[NTLUG:Discuss] Keyboard beeps with SuSE 9.1

[Steve Baker]

Kevin Brannen wrote:

>> The other guy who posted here with the same problem is indeed running
>> SuSE 9.2.
> 
> Oh, I was going by the version in the subject and didn't remember he had 
> 9.2. :-(  But since you had an nVidia, and he had a Matrox (or was it an 
> ATI?),

That was my mistake - he has a Matrox.

> it seems reasonable to say it's not the video driver but 
> something in X itself.

Indeed.

>> This makes me suspect that something is shutting out the keyboard
>> interrupt or something.
> 
> Maybe something is not draining the UART?  I know this is a total guess, 
> but it still sounds like a low-level X bug to me.

Yes - that's what it sounds like to me too.

> Yeh, the code that gives you a textual framebuffer and other various 
> modes, unless you already have it turned off (see my comment above on 
> how).  Google points me to 
> http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Framebuffer if you want more info.  

I don't have any lines like this in my XF86Config - is that what you mean?

    Option "UseFBDev" "True"

> If when you boot, the main console (or VT1) comes up in anything greater 
> than 80x25, then it's using the framebuffer code; which Suse generally 
> tries to do by default so they can put the cute little penguin on your 
> screen while having scrolling text below.  My experience is that it 
> generally causes more problems then it gives benefits -- though YMMV.

Ah!  So that's what Chris was saying when he told me to remove 'desktop'
from the boot line in my GRUB config file.

> You haven't run into the framebuffer stuff with your job?  I only ask 
> because I know you do a lot of graphic stuff on linux with your job.  Oh 
> well, as you said earlier, "so many man pages, so little time." ;-)

Well, I do OpenGL graphics stuff - and when you do that, the actual
framebuffer is buried deep beneath multiple layers of hardware and
API's.

The thing of which you and Chris are talking is what goes on during
boot when none of the appropriate graphics drivers are loaded yet.

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