xcons murders the X server

[Mark Rosenthal]

In article <4327 at buengc.BU.EDU> bph at buengc.bu.edu (Blair P. Houghton) writes:

	[ Description of X-server going south when using xcons ]

>Removing the xcons line from /etc/ttys eliminates the problem (it hasn't
>crashed in days).
>
>But that's no solution.  It won't do to have random warnings scribbled
>all over the console's screen, especially when running display-intensive
>CAD tools.
>
>I'd appreciate any help or insight.

This is neither help nor insight, but merely confirmation that you are not
imagining this.

I ran into the same problem with a similar configuration: VaxStation II/GPX,
Ultrix 3.0.  I think the model no. of the monitor was VR 260, but I'm not sure.
In any case, it was DEC's black & white monitor.  The screen would display a
faint band of unsynched video, about 4" high, across the center of the tube.

I seemed to be able to force the problem by filling up one of the disk
partitions.  That never did make any sense to me.  I speculate that perhaps
it has something to do with the format of the error generated when a disk
partition fills up, but who knows.

In any case, I never found a solution to the problem.  DEC's support line was
no help at all.  They took three days to come up with the answer that they
considered "xcons" and "xterm" to be unsupported products, and that I should
run DECwindows instead.

Sadly, my solution is what you call "no solution".  Comment out the xcons line
in /etc/ttys, and make sure your window manager has a refresh screen selection.
Yecch!
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	Mark of the Valley of Roses
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