debian newbie- can't get into X

[DOlson]

What recovery mode?

 

If you apt-get install kernel source files, then you're only getting the bzipballs... You need to untar them:

 

cd /usr/src

tar jxvf linux-2.4.21.tar.bz2

 

or whatever.

 

I don't understand why KDE would be crashing. Check on terminal F1 (CTRL+ALT+F1) to see if there are any errors being reported.

[83mercedes]

OK, I got to a prompt and did 'apt-get remove kde', then I had to rename a file in /usr/bin called x-session-manager so it wouldn't load I guess... anyway I am back up and using Mozilla in Windowmaker.

But shouldn't kde work with this dist?

I would think so...

Thanks. :wink:

 

By the way, my ms wheel mouse works now, during the install I found a module, thanks to that tutorial above..

[83mercedes]

Sorry DOlson, we're on different pages here I think, I was just saying how I did apt to remove kde, but I guess it really didn't- cuz I can still use konqueror,

but at least I am able to get into X with windowmaker, cool.

Now I got a problem with synaptic, it no longer runs, I get this error:

 

mike@debian:~$ su

Password:

debian:/home/mike# synaptic

Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server

Xlib: Client is not authorized to connect to Server

synaptic:could not open display

debian:/home/mike#

 

huh? it worked once!

And how can I see what kernel I have, so I can get the correct kernel-source?

Thanks a lot.

[bvc]

as I posted earlier in this thread

uname -a

or specifically

uname -r

will tell you your kernel version.

 

Or you could

dpkg -S kernel

and look for a /lib/modules directory, or just

ls /lib/modules

 

I d/k what's wrong with kde but it should work. What dm are you using and I wonder why there was no entry for WMaker.

 

What recovery mode?

Never booted to it so I don't know exactly :lol: ...can only be one of two things though....init 1 or init 3....like ML's failsafe (init 3) or maintenance mode (init 1). I'd guess init 1. You've never had it? How did you install grub? I did apt-get install grub and it was done. My source is a us debian mirror. The diffs in our woody's>unstable's are weird, and almost scary. They don't make sense. :?

[83mercedes]

Thanks- I have

2.4.18-bf2.4

the only kernel-source I find using apt is kernel-source-2.4.18 (2.4.18-13)

so I don't know if it will work for compiling nvidia driver.

What do you think?

[DOlson]

okay, you are using Debian Woody. I advise you to upgrade it to Sid, if you want more current stuff... I can't see why KDE won't run for you, but Windowmaker will... Did you try anything else?

 

As far as init 3 goes, that just means it doesn't boot into X automatically... That how I set up all of my systems, including Mandrake when I used it, as well as my wife's system. This is better because if the NVidia driver messes up, you're not stuck...

 

Each runlevel is user configurable... But the standards are there for single user mode, reboot, and shutdown. The others are however you want them to be. I chose 3 because that's the number that I got used to with how Mandrake configured their system. Recovery mode is something different... I assume you mean when you boot from a CD using "rescue" which gives you options to repair stuff and all that... Anyhow.

 

Check this out:

CWD: /home/dana# apt-get install konqueror

Reading Package Lists... Done

Building Dependency Tree... Done

The following extra packages will be installed:

 kate kcontrol kdelibs-bin kdelibs-data kdelibs4 kfind libkonq4

Suggested packages:

 konq-speaker

The following NEW packages will be installed:

 kate kcontrol kdelibs-bin kdelibs-data kdelibs4 kfind konqueror libkonq4

0 packages upgraded, 8 newly installed, 0 to remove and 31 not upgraded.

Need to get 20.2MB of archives.

After unpacking 56.2MB of additional disk space will be used.

Do you want to continue? [Y/n]

 

My point with that is that you don't require all of KDE to be installed to use Konqueror... Just some KDE libs and some other stuff. KDE is huge (over 100MB). Chances are that you should upgrade to Sid, then run apt-get install kde so you get the newest stuff, and it should maybe work... I say maybe because you seem to be having weird luck. :)

[83mercedes]

OK thanks, weird seems to be my hallmark!

I would like to make it so I need to startx each time, (I just gotta figure out how)

and upgrading to Sid, same thing.

This is a LOT like my first few days on Mandrake, the learning curve is even steeper, but equally rewarding, thanks to all you kind folks.

I have somehow gotten some icons on the desktop that I can't seem to get rid of, also...

but windowmaker seems cool to me.

And why synaptic won't work?

Yes... weird luck!

