>Answers in-line below...

Thank you, Paul, for your time and answers.

>(My expertise, being the author of SLOTMAN...)  Depending on the model
>of Macintosh you have, and the model of nubus video card, SLOTMAN _may_
>make it possible for you to run Xwindows in color.

...or grayscale, doesn't it? Or is there a conceptual difference?

>It <SLOTMAN> uses the same
>auto-configure mechanisms, so you don't have to do anything special to
>get it to work.

I didn't mention in the original post that I've tried it, about a month
ago, and my system wouldn't boot 8-( It complained that the second grf is
not configured, and then hung. The kernel (SLOTMAN) changes almost daily,
though, (OK, weekly 8-), as far as I understood, so I probably gotta give
it another shot.

>> 3. I have a 2x external CD-ROM:NEC 55 firmware 1.0. If I have it on during
>> boot the system hangs with about 20 identical lines of text mentioning
>> "rogue device" or something. Is this a known incompatibility, or do I need
>> to do some setup for it to work? I also have a Tandberg tape in the same
>> case, but the messages seem to relate to the CD-ROM. I can provide
>> additional message text if needed.
>
>The additional text might be useful.  But the mention of "rogue" is
>specific to the tape drive stuff.  My Exabyte-8200 was a rogue, too,
>until I figured out what it needed.

It goes:

esp0 at obio0: address 0x897000: NCR53C96, 16 MHz, SCSI ID 7
scsibus0 at esp0: 8 targets
sd0 at scsibus0 targ0 lun0: <info on my hard drive>
st0 at scsibus0 targ1 lun0: <info on my Tandberg drive> ...
sequential/removable
st0: rogue, drive empty
esp0: SCSI bus parity error
data interrupt but no count left.

Two last lines repeat about 15 times and then the machine hangs. So you
were right, it doesn't even get to the CD-ROM. The light on the CD-ROM goes
up and stays indefinitely, though.

>> 4. Is it possible to utilize second monitor without X? If so, what kind of
>> configuration do I have to do?
>
>What would you use it for?  After all, you've only got one keyboard!  :)

You are right, I confused the second monitor with external terminal, which
it is not.

>Edit your /etc/group file and add your new user name to the end of the
>line that contains "wheel" - this will make you a member of the wheel
>group, and allow you to use su.

That worked. And I also updated the /etc/passwd - there is an entry for the
group id as well. Don't know if it made any difference, but I did it for
the sake of consistency.

>> I installed man pages for
>> xfm, but after formatting the page is presented in a narrow column in the
>> middle of the screen, without headers and page breaks. The source appears
>> to have something looking like groff commands, though.
>
>How did you install the man page?

Well, I actually left it in the distribution directory and just linked it
to an entry in one of the man directories... quick and dirty, but worked
with fvwm2. BTW, xfm's man page is in the form of man.n and mann - whatever
that means.

>>> 7. If I try to run xman under X I get a message that MANPATH is incorrect.
>> To which directory MANPATH must point, in what file is it set up for xman?
>> I seem to have my MANPATH all right, pointing to /usr/X11R6/man or cat or
>> both...
>
>I have ``setenv MANPATH "/usr/share/man:/usr/local/man:/usr/X11R6/man"''
>in my .xsession file.

I made it work, although on my system it had to be set up in .cshrc, not
.xinitrc (I don't use .xsession - what's the difference?). Now xman works
fine. When I tried to set it up in .xinitrc I got ``unknown command'' (or
such).

>> 8. Where and how do I change what application starts up when I doubleclick
>> the file? All text files want to fire emacs, which I don't have, I'd much
>> rather use a simple text editor (textedit - or something - one that's
>> included)
>
>Double-click files?  What window manager / file browser are you using?

xfm; does it NOT open the preset application depending on the file type or
extension?

>> 9. How do I load pager (and other modules) at startup of X? Is it the same
>> as apps? Doesn't seem to be...
>
>Should be - check out your .xinitrc and/or .xsession file (depending on
>how you start X).

Actually, not. When you try to run it from the command line (as .xinitrc
would) you get something to the effect that it can only be run from within
fvwm2, so I put a line in .fvwm2rc:

Module FvwmPager 0 0

and now it loads every time I start X.

>> I use startx, .xinitrc, fvwm, xfm. Hardware: 24 Meg RAM, 500 Meg HD, Quadra
>> 650. External video card: Macintosh II video card 1987. Internal video: 1
>> Meg
>
>If you want to try, your configuration _should_ work with the SLOTMAN
>kernel.  You can ftp it from the ftp://ftp.whooppee.com/pub/slotman
>directory on my home server.

I will.

>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>| Paul Goyette       | Public Key fingerprint:   | E-mail addresses:        |
>| Network Consultant |  0E 40 D2 FC 2A 13 74 A0  |  paul@whooppee.com       |
>| and kernel hacker  |  E4 69 D5 BE 65 E4 56 C6  |  paul.goyette@ascend.com |
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yuri Oskotsky.

==========================================================================
When you feel you are running late, it helps to slow down your pace a bit.
                                                  Abram Terz.