SuSE Linux PowerPC: Version 7.0
XFree86: Version 4.0.1
In general, you can just follow the instructions in chapter 8 of the printed manual where you should at first see over table 8.1. Please note however that for machines with the graphic chips
there is a deviating procedure described in this article that you should follow.
Unfortunately, last-minute changes in XFree86 version 4 could not be implemented in SaX2 in time which makes a manual approach necessary. Thereby, the use of the configuration tool SaX2 as described in the manual is not required.
If you have a PowerMacintosh it is useful to start MacOS, open the control panel "Monitors" and look up which resolutions at which color depths and which screen refresh rates the graphic chip can handle. Otherwise you should be able to learn the appropriate values from the manual of your computer.
You will find some sample configurations for the computers with the graphic
chips mentioned above on the CD 1 in the directory unsorted
:
XF86Config.cirrus XF86Config.g4 XF86Config.ibook XF86Config.powerbook_firewire XF86Config.powerbook_g3 XF86Config.valkyrie XF86Config.wallstreet XF86Config.generic
We will now copy the respective file (e.g. XF86Config.ibook
)
to /etc/X11/
and rename it to XF86Config
. This can be
done with the following commands:
(If you are not logged in as root, please enter
su -
first and press Enter followed by your password.)
mount /cdrom cp /cdrom/unsorted/XF86Config.ibook /etc/X11/XF86Configif you want to configure an iBook. Then you have to edit it e.g. like this (using the editor
vi
)
vi /etc/X11/XF86ConfigInstructions for the use of the editor
vi
can be found in chapter
19.15 of the printed manual. If you at any time want to abort editing you can
always leave the vi
by pressing the Esc key
followed by the keys :q!
and the Enter key. All
changes to the file will then be discarded. You can also undo single changes
by pressing u
repeatedly (being in the command mode that you can
reach by pressing the esc key).
Alternatively, you could also use any other editor - like joe
(get help with Ctrl-K H) or the filemanager mc
.
Okay, now the following steps have to be taken:
Right, here you go. At first navigate to the following section in
/etc/X11/XF86Config
:
Section "InputDevice" Driver "keyboard" Identifier "Keyboard[0]" Option "Protocol" "Standard" Option "XkbLayout" "us" # Option "XkbModel" "powerpcps2" # Option "XkbModel" "macintosh" Option "XkbRules" "xfree86" Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys" EndSection
XkbLayout
. If you want to use a
German key map, you would have to exchange "us"
with
"de"
. Within the editor vi
this can be achieved by
navigating to "us"
, pressing the delete key to delete
us
, enter i (in vi
this means:
insert mode), enter de
and press the Esc key to
change back to the command mode of vi
.
#
-character at the beginning of the line with
"macintosh"
. The line would then look like this:
Option "XkbModel" "macintosh"
If you use a PC-type keyboard you have to remove the
#
-character in the line containing "powerpcps2"
.
"Modes"
which could, for
instance, look like this:
Section "Modes" Identifier "Modes[0]" ModeLine "512x384-70" 21.16 512 528 608 672 384 405 407 449 +vsync ModeLine "640x480-60" 25.18 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 ModeLine "640x480-72" 31.20 640 664 704 832 480 489 492 520 ModeLine "640x480-75" 31.50 640 656 720 840 480 481 484 500 ModeLine "640x480-85" 36.00 640 696 752 832 480 481 484 509 ModeLine "640x480-90f" 39.91 640 672 712 832 480 497 500 533 ModeLine "640x480-100" 44.90 640 656 691 848 480 487 498 530 ModeLine "640x480-120" 55.00 640 672 732 864 480 488 494 530 ModeLine "640x870-75" 57.28 640 672 752 832 870 873 876 918 ModeLine "800x600-56" 36.00 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625 +hsync +vsync ModeLine "800x600-60" 40.00 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync ModeLine "800x600-72" 50.00 800 856 976 1040 600 637 643 666 +hsync +vsync ModeLine "800x600-75" 49.50 800 816 896 1056 600 601 604 625 +hsync +vsync ModeLine "800x600-85" 56.25 800 832 896 1048 600 601 604 631 +hsync +vsync ModeLine "800x600-90" 56.64 800 816 880 1000 600 600 603 632 +hsync +vsync ModeLine "800x600-100" 67.50 800 840 920 1056 600 603 607 639 +hsync +vsync ModeLine "800x600-120" 81.00 800 816 904 1064 600 602 605 635 ModeLine "832x624-75" 57.28 832 864 928 1152 624 625 628 667 ModeLine "1024x768-60" 65.00 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 ModeLine "1024x768-70" 75.00 1024 1048 1184 1328 768 771 777 806 ModeLine "1024x768-75" 78.75 1024 1040 1136 1312 768 769 772 800 +hsync +vsync EndSection
Let's say you have figured out that your graphic chip supports a
resolution of 1024x768 pixel at a screen refresh rate of 75 Hz. In
this case the last line would be appropriate for you. The relevant
bit is what is enclosed by quotation marks ("1024x768-75"
).
Please keep that in mind for a second.
The next section looks as follows:
Section "Screen" DefaultDepth 8 SubSection "Display" Depth 8 Modes "834x624-75" EndSubSection Device "Device[0]" Identifier "Screen[0]" Monitor "Monitor[0]" EndSection
Here you change the value of Modes
the value that you chose
above. In our example that would finally make the respective line look like
this:
Modes "1024x768-75"
DefaultDepth
and Depth
to a suitable value.
If you are done with your changes you can save the file (when using the
vi
) with the following command (you might want to ensure that
you are in the vi
command mode by pressing the
Esc key first):
:wq
followed by pressing the Enter key (wq meaning write & quit). Now we can finish the configuration by entering the commands:
switch2xf86-4 ln -sf /usr/X11R6/bin/XFree86 /var/X11R6/bin/Xwhile taking good care of upper/lower case letters. This will switch XFree86 from version 3.3.6 to version 4.
reboot
From now on, you can either start X with
startx
or login at the graphical login prompt if you computer is configured to start in runlevel 3 (graphical login).
In case anything does not work as expected you can kill XFree86 with the key combination Alt-Ctrl-Backspace and double-check your settings in XF86Config.