[jlc]

83mercedes wrote:

mike@debian:~$ su

Password:

debian:/home/mike# synaptic

Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server

Xlib: Client is not authorized to connect to Server

synaptic:could not open display

 

Try this as root:

 

xauth merge ~mike/.Xauthority

 

*Note*

 

If you restart X you have to run xauth again.

 

*Another NOTE*

 

Alternatively you can do this in the root home directory (/root):

 

ln -s ~mike/.Xauthority .

 

This will work as long as you don't log in X as root. Then, the .Xauthority file will be overwritten.

 

Also, just a prefernce of mine is to KNOW apt-get commands inside and out. I don't use synaptic to often, don't get me wrong, it's a great piece of software. I just like the CLI! :wink:

[bvc]

apt-get install rcconf

 

will easily allow you to start and stop stuff at boot by running as root

rcconf

in a terminal. You can turn your dm off with rcconf, to boot to init 3.

 

startx will start your, one and only gui or your default. I'm not on debian rt now and I've never looked but there is a way to set a default. IMO, the best way is to create a ~/.xinitrc file which tells X what gui to start. A search for xinitrc on the forum or google will give a lot of great stuff.

 

Icons? Did you start nautilus?

 

Synaptic? :?

 

As I suspected and suggested, recovery mode is single user mode, as suggested by my posted grub menu.lst (single). I d/k why CD's are being mentioned. :)

[DOlson]

do this to upgrade to Sid:

 

su

apt-get install apt-spy

apt-spy

nano /etc/apt/sources.list

 

Now, when you're editing the file, change the places that say stable or woody to say unstable. Example:

 

deb ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main

 

would become:

 

deb ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main

 

Do that for all of the uncommented lines, and then save the file. Now do this:

 

apt-get update

apt-get dist-upgrade

 

And sit back as it does its magic.

 

To boot to init 3 by default, just edit /etc/inittab. Find the line that says:

 

id:5:initdefault:

 

or whatever the number is and make it say this:

 

id:3:initdefault:

 

Then you're using runlevel 3.

[bvc]

It doesn't matter what inittab says if a dm is to run at boot. Mine's at 3, but I run gdm. So, disabling my dm will start me at 3.

[jlc]

If I'm not mistaken, Debian only use's 1 & 3,

 

3 = multiuser with/without X

1 = singleuser

 

Change inittab to 1 and tell me what happens when you reboot. :wink:

 

hehehe, I don't think it's going to care what dm is.

[bvc]

Mine was set at 2 after install, while I was in gnome, I changed it to 3....not much to do in 2 :lol:....and no, it goes to 6 like any other linux :roll:

# The default runlevel.

id:3:initdefault:



# Boot-time system configuration/initialization script.

# This is run first except when booting in emergency (-b) mode.

si::sysinit:/etc/init.d/rcS



# What to do in single-user mode.

~~:S:wait:/sbin/sulogin



# /etc/init.d executes the S and K scripts upon change

# of runlevel.

#

# Runlevel 0 is halt.

# Runlevel 1 is single-user.

# Runlevels 2-5 are multi-user.

# Runlevel 6 is reboot.



l0:0:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 0

l1:1:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 1

l2:2:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 2

l3:3:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 3

l4:4:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 4

l5:5:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 5

l6:6:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 6

# Normally not reached, but fallthrough in case of emergency.

z6:6:respawn:/sbin/sulogin

[jlc]

Ok, there you go. I was thinking Debian did something different. I don't believe I have ran any other distro that uses 2, not that it matters that much. Some distro's set them to do specific things, like slackware for instints, if you have it at 3, it boots to cli, 4 goes to gdm or kdm <whatever you use>

 

I prefer Solaris way of doing things.

 

0 = powerdown

s = singleuser

1 = administration

2 = multiuser

3 = multiuser w/ NFS

4 = not used <do what you want>

5 = powerdown

6 = reboot

 

I'm thinking maybe Debian used there method for "2"?? just a guess.

 

Anyway, just don't change it to "0" or you will be using that rescue cd. :wink:

[83mercedes]

cybrjackle, I tried the symlink ? you suggested,

ln -s ~mike/.Xauthority

in a console as root, and it said 'file exists'

Again I am lost, it does exist!

 

bvc, thanks for that- I will also try that.

 

DOlson, I am currently doing the apt-spy, and will follow your tutorial, hopefully I can get nvidia installed, eventually.

Thanks to all...(I'll be back) :)