Subject: Re: First steps with MOL
From: Anne et Bertrand (anneetbertrand@wanadoo.fr)
Date: Mon Oct 23 2000 - 18:31:58 MDT
Gérard Degrez wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm doing my first steps with MOL on the following configuration
>
> >iMac DV 400/Firewire/DVD, System 9.0.4
> >SuSE Linux PPC 6.4 (kernel 2.2.14)
> >MOL 0.9.50-1
>
> and I have a few questions to ask:
>
> 1) Video mode settings
>
> In my first tries (re: last week's query), MOL was starting correctly
> (I could see the MOL window and the beginning of MacOS startup) but
> at one point, I was getting a black window with MOL hogging the CPU
> (as reported by David Mackler). Now, switching the console_video_mode
> to no as suggested on the SuSE web site for iMacs, startup proceeds
> until completion.
>
> But the colours on the linux side are messed up. Last week, Bertrand Dekoninck
> adviced to try 16-bit colour. I guess this meant changing the video
> mode settings in molrc. Well, I kept the video mode settings as in
> the sample file supplied with the package, i.e. 640/480/75 and color
> depth = 32.
This line define two different things, depending on the way of using mol
:
1- using mol on the linux desktop in a window ("enable xvideo" option in
molrc), it defines the size of your macos desktop and the size of the
window : here a 640x480 macos desktop in a 640x480 pixels window.
2- using mol beside your linux desktop, on another virtual terminal
("enable_console_video" option, just as if linux and macos were running
on two different physical screens), this line must be (in my case) the
same as the video-resolution of linux, because Xpmac (my video-driver :
I do not use XFree86-FBDev because it doesn't work well except in 256
colors) cannot change the video-resolution. That's why you get a black
screen : this is this second virtual terminal (I think) but it can't
open the graphics for mol's macos. The frequency isn't not a problem
(apparently). And so, if it is the same resolution, you will have two
desktops (one for linux and one for macos) with the same resolution. You
can switch from one to the other with <CTRL-CMD> and the corresponding
function'keys (for me F7 for linux-desktop and F8 for macos desktop) as
you want.
> But, during the launching process, MOL issues the message
> "No video mode match the default one
> Starting in video mode 640x480, depth 8 0.0 Hz"
> even though I have an fb.modes file in /etc
> What should I do?
It doesn't match because you ask for a 32-bit window for macos.
But your video-depth IN LINUX is 8-bit (256 colors) as I can see in your
log. 8-bits is why colors are all messed up. It's not mol's fault, but
the way of allocating colors in 8-bit in linux. One application (simply
your desktop, for example) use the memory allocation for its own kind of
colors (256 different colors maximum), which may be different for each
application. There isn't a unique colormap (a the system colormap in
macos) for all applications. So applications may conflict in allocating
colors.
That's why I told you to try 16-bit colours IN LINUX.
There is something wrong with 16-bit, 32-bit ati-accelerated consoles in
linux (16-bit console isn't readable for me). This let the graphic
accelerated mode be awful in 16-bit, and the colors be wrong in 32-bit.
The problem is the same in XFree86-3.3 and XFree86-4. So I must start
linux with the option "no-video driver" in bootx (my os chooser at
boot-time, given with linuxppc. This option disable the
video-acceleration of the kernel for consoles) and use Xpmac instead of
XFree86-FBDev in order to have video acceleration in graphic mode.
For this, I think you must use Xpmac (if it is not the case) with the
correct options (--noaccel for ati video acceleration) and the correct
definition of X keymaps (Xpmac doesn't use XFree config file). My way,
which is quite simple, is to write an executable shell-script (one line)
called X in /usr/bin, replacing the old one, and execing Xpmac with the
correct options. I don't if it works on Suse, but it does on linuxPPC. I
can send mine to you if you want.
The bad point of this method is that I haven't found yet a way to change
of video depth and resolution in Linux. I have the same settings for
Linux as the real settings in Macos, and if I want to change of
video-resolution and depth, I have to reboot entirely my machine in
(real) macos, choose other settings and get back to linux.
>
> Finally, MOL completely messes up the desktop. Icons have been moved
> all over the place and the settings rule has now moved up at 3/4 of
> the screen when I boot under MacOS.
Just as in real macos when you switch to a 640x480 screen.
>
> 2) Invisible partitions
>
> Even though I list 3 partitions in molrc, I can only see one, i.e.
> the first one. The last of the three is also mounted under linux
> which could explain the problem, as far as I can understand from the
> discussion of the week-end. But not for the second one. What's wrong?
> BTW, how does one do to get an exchange volume then, if it canot be
> mounted on the linux side?
I really don't know how to exchange safely. I stopped trying to mount a
volume in linux when mol uses it after some problems I had, specially
when I tryed to exchange from linux to mac. The solution I use is to
place before launching mol the desired files in a partition which will
be available for mol in molrc, to launch mol after, and to stop it if I
have some other files to get from linux. The other way (from mac into
linux) seems to be less dangerous, if it is from a mac volume which is
not the startup volume (first in the list in molrc). Maybe one can mount
the partition in linux, copy (not move !) the file where you can in
linux, unmount the partition and return to macos if you want.
>
> 3) Sound
>
> I get no sound at all (even though I installed the MOL Audio
> extension), not even the system startup sound. I don't really care,
> but I am wondering why.
>
1 - Did you enable the sound option in molrc?
2 - Try the "Sound" control panel of macos. Mol audio should appear as
one available choice in that control-panel, which is not the case with
the "Monitor and Sound" control panel. I think this control panel is in
the "Extras" folder given with Macos.
> Gérard Degrez
Before launching mol-0.9-51 or 0.9-52, you can launch molvconfig, which
will build you a videomode database for mol, depending on your
video-configuration in linux. This will give you a --limited-- choice of
video-modes available through the mac control-panel/control-strip for
the screen. It doesn't change molrc.
Bertrand Dekoninck
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