HD Install :: Can dsl save this old laptop?



After hd-installing DSL v1.5 to my HP Omnibook 800CT, the laptop's mouse would produce erratic results (I've tried all mouse options within xsetup.sh). As suggested by others here, installing XFree86.dsl took care of the mouse problem, but in doing so, all desktop icons are gone and right-mouse clicking only produces xterm, restart, & exit. Running xsetup.sh to "override" the installed XFree86 brings the icons back, but the mouse issue remains.

DSL has been installed (poorman's) to a newly formatted ext2 partition and XFree86.dsl has been installed right afterwards. No other configurations have been made. In other words, nothing else has been set/changed that could have provoked or influenced these problems. I'd hoped that the latest DSL + the dsl package would have installed onto my laptop out of the box, void of any problems. I've tried hd-installs of SLAX and Puppy Linux and they both had their own set of challenges on this laptop so I'm hoping to keep DSL if these problems could be resolved.

I'd spent about a week reading all the results from my searches here to no avail. All the icon related files in ~/.xtdesktop and the menu file in ~/.fluxbox are all intact. This laptop is a 166MHz, 32MB RAM, 800x600, and dsl's Xfbdev xserver worked better than its Xvesa xserver (latter produced a hazy, all-green desktop). If I can get either Xfbdev without the mouse problem -OR- XFree86 with all dsl's preconfigured desktop icons visible, I'd be all set. You guys are my last hope. Please help.
Can you share with us the XF86Config-4 file you chose to use?
Also, a copy of the .xserverrc file you added would be nice.

Usually, that issue is a permissions, or bad .lnk issue.

Let us know..

73
ke4nt
Hi
I had a similar problem with icons seeming to disappear.  I wish I could remember the details but I believe I had emelfm running as root when I loaded a .dsl file.  The short stories was that the permissions got screwed up on one of the config files for the desktop.  User dsl did not have read access to it.  I did a fresh frugal install and was careful not to run emelfm as root when installing the .dsl .  That solved my problem.

In short make sure user dsl has read access to the desktop config files.

good luck
ke4nt,
My xserverrc's contents:
  exec /usr/X11R6/bin/XFree86 -nolisten tcp

... and my XF86Config-4 (tweaked version of ~/XFree86_config_files/XF86Config-4_svga_FB from XFree86.dsl):

Section "Files"
       RgbPath      "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled"
       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/PEX"
# Additional fonts: Locale, Gimp, TTF...
       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
#        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/75dpi"
#        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/100dpi"
# True type and type1 fonts are also handled via xftlib, see /etc/X11/XftConfig!
FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
       FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/ttf/western"
       FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/ttf/decoratives"
FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype"
       FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/openoffice"
       FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-bitstream-vera"
FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/latex-ttf-fonts"
       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/defoma/CID"
       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/defoma/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
EndSection

Section "Keyboard"
  Protocol    "Standard"
  AutoRepeat  500 5
#   LeftAlt        Meta
#   RightAlt        Meta
#   ScrollLock      Compose
#   RightCtl        Control
# This is just the default keymap for X.
# May be changed with the KDE international keyboard tool.
#   XkbModel    "pc105"
#   XkbLayout "us"

#   XkbOptions  "ctrl:swapcaps"
#   XkbKeycodes     "xfree86"
#   XkbTypes        "default"
#   XkbCompat       "default"
#   XkbSymbols      "us(pc101)"
#   XkbGeometry     "pc"
#   XkbRules        "xfree86"
#   XkbModel        "pc101"
#   XkbLayout "us"
EndSection

Section "Pointer"
   Protocol    "PS/2"
   Device      "/dev/mouse"
#    Emulate3Buttons
#    Emulate3Timeout    70
EndSection

