HOWTO: xorg/x11 without hald/dbus and with CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE working

vermaden · Oct 26, 2009

There were many questions regarding the oldschool xorg/x11 setup without hald/dbus and with old usefull terminate method by ctrl-alt-backspace, here is a short howto how to achieve this.

1. Install FreeBSD along with x11/xorg or add it by package.

root # pkg_add -r xorg

1.1. Enable and start moused(8) daemon if you already do not have it running.

root # echo moused_enable=\"YES\" >> /etc/rc.conf
root # /etc/rc.d/moused start

2. Generate new config.

root # X -configure

3. Move config to its proper place.

root # mv /root/xorg.conf.new /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf

4. Add needed options to config in sections ServerFlags and InputDevice.

root # vi /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf

Code:

Section "ServerFlags"
  (...)
  Option "DontZap"         "off"
  Option "AllowEmptyInput" "off"
  Option "AutoAddDevices"  "off"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  (...)
  Option "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"
EndSection

The following options are needed to have working x11 without hald/dbus:

Code:

Section "ServerFlags"
  (...)
  Option "AllowEmptyInput" "off"
  Option "AutoAddDevices"  "off"
EndSection

... and following for "three kings" or CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE terminate keyboard shrtcut:

Code:

Section "ServerFlags"
  (...)
  Option "DontZap" "off"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  (...)
  Option "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"
EndSection

5. Basic client configuration.

user % cat > ${HOME}/.xinitrc << EOF
xterm &
twm
EOF

6. Start x11/xorg.

user % xinit -- -dpi 75

Example full xorg.conf config:

Code:

Section "ServerFlags"
  Option "DontZap"         "off"
  Option "AllowEmptyInput" "off"
  Option "AutoAddDevices"  "off"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Identifier "Keyboard0"
  Driver     "kbd"
  Option     "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
  Identifier  "xorg0"
  Screen 0    "screen0"   0 0
  InputDevice "mouse0"    "CorePointer"
  InputDevice "keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Module"
  Load "dbe"
  Load "dri"
  Load "extmod"
  Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Identifier "mouse0"
  Driver     "mouse"
  Option     "Protocol"     "auto"
  Option     "Device"       "/dev/sysmouse"
  Option     "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
  Identifier "monitor0"
  Option     "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
  Identifier "gfx0"
  Driver     "intel"
  Option     "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
  Identifier "screen0"
  Device     "gfx0"
  Monitor    "monitor0"
  SubSection "Display"
    Modes "1440x900"
  EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Files"
  ModulePath "/usr/local/lib/xorg/modules"
  FontPath   "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
  FontPath   "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/"
  FontPath   "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/OTF"
  FontPath   "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
  FontPath   "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
  FontPath   "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
EndSection

For comparision, for OpenBSD its like that:

1. Install OpenBSD along with xenocara/x11.

2. Basic client configuration.

user % cat > ${HOME}/.xinitrc << EOF
xterm &
twm
EOF

3. Start x11/xorg.

user % xinit -- -dpi 75

ADDED 2009/11/16
----------------

If you would like to disable CAPS LOCK key, then you should make the folllowing change in the xorg.conf file:

Code:

Section "InputDevice"
  Identifier "Keyboard0"
  Driver     "kbd"
[color="Red"]- Option     "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"[/color]
[color="Green"]+ Option     "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp,ctrl:nocaps"[/color]                                                                    
EndSection

If you would like to also set other then default keyboard layout, then add this to xorg.conf file:

Code:

Section "InputDevice"
  Identifier "Keyboard0"
  Driver     "kbd"
  Option     "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"
[color="Green"]+ Option     "XkbLayout" "pl"[/color]
EndSection

HOWTO: xorg/x11 without hald/dbus and with CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE working

vermaden