X Configuration Issues

Getting X / X11 / X11R6 to Run on Linux / BSD

Use Xorg and not X

Start X for testing with the command Xorg.

Similarly, use xorgcfg to generate a configuration file.

Initial Configuration

If your video chipset can be automatically recognized, you may be able to generate an initial configuration like this:
# Xorg -configure
# mv /root/xorg.conf /etc/X11/

That Configuration Will Fail Because There's No Mouse

X won't start without a mouse. So, you need to figure out what your mouse device is called. It's probably:

Still no mouse? You must figure out where it is, or where it should be, before continuing. On Linux this may mean some messing around with kernel modules.

List currently-loaded kernel modules with lsmod.

Load a kernel module with modprobe — likely suspects include:
# modprobe psaux
# modprobe psmouse
# modprobe usbmouse
# modprobe sermouse
For a list of possible modules, try this:
# modprobe -l | egrep 'mouse|usb/input'
The idea is that you should load the right module and the device will magically appear under /dev/mice/.

OK, that wasn't the right module, let's unload that one and try another:
# rmmod logibm

All right, I think that I found my mouse, so now what? Make sure that you really detected the device you think you did by running a command like this, with the mouse device name changed as needed:
# od /dev/mouse
Run your mouse in circles and verify that you see output. Then how it in place with one hand and click the buttons with the other, again looking for output. If you see output, kill the octal dump with ^C.

It looks like the device is detected, now configure X — Add or modify your /etc/X11/xorg.conf so it contains a block that looks like the following. You must adjust the Protocol and Device values to reflect your hardware and OS:

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Mouse0"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option      "Protocol" "wsmouse"
	Option      "Device" "/dev/wsmouse"
EndSection

Linux — The device depends on which kernel driver recognized it. However, there should be a symbolic link /dev/input/mice pointing to the real device. Protocols include:
PS/2 for vanilla PS/2 mouse plugged into /dev/psaux port
IMPS/2 if it's an "Intellimouse" with a wheel
ExplorerPS/2 for my Logitech Trackman Wheel device

OpenBSD on a Dell Inspiron 1000 — Device /dev/wsmouse and protocol wsmouse as seen in the above example.

How do I disable the terribly inconveniencing tap-to-click "feature" on a touchpad? I wish I knew how to do this.... Supposedly you can add an option line:
Option "MaxTapTime" "0"
to the mouse InputDevice block. But at least for me (OpenBSD 4.1 on a Dell Inspiron 1000), it doesn't disable this annoyance.

X fails with errors about "no matching Device section"

You tried to start Xorg and it complained with output similar to the following:

Problems when running startx:
nvidia: no matching Device section for instance (BusID PCI:1:2:3) found

Of course, yours will likely say something other than nvidia for the driver, and almost certainly something other than 1:2:3 for the PCI bus ID!

Make a note of what it did say. You could investigate further if you wanted with:
# lspci
or:
# lspci -v
or even:
# lspci -vv

However, the above error message should be adequate. Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and add a line like this:
BusID "PCI:1:2:3"
to the block starting:
Section "Device". Make sure to modify 1:2:3 as appropriate for where your video chipset connects to the PCI bus!

Testing X

In order to test just the basic X server and not beconfused by any simultaneous problems with the display manager, boot scripts, etc., simply run this:
# Xorg

Verify that you get an X graphical display, and that you can move the mouse pointer around. When you're done with this quick test, kill the X process with
<Ctrl><Alt><Backspace>

Configuring The KDM Display Manager

You will need to generate a new default KDM configuration:
# genkdmconf

Now you can start KDM with the relevant boot script (Linux) or simply running kdm (BSD). Login as an unpriviliged user and use the menus to modify the KDM login screen. It will ask you for the root password when needed.

On to the page about running OpenBSD on a Dell Inspiron 1000

Back to the Unix/Linux page

© Bob Cromwell Jul 2008. Created with /bin/vi and ImageMagick, hosted on OpenBSD with Apache.    Root password available here