Help getting X and XFCE working

Syndacate · 2008-06-28 05:01:41

Hey,

I'm new to archlinux, not particularly new to linux in general, but all the distros I've installed before were either servers and didn't need a GUI, or came with a GUI.

I followed the how-to for XFCE (looking to keep it lightweight, I don't have a very fast processor) and I keep getting a few errors.

This pops up every few minutes:
"INIT: ID "x" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes"

If I type "startxfce4" or "startx" or "X" I get this msg:

"(EE) Failed to load module "type1" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) Failed to load module "nv" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) No drivers available.

Fatal server error:
no screens found"

When I did the X config it found the screen just fine, I can't figure out what's wrong.

The reason why I'm using "nv" is because they simply didn't have anything else in X config that matched my video card (for a driver) for an Nivida Geforce 7600GT.

That could be the problem but I'm not sure, any input is appreciated, I'd like to get some visuals here >.<

Berticus · 2008-06-28 05:16:20

well you could:

pacman -S nvidia

And then in /etc/X11/xorg.conf, change the nv driver to nvidia.

Where are you attempting to load type1 module? The reason you're getting the respawning too fast error is because the drivers fail to load, and X shuts down. In runlevel 5, X attempts to respawn. I think if you figured out what type1 module you're trying to load and install nvidia drivers, you should be fine. Not quite sure why nv drivers aren't working... The only reason I could see is if you didn't do:

pacman -S xf86-video-nv

Syndacate · 2008-06-28 05:45:20

Hrm

Okay, that did something, maybe I'm confused as to exactly what XFCE is...?

I encountered XFCE once, and it was on the Linux From Scratch Live CD, it was complete and junk. It had a desktop, icons, etc.

This has two xterm windows and a 3rd called login, and a clock up in the upper right hand corner.

Am I missing something here? I think I am.

I was expecting to get a regular environment, like Gnome or KDE, instead I'm prompted with something similar to when I tried installing Gentoo with the GUI installer.

It's pure black and white, like from 1985..

Any advice?

EDIT:
Don't get me wrong here, I'm not expecting a souped up desktop, I'm not into that shit, I'm not a complete linux newb either...it's simply that this is past "nothing" - way past nothing...this is less helpful then a bash prompt in terms of daily usability.

Last edited by Syndacate (2008-06-28 05:48:56)

tesjo · 2008-06-28 06:19:26

XFCE is a desktop environment with a window manager, panel (toolbar), menus, filemanager, etc...
But your error is from Xorg server check the wiki for Beginners guide it should get you going, but for quick fix try as Berticus said

pacman -S nvidia

and then to configure X run

nvidia-xconfig

Also it looks like your getting TWM as default for startx. Try startxfce4 or edit ~/.xinitrc, again in the beginners guide.

Last edited by tesjo (2008-06-28 06:22:40)

Cew27 · 2008-06-28 09:41:56

exec startxfce4 and edit your ~/.xinitrc so that startx loads xfce not the ainchent xterm screen, also get slim from pacman and configure that as pe the arch wiki as xfce doesnt have a login manager, slim is good but i got sick of of xfce and installed kde mod wich is faster then xfce on my laptop (1 gig of ram with 1.8ghz pentium dual core)

sirocco · 2008-06-28 09:43:16

Syndacate wrote:

It's pure black and white, like from 1985..

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xfce

If you want extras, like panel plugins and extra themes, run this:
# pacman -S xfce4-goodies gtk2-themes-collection
....
Running Xfce
There are two ways to run Xfce. One is the "automatic" method. To start Xfce from the console, you can simply run:
# startxfce4
....

Last edited by sirocco (2008-06-28 09:57:02)

Doc Angelo · 2008-06-28 10:09:33

sirocco wrote:

Syndacate wrote:
It's pure black and white, like from 1985..
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xfce
If you want extras, like panel plugins and extra themes, run this:
# pacman -S xfce4-goodies gtk2-themes-collection
....
Running Xfce
There are two ways to run Xfce. One is the "automatic" method. To start Xfce from the console, you can simply run:
# startxfce4
....

He isnt lacking of extras for XFCE, but XFCE itself. The 1985 he talks about is the standarg X-Screen without anything but virtual consoles. Like said above, .xinitrc should be edited, so that X starts the correct desktop environment.

tigrmesh · 2008-06-28 16:41:22

xfce won't load untill you fix those xorg errors. Have a look at the xorg wiki page: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xorg.

Syndacate · 2008-06-28 17:10:59

tesjo wrote:

XFCE is a desktop environment with a window manager, panel (toolbar), menus, filemanager, etc...
But your error is from Xorg server check the wiki for Beginners guide it should get you going, but for quick fix try as Berticus said
pacman -S nvidia
and then to configure X run
nvidia-xconfig
Also it looks like your getting TWM as default for startx. Try startxfce4 or edit ~/.xinitrc, again in the beginners guide.

Ah, thankyou, I didn't run nvidia-xconfig - I ran that and it started, and a little help from the arch wiki and I got my mouse working >.<

@ tigrmesh:
I realize it won't load until I fix those problems, that's why I posted here. I thought it was relatively simple (and it was, simply didn't install/configure the nvidia drivers). I realized why it was getting the error, but I didn't know what I did wrong.

@ Doc Angelo:
I already downloaded installed XFCE via pacman, I wasn't missing it.

@ sirocco:
Yes, thankyou, that's the writeup I was following to install XFCE, it was the error I got when I tried to boot it that I couldn't figure out.

@ Cew27:
Thankyou, doing that right after I post this.
I'm using XFCE because it's reasonably productive (at least in my opinion), decetly aesthetically, and from what I've heard its the lightest of the three (gnome, KDE, and XFCE). I feel KDE is non-productive, and Gnome Vs. XFCE is pretty equal for me in terms of productivity but from what I hear XFCE has less of the "completeness" that gnome or KDE has, which makes it "lighter" - but obviously missing some stuff. Which is fine, I'm low on hard disk space (I put this on a 10Gb partition) so I'm keeping it as light and small as possible (also because my machine isn't very fast, 3.0Ghz P4 w/ 1Gb RAM). I've never heard of slim and due to its name I can't find any good shots of it or documentation about it on google. They have a site or anything? Either way I'm going to try to tweak XFCE a bit.

Few sub Q's, if this is too much of a segway from topic plz tell me and I'll make a new thread:
- Which color scheme should I be using? It seems as though all my colors aren't complete or something, right now it's set to 256, though I suspect it should be higher
- I don't have a ~/.xinitrc file - though I'm using it as root (not sure if that makes a difference), I didn't add a user because I get sick of permissions crap, though I probably should add one :-\
- If I add "X" and "xdm" in my startup daemons it should start on boot, no? (/etc/rc.conf)

Think that's all for now >.<

Thank you all, very much for your help thus far.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-06-28 05:01:41

Help getting X and XFCE working

#2 2008-06-28 05:16:20

Re: Help getting X and XFCE working

#3 2008-06-28 05:45:20

Re: Help getting X and XFCE working

#4 2008-06-28 06:19:26

Re: Help getting X and XFCE working

#5 2008-06-28 09:41:56

Re: Help getting X and XFCE working

#6 2008-06-28 09:43:16

Re: Help getting X and XFCE working

#7 2008-06-28 10:09:33

Re: Help getting X and XFCE working

#8 2008-06-28 16:41:22

Re: Help getting X and XFCE working

#9 2008-06-28 17:10:59

Re: Help getting X and XFCE working

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