Re: NetBSD/sun3 10.0_RC2 problems on sun 3/60

[foo bar <tokenalt%gmail.com@localhost>]

On Sun, Jan 14, 2024 at 3:35 AM Izumi Tsutsui <tsutsui%ceres.dti.ne.jp@localhost> wrote:
>
> > > Oh, you have cgfour (with bwtwo for console text) on your 3/80?
> >
> > Yes but it's a 501-1248 with BNC connectors so not the right model for a 3/80.
>
> Oh, actually 501-1248 works on 3/80? (Mine has 501-1443)
>
> "THE SUN HARDWARE REFERENCE" part 1 says P4 on 3/80 is not same
> as P4 on 3/60, but maybe it's about physical shape..
>  https://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-sun3/2023/05/07/msg000199.html

I think that's talking about the physical shape of the cards. As far
as I can tell the 3/80 is the only machine with a P4 slot that does
not have holes for BNC connectors so the cards won't physically fit in
the machine. I had to take the motherboard out, remove the back plate,
and put the motherboard in a sparcstation clone case to use this
cgfour.

> > > Could you also try Xorg server on it?
> > >
> > > It can handle two screens (both 8bpp cgfour and 1bpp bwtwo) on
> > > the same display.
> >
> > X works but some error messages about the keyboard get drawn on the
> > bwtwo blocking half the screen. Is there some way to clear the bwtwo?
>
> There are two workaround:
>  - xrefresh(1) command
>  - start xinit with stderr redirect to null ("xinit > /dev/null 2>&1" etc.)

Redirecting to /dev/null worked, thanks.

> > Also X is painfully slow, to the point where the cursor doesn't track
> > smoothly.
>
> Well, we (and other guys) alyways say "it works but not usable"
> but per our policy "it works because it's properly designed" :-)
>  https://www.netbsd.org/about/system.html
>
> We still demonstrates "SNS on old 680x0 machines" etc. on conferneces:
>  https://twitter.com/tsutsuii/status/1591259380090957824
>  https://twitter.com/isaki68k/status/1723555116882784744
>

I don't expect the machine to be blazing fast. I'm just surprised at
how slow it is even just sitting at an empty desktop with no programs
running. The RAMDAC has a hardware cursor so it shouldn't be much of a
burden to move it around yet it has trouble following the mouse at
moderate speed.