Thanks David, I think I'm clear on this now.  By the sound of it, I will
also have to do the sneakernet thing (burn CD's at work and take 'em home
to compile).  I also echo David's request: if anyone would care to place
a pre-built set of binaries on the net, this would be a great service to
all.

	Andrew

Andrew Howard                           email: ahoward@pollux.usc.edu
Department of Computer Science          http:  www-robotics.usc.edu/~ahoward 
University of Southern California       phone: 1 (213) 740 6416
Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A. 90089-0781      fax:   1 (213) 740 7512
    << Insert pithy saying here >>>


On Mon, 29 Jan 2001, David Henderson wrote:

> Andrew,
> 
> I started up NetBSD using Open Firmware talking through the serial port
> ttya, the default for my StarMax 5000 machine. Booting Open Firmware set up
> this way, NetBSD is inheriting the redirection and using the firmware
> drivers with the console coming out on the ttya.
> 
> I then made a real user, shutdown NetBSD and reconfigured the OF variables
> to boot the NetBSD operating system directly. This worked, and the StarMax
> keyboard and monitor came alive. The monitor isn't sync'd, just like
> described in the NetBSD ppc FAQ section on the StarMax 5000.
> 
> I then pondered the unsync'd monitor problem. I could make out the gist of
> what NetBSD was telling me, but only because I knew what was coming. I ran
> the startx script and saw the unsync'd X display, but I don't have the
> knowledge to tell the firmware or kernel to configure X for my video board
> chipset.
> 
> XFree86 4.0.x provides several configuration tools, and I'm pretty sure
> that once I get the video card configured OK with them, my monitor will
> sync up. My earlier email was addressing my ignorance on how to get the
> console to come up with a sync'd screen before I run the startx command.
> 
> What I plan to do (but work and family matters occupy my time), is to get
> the XFree86 version 4.0.x and NetBSD patches, and put them on an CDROM
> using MacOS and Toast. I can then use the NetBSD system with the serial
> port to compile the new version of XFree86 and replace the old X server on
> the file system. I am using a CDROM for this because my high bandwidth
> connection is at work and sneakernet is the best way to move multimegabytes
> of data.
> 
> David
> 
> P.S. - Would anyone care to post a NetBSD package version of XFree86 v4.0.x
> compiled with at least a starter set of patches?
> 
> >Hi David:
> >
> >Thanks for the response, but I'm not quite sure I understand you.
> >Are you saying that the *only* way to get X running is by patching and
> >compiling the 4.0.x sources?  Is there no way to get the version included
> >in the NetBSD 1.5 distribution working?
> >
> >*Sigh* I guess this means I have to get the modem working before I can
> >even think of starting X.  To date, however, all attempts at getting the
> >modem to talk have met with frosty silence...
> >
> >		Andrew
> >
> >Andrew Howard                           email: ahoward@pollux.usc.edu
> >Department of Computer Science          http:  www-robotics.usc.edu/~ahoward
> >University of Southern California       phone: 1 (213) 740 6416
> >Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A. 90089-0781      fax:   1 (213) 740 7512
> >    << Insert pithy saying here >>>
> >
> >
> >On Mon, 29 Jan 2001, David Henderson wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Andrew,
> >>
> >> XFree86 version 4.0.x has two configuration tools that might solve your
> >> difficulty... see the forwarded email from Thomas Klausner.
> >>
> >> I'm in the process of bringing up NetBSD/macppc on a StarMax; currently the
> >> biggest problem is the video doesn't sync and the only way I can run is via
> >> a serial port to another computer running zterm. I'm able to switch NetBSD
> >> console to the screen OK, but un-sync'd monitor isn't very usable.
> >>
> >> Switching to a more modern version of XFree86 would solve part of this
> >> difficulty for me. However I still need to get video drivers that sync up
> >> the ATI RAGE II (ATI Mach64 chipset) card to run before executing startx.
> >>
> >> Does anyone know how this gets put in the startup script? Is it legit to
> >> invoke XConfigure before doing startx?~
> >>
> >> David
> >>
> >> >X-From_: port-macppc-owner-david.g.henderson=technologist.com@netbsd.org
> >> >Fri Jan 26 06:39 PST 2001
> >> >Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 15:37:28 +0100
> >> >From: Thomas Klausner <wiz@danbala.ifoer.tuwien.ac.at>
> >> >To: Michael Jessop <mjessop@copyright.com>
> >> >Cc: port-macppc@netbsd.org
> >> >Subject: Re: I recently saw a query about xfree86 v.4 on netbsd/ppc...
> >> >Mail-Followup-To: Michael Jessop <mjessop@copyright.com>,
> >> >	port-macppc@netbsd.org
> >> >Mime-Version: 1.0
> >> >Sender: port-macppc-owner@netbsd.org
> >> >Precedence: list
> >> >Delivered-To: port-macppc@netbsd.org
> >> >
> >> >Hi!
> >> >
> >> >Mutt made me believe that Michael Jessop wrote:
> >> >> ...but did not see any responses to the person's question.  Has there
> >>been
> >> >> anymore progress and is there an estimate as to when there will be a
> >>solid,
> >> >> working version of xf86 4.0.x for netbsd ppc?
> >> >
> >> >I'm currently happily running 4.0.1 on my Powerbook G3 with tsubai's
> >> >patches, even >8bit.
> >> >
> >> >Just get a clean XFree86 4.0.1 source and apply
> >> >	ftp://nandra.iri.co.jp/pub/NetBSD/macppc/XFree86/diff-2000-11-23.gz
> >> >
> >> >Bye,
> >> > Thomas
> >> >
> >> >--
> >> >Thomas Klausner - wiz@danbala.tuwien.ac.at
> >> >To live for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain
> >> >that sustain life, not the top. -- Robert M. Pirsig
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> 
> 
>