Getting X to work in Debian Potato

[PimpHolic]

I have a Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical and i believe that the reason my X isnt working is because of my mouse. I made my xfree86 config file and typed startx, didnt work like i expected. so i edited the config file and still no luck. i have the proper modules running (input, hid, and mousedev.o) which i believe are all i need. i dont possibly know what else it could be.
this is the output when i type startx (well the part which i can see)
[code]System: '/usr/X11R6/libX11/xkb/xkbcomp
-w1 -R/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb -xkm -m us -em1
"The XKEYBOARD Keymap compiler(xkbcomp) reports:" -emp "> "-eml" Errors from xkbcomp are not fatal to the X server" Keymap/xfree86 compiled /xfree86.xkm"

Fatal server error:
Cannot open mouse (No such file or directory)

X connection to :0.0 broken (explicit kill or server shutdown)

and help pleasE? :confused: :confused: :confused:
thanks in advance

[Joeri Sebrechts]

Are you sure your mouse is pointing to the correct device entry? If you're using /dev/mouse there might not actually be a /dev/mouse, or it might be a link to the wrong file.

I know it's a dumb remark, but sometimes the most obvious thing can be what's wrong.

Anyway, what X version is this? If it's Xfree 3 I suggest letting XF86Setup do the dirty work for you.

[bdg1983]

What do you in XF86Config for the path to the mouse device under Option "Device"? Have you verified the device does exist in the /dev directory?

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "mouse"
Identifier "A4-Tech"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Buttons" "7"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "mouse"
Identifier "Glidepoint"
Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS0"
Option "Protocol" "GlidePoint"
Option "Buttons" "3"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6"
Option "Resolution" "1600"
EndSection

[PimpHolic]

Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"

thanx for this advice, it seems to have worked..sort of..
when i start up debian it starts to load xdm ( i believe thats what the grapical login is called ) and at this point i am helpless because neither my mouse or keyboard will work. i think the keyboard has to do something with that error part about the keybaord stuff..so my next question..how would i boot into debian without it going straight to xdm and somehow disable xdm and try startx? also any ideas on what to edit to get my keyboard to work? since i installed slackware i have become much more comfortable at the command prompt so i dont necessarily want to boot straight into xdm

[PimpHolic]

Originally posted by PimpHolic:
[QB][QUOTE] Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"

thanx for this advice, it seems to have worked..sort of..
when i start up debian it starts to load xdm ( i believe thats what the grapical login is called ) and at this point i am helpless because neither my mouse or keyboard will work. i think the keyboard not working has something to do with that error part about the keybaord stuff..so my next question..how would i boot into debian without it going straight to xdm and somehow disable xdm and try startx? also any ideas on what to edit to get my keyboard to work?
you guys are great and thanx for all the help i have gotten so far
what i would do without this forum... :D

[PimpHolic]

plz? :)

[scanez]

Originally posted by PimpHolic:
<STRONG>when i start up debian it starts to load xdm ( i believe thats what the grapical login is called ) and at this point i am helpless because neither my mouse or keyboard will work. i think the keyboard not working has something to do with that error part about the keybaord stuff..so my next question..how would i boot into debian without it going straight to xdm and somehow disable xdm and try startx</STRONG>
When you are at the xdm login screen, hit ctrl-alt-f2 to get to a prompt. Then you can login in that way to try startx. To disable xdm, either go into each of the /etc/rcX.d directorys and delete the links that have xdm in them or do an

update-rc.d remove xdm

Good luck
SC

[Nekopa]

In the /etc directory there is a file called inittab. One of the lines in there is for default run level. The run levels are as follows:
Runlevel 0 = Orderly shutdown
Runlevel 1 = Single user mode
Runlevel 2 = Multi-user without networking
Runlevel 3 = Multi-user with networking
Runlevel 4 = User defined (I think this is normally used for graphical login
Runlevel 5 = Multi user mode with net and X
Runlevel 6 = Reboot

So the line should look something like this for your setup:

id:4:initdefault:

If you change it to read

id:3:initdefault:

You should get an text login prompt.
If you boot into X and are having problems, try holding CTRL-ALT-Backspace, as that should kill the X-Server, and put you back into the console. From there you can edit the inittab file and hopfully get back to a text login

HTH

Lee

[PimpHolic]

no u guys dont understand

it automatically boots into xdm and once in xdm my keyboard / mouse dont work like i cant get other logins happenining
so is there anyway to get to a prompt login while booting?
thanks in advance

[Strike]

So boot into single user mode at your bootloader. For LILO, just type "linux single".

[Strike]

Originally posted by Nekopa:
<STRONG>In the /etc directory there is a file called inittab. One of the lines in there is for default run level. The run levels are as follows:
Runlevel 0 = Orderly shutdown
Runlevel 1 = Single user mode
Runlevel 2 = Multi-user without networking
Runlevel 3 = Multi-user with networking
Runlevel 4 = User defined (I think this is normally used for graphical login
Runlevel 5 = Multi user mode with net and X
Runlevel 6 = Reboot

So the line should look something like this for your setup:

id:4:initdefault:

If you change it to read

id:3:initdefault:

You should get an text login prompt.
If you boot into X and are having problems, try holding CTRL-ALT-Backspace, as that should kill the X-Server, and put you back into the console. From there you can edit the inittab file and hopfully get back to a text login

HTH

Lee</STRONG>
That does not apply in Debian. All runlevels 2-5 are the same. 0, 1, and 6 are the same for all distributions, that I know of

[Nekopa]

Whoops! Thanks for the correction

Lee

[PimpHolic]

ok thanks ill try the linux single when i get home (im at school right now)

[PimpHolic]

ok progress is being made
i booted into linux single mode (thanks for your help on that strike) and then i disabled xdm (thanks for your help on that scanez )
but then i typed startx, and i got into X but had 2 problems
1) my mouse didnt work..i might be able to screw around with my xf86config file a bit more to get that to work but i will try any suggestions
2)my keyboard doesnt work so i cant go back to console or anything like that, and my keyboard is just a normal ps/2 peice of crap keyboard and worked in all my other previous linux distro's without any editing of files or anything
any suggestions or ideas on how to get either of these to work&gt;? if not i may just move on and try red hat because im trying tons of different distros and finding the best one for me :) , but thing is ive heard great things about debian and would like to try it..well thanks for all your help so far guys, you've been great

[ 18 October 2001: Message edited by: PimpHolic ]

[ 18 October 2001: Message edited by: PimpHolic ]

[scanez]

Originally posted by PimpHolic:
<STRONG>ok progress is being made
i booted into linux single mode (thanks for your help on that strike) and then i disabled xdm (thanks for your help on that scanez )
but then i typed startx, and i got into X but had 2 problems
1) my mouse didnt work..i might be able to screw around with my xf86config file a bit more to get that to work but i will try any suggestions
2)my keyboard doesnt work so i cant go back to console or anything like that, and my keyboard is just a normal ps/2 peice of crap keyboard and worked in all my other previous linux distro's without any editing of files or anything
any suggestions or ideas on how to get either of these to work&gt;? if not i may just move on and try red hat because im trying tons of different distros and finding the best one for me :) , but thing is ive heard great things about debian and would like to try it..well thanks for all your help so far guys, you've been great</STRONG>
How about posting your XF86Config file? Maybe there is some syntax error or something...

SC