X and Fluxbox :: SVGA Xserver won't load

yeah!!!! because I'm like...TOTALLY confused now!!

can you put the instructions on a website or something? so I don't have to sort thru 3 different threads to try to find the actual instructions!?

Okay, I'll try to remember exactly how I did it.
First, you have to enable apt-get and apt-get install xserver-svga
That will also install with it xserver-common-v3. Then you run the deb2dsl utility on /usr/bin/XF86_SVGA. It you don't know how to do this there is a pdf file in the documentation directory where you downloaded dsl.
Anyway, then after you have made the XF86_SVGA.dsl, you run mydsl-load XF86_SVGA.dsl
You also then probably need to run /usr/bin/XF86_SVGA --xf86config as root or else get the xf86config.dsl and run that -- this part I can't help you with as I already had a known good working /etc/X11/XF86Config that I saved from a old redhat install on this same laptop.
So then I had a XF86_SVGA that would run but all it had was a grey screen with a cursor that I could move around. So then I found that other guys post about this subject, and he says:
remember to...
sudo chown root XF86_SVGA
sudo chgrp root XF86_SVGA
sudo chmod +s XF86_SVGA

Im still using the XF86Config.neomagic I got with the XBF tar file. XBF/XFcom expected the XF86Config file in /etc but XF86_SVGA expects it in /etc/X11

2) Edit your ~/.xserverrc

comment out everything thats there and add...

exec /usr/bin/X11/XF86_SVGA -bpp 16 -nolisten tcp &> /dev/null

3) Edit your ~/.xinitrc

add the following before starting fluxbox or your window manager... (you dont have to do this if your DEL & BackSpace keys work properly without it)

xmodmap -e "keycode 22 = BackSpace"
xmodmap -e "keycode 107 = Delete"

So I did all that and then ran startx as the dsl user and it worked.

Sorry I can't be of more help. Getting the XF86Config right is just trial and error for me, and I had the old one that I knew worked so didn't mess with it. I did try the xf86config earlier but couldn't get anything that worked right with my video chip because my chip wasn't in the card database in that program. Yours might be.
And I tried uploading my XF86_SVGA.dsl to the DSL extensions thing but it wouldn't go -- but it's pretty easy to make your own.

hseaver, thanks again for the input, but it still doesn't work. Here is what I did.
OK, here we go:
I did a fresh install of DSL (standard), rebooted, configured the network, add a user, enabled apt,
apt-get install xserver-svga (also xserver-common-v3)
$ deb2dsl /usr/bin/XF86_SVGA
$ mydsl-load XF86_SVGA.dsl
installed my proven good XF86Config file in /etc/X11
from /usr/bin/X11:
sudo chown root XF86_SVGA
sudo chgrp root XF86_SVGA
sudo chmod root XF86SVGA
Edited my ~/.xserverrc
When I startx as user, X won't load and complains about my keymap.
When I startx as root, X loads with the old crappy xvesa server with 16 colors. Sometimes I have some applications when right clicking on the desktop, sometimes I don't. I never get any desktop icons.

When I type XF86_SVGA as user (or as root), X loads with a grey screen and a spastic mouse (no fluxbox)

When I read your previous posts (page 2) you fixed the problem of X loading with a blank grey screen by doing stuff found on the linked web site, I'm assuming it was the "sudo chown root XF86_SVGA" commands. They didn't do any good for me.

I think that I'm giving it up DSL. It needs a little more work, or some better instructins if you need SVGA support.

Quote (markm @ Mar. 16 2006,18:23)

When I startx as user, X won't load and complains about my keymap.

When I startx as root, X loads with the old crappy xvesa server with 16 colors. Sometimes I have some applications when right clicking on the desktop, sometimes I don't. I never get any desktop icons.

When I type XF86_SVGA as user (or as root), X loads with a grey screen and a spastic mouse (no fluxbox)

When I read your previous posts (page 2) you fixed the problem of X loading with a blank grey screen by doing stuff found on the linked web site, I'm assuming it was the "sudo chown root XF86_SVGA" commands. They didn't do any good for me.

Yeah, that's weird. I was getting that same complaint about keymap, but it was the chown, chmod, etc that fixed that for me.
But that reminds me -- it still isn't right, because I don't get the icons, but I can only configure it at 8 bit color, anything else and it can't start, so maybe it needs more colors to run the icons? I can get at everything anyway, with the mouse opening menus, but some other stuff is weird too -- the xshells, for instance, the menu offers light, dark, and transparent. The light and dark are backwards -- if I choose light, I get a black xterm window with white type, and visa versa. And some apps, like Ted, I can't open a new document, clicking on New in the menu does nothing and ^n doesn't work either -- both work in the cd version on my desktop box. So I'm not sure what's with that, maybe I need to look for a different keymap or play with my XF86Config some more.

I'm sorry, I'm still confused.

where exactally do I get

/usr/bin/X11/XF86_SVGA
/etc/X11/XF86Config

from an ftp site somewhere?

and how do I get apt-get? if it doesn't come with the .iso, I don't know where to get it.

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