[ale] Quake2 catches Sig 11 and blows out and leaves the console messed up?

[ari]

if svgalib crashes, the console may well be left unusable, with "reset"
proving either useless or non-typeable.

in the first case, where you can actually type commands on the console, you
would have to use something like SVGATextMode to reinstate normality into the
terminal.  loading X could prove useful, but upon exiting or switching back to
a console screen, you may find yourself once again in dismay.

the second case, where garbage spawns from your letters, which is in turn
interpreted as garbage by the shell, you will have to telnet into the machine
and either reboot or force a terminal change, as [ctrl-]alt-F* will also be
interpreted as that very same garbage (again, loading X is a good example).
returning to that virtual terminal will return you to your predicament.  other
vts should be fine.  to correct the problem without rebooting, you may have to
delete the offending vt's device, kill the getty process running on it
(possibly edit inittab to disable that getty process's respawn), and remake
the device using MAKEDEV.

i would test this for you, but i don't have a spare linux machine currently at
my disposal, and i haven't got a graphics-capable video interface card on my
openbsd machine anyway.

ari

ale at snicker.emoti.com (ale at snicker.emoti.com) said this stuff:

> 
> It is possible that svgalib is messed up. Try to download the
> latest svglib source, compile the svgalib source, and install
> the compiled svgalib and edit /etc/vga/libvga.config and uncomment
> the one that supports your video card.
> 
> Secondly, about garbage character after the console was trashed
> from video -- DO NOT EXIT -- while you are at prompt just type
> "reset" and press enter -- it will attempt to restore the console
> to readable character.
> 
> LinuxGold
> 
> On Fri, 16 Oct 1998, Nomad the Wanderer wrote:
> 
> > Well,
> >   Read the subject.  I'm happily playing Quake2, 3.19a when all of a sudden
> > it reports it caught sig 11 and dumps me back to the prompt.  From this 
> > point on my console/keyboard is hosed.  Pressing "r" gives me ^T and 
> > alot of other junk.  Very little is readable.  
> > 
> >   First,
> >     Anyone know how to keep this from happening?
> > 
> >   Second,
> >     Anyone know if it's possible to fix my console after it gets trashed?
> > 
> > Robert
> > 
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Robert L. Harris                |   You mean you paid
> > Senior System Administrator II  |        MONEY for 
> >   at Great West Life.           \_    Service Pack '98???
> > 
> > http://www.orci.com/~nomad
> > 
> > DISCLAIMER:
> >       These are MY OPINIONS ALONE.  I speak for no-one else.
> > 
> > FYI:
> >  perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5,(41*2),sqrt(7056),(unpack(c,H)-2),oct(115),10);'
> >