Greg Dunn wrote:

[snip]
 
> I sought to bring up color X on my machine this
> weekend, to compare and contrast with the Linux and HPUX boxes I use at
> work.  My machine:  IIci, 20MB RAM, TFB video, Asante MacCon ethernet card,
> Apple ext. II kbd, Apple ADB mouse, and three 80MB hard drives. :-)

I have a very similar setup sitting next to me here, so I can tell you
that it is possible :-)

[snip]

> Emboldened by my success, I decided to go for broke and install the SLOTMAN
> kernel and OSFA color X server.  At this point, having the ability to
> select the active kernel from the booter is a lifesaver. 

It is also quite possibly a problem.  More below.

> I booted Paul's
> latest SLOTMAN-HWD-NCR, but forgot to put the Mac in color mode.  It did
> boot to userspace without a fuss.  Just for grins, I softlinked X ->
> Xmac68k.OSFA and invoked startx; the OSFA server failed to connect, giving
> socket errors, and finally gave up.  This may be a separate problem.

Next time, you might try doing a "startx >& error.log" and see what it has
to say.  Sometimes the error messages are useful (but not always).

> I rebooted to MacOS, told the booter to leave me in 256 color mode, and
> booted NetBSD.  SLOTMAN hung as it was trying to mount the root partition.
> Trying again, it made it to the /usr partition before hanging.  SCSI
> problems?

Try again :-)  You might also try an SBC version of the kernel.

> Trying a different tack, I booted the HWDIRECT#61 kernel while leaving the
> display in 8-bit color.  It thought the Mac was in monochrome mode, but
> booted to userspace.  Must not be a problem with the video card. :-)

Maybe not.  I've seen some screwy behavior recently.  You should be able
to boot in B&W and have the SLOTMAN kernel switch to color mode for you.

> I tried a few other things for completeness, but didn't learn anything
> useful.  It's really late, or I'd keep hammering at it for a while longer.
> I plan to keep at this tomorrow till I get it working.  A couple of
> questions: (the answers might be obvious if I had more sleep last night :-)
> 
> 1) Did I goof in using SLOTMAN in 8-bit mode?  I thought it should boot OK.
> Or is it possibly the SCSI driver, since it hung while trying to mount
> partitions from my three SCSI drives?  Should I try the SBC SLOTMAN?

Please try the SBC SLOTMAN.  It might not fix the X problems, but it might
get around the hang during boot problem.  I generally boot in 1-bit mode
so that 'dt' will work, but 8-bit should be fine.

> 2) Does the OSFA X server work in 1- or 8-bit modes?  I thought I deduced
> that it did, from the FAQs.

It should work just fine in both (and does for me).  One caveat, tho:
I've noticed that the server tends to come up in B&W the first time
around, but if I quit and restart it works just fine in 8-bit color.

> 3) Should I install the video LKM with a GENERIC or HWDIRECT kernel, and
> avoid the OSF X server?  Does the OSFA require a HWDIRECT kernel?

Maybe.  No.

If you do install the LKM, make sure that your booting kernel is named
/netbsd.  If not, the LKM will likely crash the boot process.  In general,
it is always a good idea to have your booting kernel be /netbsd (mine is
just a hard link).  This might be the source of some of your troubles.

> I'll probably figure this out after a few hours of combinations and
> permutations, but if anyone can enlighten me as to what I've done wrong in
> the creation of this long boring discourse :-) I'd be grateful.

Hopefully, some of the above will work.  I've somewhat extensively tested
the OSFA server on my Q700 and it works for most situations that you'd
expect it to (it does some funky stuff with multiple monitors).  For my
IIci with the TFB, I use the video LKM and the color version of the 1.3 X
server (although I suppose the OSFA server should work almost as well,
barring that strange "B&W on the first try" thing).

Good luck.

Later.

-- 
Colin Wood                                 cwood@ichips.intel.com
Component Design Engineer - MD6                 Intel Corporation
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I speak only on my own behalf, not for my employer.