perspective this 
> >means
> > doing a bit of research, I don't know well enough what happens with it. Is
> > X -configure smart enough these days?
> 
> Pretty much except for a few quirks.
> 
> I've put a script from one of our (my company's) projects at 
> ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/misc/sborrill/xdriver

Looks like it is actually here:

        ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/misc/sborrill/xconfig
 
> It's very dependent on the specific infrastructure around it which 
> I'll mention here for reference:
> - Main system is in a ramdisk embedded in the kernel (but running 
> multiuser)
> - Various modules such as shared libraries and X are available as 
> compressed (and encrypted in our case) vnds
> - rc sends all output to a log file rather than the console. Hence you'll 
> see lots of > /dev/tty for printing messages to the user
> - It will run with just 4 or 5 files (kernel, lib, X and gui vnds) which 
> can be loaded from CD, ffs, pxeboot/tftp/http and does not need any local 
> storage
> - Any local storage is run in read-only mode (except when writing back 
> persistent settings - I had to comment out your code to stop downgrading 
> from read-write to read-only that was introduced just before 5.0)
> 
> In essence the script runs X -probeonly -configure and then post processes 
> the generated Xorg.conf to determine the driver being used (which can be 
> stored for future reference if there is any local storage). Certain quirks 
> are applied based on experience. These include falling back to VESA in 
> certain circumstances (namely DDC failing with the intel driver) and 
> selecting software cursor on some chipsets. The Xorg.conf actually used 
> for X is then autogenerated. The script I've uploaded is just part of 
> this.

This is great, thank you!
 
> > Can we figure out how to set the
> > keyboard layout given what we ask in sysinst? Is it worth looking at what
> > Ubuntu/Fedora do? Anyone want to add the code to sysinst? Should be simple
> > enough.
> 
> That's got to be pretty simple. What we actually do with the keyboard 
> layout determined depends on how we generate the Xorg.conf

If I recall we presently only ask for the timezone which is a bit different
from asking for the keyboard layout. If so it could use improvement but I
suppose it is not critical for producing a prototype.

Thanks,
Andrew