kdesu bad device error

[T-Diddy]

Hi All:

I searched the forum for a fix to this problem and perhaps I followed the instructions incorrectly. Here is a synopsis of my problem. When I try the command

$ kdesu kate /etc/apt/sources.list

I get the error:

X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 169
Major opcode: 145
Minor opcode: 3
Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 169
Major opcode: 145
Minor opcode: 3
Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device

Then the password window opens and I can start to write. I followed the instuctions to remove the "wacom" stanzas as suggested here:

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/index.php?topic=6921.0

and then X wouldn't start up. I had to login the old fashioned way via (Ctrl + Alt + F1) and edit the xorg.conf file again (using old school emacs) to remove the comments I made. Once I did that, running $startx got X up again....clearly.

Any suggestions as to what might be causing this? As a side note, I get the same error and then the system hangs if I try

$kdesu emacs /etc/apt/sources.list

but no errors at all if I use:

$sudo emacs /etc/apt/sources.list

Is this because emacs is not a true GUI even though I am using the version with X support? Anyways, if anyone has some other suggestion, please let me know.

Cheers,

t.

[askrieger]

Re: kdesu bad device error

As the author of the advice you are now rejecting, all I can say is that it worked for me and has worked for other people. All advice obtained on a forum should be taken with a grain of salt. You have my profound thanks, though, for searching and then using the information that you found, and even more thanks for coming back and saying that it didn't work for you. I wish I knew why not.

It should be noted that those xserver error messages are just an annoyance. Your computer will work no better or worse, if you leave the tablet PC associated stanzas in your xorg.conf file.

As you surmised, Emacs is not a GUI program. Instead, if run under a GUI, Emacs opens it's own X window, provided you installed the "emacs" package and not "emacs-nox". Your problem, however, arose because, if you try to use kdesu when KDE is NOT running (e.g. in a console login in screen 1), it will not work. "kdesu emacs <your system file>" works fine in KDE.