FreeBSD 6.1 sparc64 as a desktop :: semicomplete.com

Fri, 28 Apr 2006

FreeBSD 6.1 sparc64 as a desktop

I have an ultra10 here that was, until today, running Solaris 10 and was my desktop. Now, I have opted to install FreeBSD on it to see how it runs. I now have X running happily. Documentation on the specific pieces of information I wanted was sparse, so here's what I know now:

If your sparc64 is old and lacks USB, the mouse will show up as a serial device. The mouse device is the uart device immediately following the keyboard one:

uart0:  on puc0
uart0: CTS oflow
uart1:  on puc0
uart1: CTS oflow
uart2: <16550 or compatible> addr 0x14003083f8-0x14003083ff irq 41 on ebus0
uart2: keyboard (1200,n,8,1)
uart3: <16550 or compatible> addr 0x14003062f8-0x14003062ff irq 42 on ebus0

Here, uart3 is my mouse.
This means that /dev/cuau3 is my mouse. So I add this in rc.conf:

moused_type="mousesystems"
moused_port="/dev/cuau3"

Run /etc/rc.d/moused start, and the mouse works.

X needs to be told what keyboard map you are using. I used X -configure to generate my xorg.conf. A few changes are necessary:

I have a Sun type5 keyboard, so, in my xorg.conf:

Section "InputDevice"
   Identifier  "Keyboard0"
   Driver      "kbd"
   Option  "AutoRepeat" "400 30"
   Option "XkbRules" "sun"
   Option "XkbModel" "type5"
   Option "XkbLayout" "us"
   Option "XkbKeycodes" "sun(type5)"
EndSection

X needs to be told about the monitor and what proper resolution:

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
        ModelName    "Monitor Model"
        HorizSync 31.5-110
        VertRefresh 75
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Card0"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        DefaultDepth 16
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     16
                Modes "1024x768"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Comments: 1 (view comments)
Tags: freebsd, mouse, xorg
Permalink: /geekery/freebsd-sparc64-desktop
posted at: 03:05

1 responses to 'FreeBSD 6.1 sparc64 as a desktop'

doug posted at Tue Jul 4 01:51:45 2006...

Hey Jordan,
Thanks for the tips! I ran across your blog while configuring my own sparc64 desktop. Just a side note for anyone else that comes across this. If you have an Ultra60 (or other) with Elite3D card, add "cfb" and "cfb32" under your xorg Modules section. You'll need to grab afb.ucode from Sun's website and load it with afbinit port in sysutils (afbinit /fb0 afb.ucode) prior to starting x. Use "sunffb" as your video Driver. Thanks again.

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Fri, 28 Apr 2006