Problems With 4.4.1 Upgrade

[Rich Shepard]

On Sun, 7 Oct 2007, Robby Workman wrote:

> None of the official Slackware packages touch anything in $HOME - sorry,
> Rich, but if something in there got deleted, it has to be PEBKAC ;-)

Robby,

   I didn't think so because I had nothing like this happen with all the
upgrades from 8.0 through 11.0. I got this notebook in early 2004, from
Emperor Linux, with Slackware pre-installed by them; I forget which version
it was at that time. But, I've easily upgraded it ... until now.

> The reason for making a new xorg.conf is due to the FontPath changes and
> other path changes due to the move from Xorg 6.9 to modular Xorg; the old
> xorg.conf from 11.0 simply won't work properly on a 12.0 system.

   I made the font path changes in the old xorg.conf because it has the
proper iformation on the built-in video chip and monitor resolution. The log
file (/var/log/Xorg.0.log) has no errors or warnings, so it's something
subtle and probably more of a PITA to identify and repair.

> As for why it's failing, from looking at the script, I only see two
> potential failure cases:
>  1. $HOME is not writable by your user

   Well, that's me, and the perms haven't changed.

> As Brian indicated, some parts of the configuration simply aren't
> compatible.  If nothing else, wipe out $HOME/.config and perhaps
> $HOME/.local (better to just wipe the things in there which are
> related to Xfce, actually) and start over.

   Ah, yes! I keep forgetting that Xfce will create a new ~/.config for me.
I'll give this a try later today.

> However, the "random white blocks" and such mentioned in your first mail
> sounds like video driver problems - I experienced the same with one of the
> early 'intel' drivers and high resolutions.  If you have something using
> the 'ati' or 'radeon' driver, you might have one of those annoying
> chipsets that the stock xf86-video-ati driver doesn't like - if so, check
> in /extra for an older release that should work fine.

   Same driver specified in /etc/X11/xorg.conf as before the upgrade. I'll take
your advice and check the driver ... it's an ATI Radeon M6 and calls for the
'ati' driver. The config file says the board name is "ATI Radeon M6 LY."
I'll see if there's an older driver in /extra.

> I've got most of the panel plugins packaged (and build scripts are
> available) on my site.  I've been meaning to push them up to
> SlackBuilds.org, but time is winning the battle so far...

   Thanks, Robby. I'll be in touch after I get X running and re-configure the
desktop and panel to my preferences.

Rich

-- 
Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D.               |    The Environmental Permitting
Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc.        |         Accelerators(TM)
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