# Auto-generated by mkxf86config

Section "Monitor"
Identifier   "Monitor0"
VendorName "GWY"
ModelName "GWY0040"
# HorizSync    28.0 - 78.0 # Warning: This may fry very old Monitors
HorizSync    31.5 - 50.0 # Warning: This may fry old Monitors
VertRefresh  50.0 - 75.0 # Very conservative. May flicker.
# VertRefresh  50.0 - 62.0 # Extreme conservative. Will flicker. TFT default.
# These are the DDC-probed settings reported by your monitor.
# 1024x768, 75.0Hz; hfreq=60.02, vfreq=75.03
ModeLine "1024x768" 78.75 1024 1040 1136 1312  768  769  772  800 +hsync +vsync
# 800x600, 75.0Hz; hfreq=46.88, vfreq=75.00
ModeLine "800x600" 49.50  800  816  896 1056  600  601  604  625 +hsync +vsync
# 800x600, 72.0Hz; hfreq=48.08, vfreq=72.19
ModeLine "800x600" 50.00  800  856  976 1040  600  637  643  666 +hsync +vsync
# 800x600, 60.0Hz; hfreq=37.88, vfreq=60.32
ModeLine "800x600" 40.00  800  840  968 1056  600  601  605  628 +hsync +vsync
# 640x480, 75.0Hz; hfreq=37.50, vfreq=75.00
ModeLine "640x480" 31.50  640  656  720  840  480  481  484  500 -hsync -vsync
# 640x480, 60.0Hz; hfreq=31.47, vfreq=59.94
ModeLine "640x480" 25.17  640  648  744  784  480  482  484  509 -hsync -vsync
# Extended modelines with GTF timings
# 640x480 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 50.90 kHz; pclk: 43.16 MHz
ModeLine "640x480"  43.16  640 680 744 848  480 481 484 509  -HSync +Vsync
# 768x576 @ 60.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 35.82 kHz; pclk: 34.96 MHz
ModeLine "768x576"  34.96  768 792 872 976  576 577 580 597  -HSync +Vsync
# 768x576 @ 72.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 43.27 kHz; pclk: 42.93 MHz
ModeLine "768x576"  42.93  768 800 880 992  576 577 580 601  -HSync +Vsync
# 768x576 @ 75.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 45.15 kHz; pclk: 45.51 MHz
ModeLine "768x576"  45.51  768 808 888 1008  576 577 580 602  -HSync +Vsync
# 768x576 @ 85.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 51.42 kHz; pclk: 51.84 MHz
ModeLine "768x576"  51.84  768 808 888 1008  576 577 580 605  -HSync +Vsync
# 768x576 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 61.10 kHz; pclk: 62.57 MHz
ModeLine "768x576"  62.57  768 816 896 1024  576 577 580 611  -HSync +Vsync
# 800x600 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 63.60 kHz; pclk: 68.18 MHz
ModeLine "800x600"  68.18  800 848 936 1072  600 601 604 636  -HSync +Vsync
# 1024x768 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 81.40 kHz; pclk: 113.31 MHz
ModeLine "1024x768"  113.31  1024 1096 1208 1392  768 769 772 814  -HSync +Vsync
# 1152x864 @ 60.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 53.70 kHz; pclk: 81.62 MHz
ModeLine "1152x864"  81.62  1152 1216 1336 1520  864 865 868 895  -HSync +Vsync
# 1152x864 @ 85.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 77.10 kHz; pclk: 119.65 MHz
ModeLine "1152x864"  119.65  1152 1224 1352 1552  864 865 868 907  -HSync +Vsync
# 1152x864 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 91.50 kHz; pclk: 143.47 MHz
ModeLine "1152x864"  143.47  1152 1232 1360 1568  864 865 868 915  -HSync +Vsync
# 1280x960 @ 72.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 72.07 kHz; pclk: 124.54 MHz
ModeLine "1280x960"  124.54  1280 1368 1504 1728  960 961 964 1001  -HSync +Vsync
# 1280x960 @ 75.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 75.15 kHz; pclk: 129.86 MHz
ModeLine "1280x960"  129.86  1280 1368 1504 1728  960 961 964 1002  -HSync +Vsync
# 1280x960 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 101.70 kHz; pclk: 178.99 MHz
ModeLine "1280x960"  178.99  1280 1376 1520 1760  960 961 964 1017  -HSync +Vsync
# 1280x1024 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 108.50 kHz; pclk: 190.96 MHz
ModeLine "1280x1024"  190.96  1280 1376 1520 1760  1024 1025 1028 1085  -HSync +Vsync
# 1400x1050 @ 60.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 65.22 kHz; pclk: 122.61 MHz
ModeLine "1400x1050"  122.61  1400 1488 1640 1880  1050 1051 1054 1087  -HSync +Vsync
# 1400x1050 @ 72.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 78.77 kHz; pclk: 149.34 MHz
ModeLine "1400x1050"  149.34  1400 1496 1648 1896  1050 1051 1054 1094  -HSync +Vsync
# 1400x1050 @ 75.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 82.20 kHz; pclk: 155.85 MHz
ModeLine "1400x1050"  155.85  1400 1496 1648 1896  1050 1051 1054 1096  -HSync +Vsync
# 1400x1050 @ 85.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 93.76 kHz; pclk: 179.26 MHz
ModeLine "1400x1050"  179.26  1400 1504 1656 1912  1050 1051 1054 1103  -HSync +Vsync
# 1400x1050 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 111.20 kHz; pclk: 214.39 MHz
ModeLine "1400x1050"  214.39  1400 1512 1664 1928  1050 1051 1054 1112  -HSync +Vsync
# 1600x1200 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 127.10 kHz; pclk: 280.64 MHz
ModeLine "1600x1200"  280.64  1600 1728 1904 2208  1200 1201 1204 1271  -HSync +Vsync
EndSection

Section "Device"
 Identifier    "VESA FB"
 Driver        "fbdev"
EndSection

Section "Screen"  
 Identifier    "Screen 1"
 Device        "VESA FB"
 Monitor       "Monitor0"
 SubSection "Display"
   Depth       16
 EndSubSection
EndSection

... I've verified that both these files are owned by user dsl.
Hi hawki,

I'm hoping to avoid a complete reinstallation if someone can pinpoint exactly which files are disabling the icons. If no other suggestions are posted here in a few days, I'll reinstall everything again (making sure that the package is not intalled as root) and see if that helps.

Thanks
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