Effing HAL

[Freminlins]

I've read the responses and comments here, so don't think I'm ignoring
anyone because I haven't responded directly.

I rebuilt xorg-server without HAL. I killed hal stone dead and started up
the new (i.e. old-skool) xorg. It all works fine.

My mouse and keyboard work as specified in the xorg.conf file, rather than
in the new-fangled xml way of doing things or adding setxkbmap to my xinitrc
file. I am also 18MB of  RAM better off. Specifically for Adam, who asks a
rhetorical question about HAL, memory usage and top. The answer for me is
18MB too much.

My advice to anyone who has problems with X and HAL - rebuild xorg-server
without HAL (it doesn't take long),  then start from that base.

I have to say this HAL way of doing things is using a sledgehammer to crack
a nut. Sure X can be a bit horrible to configure, but HAL itself is ugly,
resource hungry and doesn't work 100%. It seems to be an example of
supposedly making things easier, except when it doesn't work.

Life is a calm blue ocean once again.

MF.