nanogui: Thread: nano-X and virtual terminals

Hi,

I have nano-X working on my target hardware - an ARM machine using 
Debian. Nano works but gets mixed up with the cursor and keyboard when 
switching to/from a virtual terminal.

So my question is: does nano-X play well with virtual terminals? Is what 
I'm seeing a nano-X problem or something else?

When I start nano-X I see is the terminal cursor on the nano-X screen. 
If I start nano-X and the nanowm from terminal 1, then start ntetris 
from termal one, ntetris appears on the terminal 1 screen - sort of. If 
the screen shifts up for a new line, things get very confused. If I 
switch to #7 all I see is a blank screen with a blinking cursor. If I 
switch back to #1, ntetris has disappeared. Keyboard input seems to go 
to nano-X always until I issue a reset on the virtual terminal.

I could probably get by without any virtual terminals, but I'd like to 
at least know what is not playing well.

Regards,

Jim Ham

: I have nano-X working on my target hardware - an ARM machine using 
: Debian. Nano works but gets mixed up with the cursor and keyboard when 
: switching to/from a virtual terminal.

Set VTSWITCH=Y in the config file.  You may also have to
set HAVETEXTMODE=Y (that's either in config include/device.h,
I think)

Regards,

Greg

Greg Haerr wrote:
> : I have nano-X working on my target hardware - an ARM machine using
> : Debian. Nano works but gets mixed up with the cursor and keyboard when
> : switching to/from a virtual terminal.
>
> Set VTSWITCH=Y in the config file.  You may also have to
> set HAVETEXTMODE=Y (that's either in config include/device.h,

Both are in config.

> I think)
>
> Regards,
>
> Greg
>
OK, that works - sort of. nano-X attaches to the current virtual 
terminal 1-6 when started from that terminal. All seems to work at this 
point.

If you start it from a serial terminal nano-X gets confused and tries to 
grab the keyboard from the serial terminal. If you try to start it with 
init by adding an entry to rc2.d and init.d it starts but immediately 
quits. There is no entry in any of the logs that I can find that might 
be a clue as to why.

It would be nice for nano-X to use tty7 just as X does. Is there a 
method to force this behavior?

Regards,

Jim Ham

: If you start it from a serial terminal nano-X gets confused and tries to 
: grab the keyboard from the serial terminal. If you try to start it with 
: init by adding an entry to rc2.d and init.d it starts but immediately 
: quits. There is no entry in any of the logs that I can find that might 
: be a clue as to why.

If you start the server from init then it won't be able to 
open the keyboard.  Try configuring with no keyboard
support.  Or look at the drivers/kbd_tty.c driver and
adjust the /dev entry.


: 
: It would be nice for nano-X to use tty7 just as X does. Is there a 
: method to force this behavior?

Look at the scr_fb.c and vtswitch.c files.  There may be some
indicator as to which pseudo tty it opens.  You might
also force a switch the same way vtswitch uses (or
at least catches).  Somebody more familiar with Linux's
internals on this may be able to help, I can't remember
the exact mechanism.

Regards,

Greg