Subject: X servers...
To: Robert Rusek <rusek@alpha.fdu.edu>
From: Jonathan Stone <jonathan@DSG.Stanford.EDU>
List: port-pmax
Date: 12/16/1996 20:43:35
>xfs works just fine. When I try to get xdm to work it turns out that
>it is trying to execute /usr/X11R6.1/bin/X. The only problem is that
>/usr/X11R6.1/bin/X does not exist. Everything compiled and installed
>without problems. Did I just miss a step? How do I build X (Xdec) ?
You don't.
The X11R6 Xdec server assumes you're using the "ws" interface
between the X server and the kernel. NetBSD/pmax assumes you're
using an older interface, essentially the same interface used for
microvax framebuffers since, uh, time immemorial.
The solution is to use an X11R5 Xserver, or back-port the X11R5
ddx layer into X11R6.1. Arne Juul's X11R5 "Xcfbpmax" seems to work
just fine for me.
Note that I'm also about halfway through reverse-engineering and
implementing the "ws" interface. It's far enough along for an X
server to get to mmap()ing a ramebuffer. Both the ws and older "pm"
style interface use an ringbuffer with input events that's written by
the kernel and read from user-space. However, the ringbuffer format
is different enough that much of the input-side mouse/keyboard
handling needs to be more-or-less completely redone. (Merging the
pmax and Alpha framebuffer drivers would be nice, too.)
If anyone wanted to take that on and finish it, I'd be thrilled...
--Jonathan