[arch-general] Switching betweenX and TTY freezes WM

[Javier Vasquez]

On Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 11:42 AM, Mateusz Loskot <mateusz at loskot.net> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have been observing strange issues when I switch between X and TTY.
> Here is the step-by-step story with details:
>
> 0. Login to tty1 and ttt2
> 1. From tty2 (not tty1), startx with either i3wm or Openbox
> 2. Launch 2-3 apps (e.g. urxvt, Firefox)
>
> 3. Switch back to tty1 (CTRL+ALT+F1)
> 4. Execute some shell commands in tty1
> 5. Switch back to X  (CTRL+ALT+F7)
> 6. Observe no problems, no hangs, in Openbox the ALT+TAB and
>    in i3wm the Mod+[jkl;] combination cycles through windows, etc.
>
> 7. Switch to tty2 (CTRL+ALT+F2)
> 8. See xinit output, hit ENTER once or more, the xinit output scrolls up
> 9. Switch back to X  (CTRL+ALT+F7)
> 10. Now, observe strange  problems with lack of response in both,
> Openbox or i3wm.
>
> WMs are not completely frozen, but somewhat partially.
> Neither Openbox ALT+TAB nor i3wm Mod+[jkl;] work.
> No reaction to mouse operations have no effect
> No reaction to i3wm Mod+SHIFT+Q, etc.
>
> I'm running updated Arch on Lenovo ThinkPad T400
> with Intel graphics (xf86-video-intel driver, i915 module).
>
> Could the problem be related to xf86-video-intel driver?
>
> BTW, I have been observing slow rendering of Terminus font under i3wm [1]
> and it turns out the problem is in the most recent version of xf86-video-intel
> in the Arch repos [2].
>
> [1] http://infra.in.zekjur.net/archives/i3-discuss/2012-June/000699.html
> [2] http://infra.in.zekjur.net/archives/i3-discuss/2012-June/000702.html
>
> Best regards,
> --
> Mateusz Loskot, http://mateusz.loskot.net


I started noticing this same thing since last year (though don't
remember when exactly).  Never asked cause the work around is simple,
the TTY from which startx was run is considered "dead" to me, I just
don't use it once in X.

This happens to me with fluxbox, no desktop, and with 2 different
video cards, nvidia (nouveau driver) and ati.  To me it doesn't seem
unique to a particular video card driver, neither to a particular WM.
Maybe it's an X issue...

-- 
Javier.