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#1 2009-09-27 02:57:28

Deuterium
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Registered: 2009-09-26
Posts: 50

[SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

hello guys, i have installed kde, but i dont think its for me, although the desktop widgets are good.

pacman -S kdebase-workspace

As a sidenote, i forewent the whole DE install (pacman -S kde) to just get the preview kind of thing with the base install, can anyone say if the whole kde DE is much better? Im debating whether i should simply remove it and install GNOME instead.  Or maybe i should wait till im more accustomed to KDE?

So anyways, i have fedora 11 installed, i also own multiple other linux CD's.  So would instead of downloading over 400MB of data for the GNOME group (pacman -S gnome), would it be possible to install it from a local version? If so, how would i be able to get it from a CD (if possible) otherwise from an already installed fedora system?

Thanks in advance for any assistance!



Ps. is it possible to install rpm's on arch by any chance?

Last edited by Deuterium (2009-09-27 04:29:19)

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#2 2009-09-27 03:17:06

Allan
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From: Brisbane, AU
Registered: 2007-06-09
Posts: 11,365
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Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

If you install GNOME on Arch Linux, you really want to be using the Arch packages and not the Fedora ones.  Otherwise you will run into compatibility issues.

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#3 2009-09-27 03:28:39

sHyLoCk
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From: /dev/null
Registered: 2009-06-19
Posts: 1,197

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

Also I'd say if you have KDE already installled, try to customize it and trust me it is better than Gnome in every aspect. Gnome just gets in your way of working, Kde is smarter and has better apps. But again, if you haven't used either before you must install and see for yourself which one you like. It's all about your choice. So either stick with kde, or just to check how gnome is, install virtualbox in Arch and intall your Gnome fedora inside it and check it out.
Cheers

Last edited by sHyLoCk (2009-09-27 03:29:13)


~ Regards,
sHy
ArchBang: Yet another Distro for Allan to break.
Blog | GIT | Forum (。◕‿◕。)

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#4 2009-09-27 03:30:04

Deuterium
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Registered: 2009-09-26
Posts: 50

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

oh okay, that means a 400+MB download awaiting... why does GNOME take so much space? is there a way to reduce this?

edit: also, i have fedora 11 installed on my laptop, arch inside virtualbox (still runs very quickly! big_smile )  im not completely newb tongue ive spent most of my time in GNOME.
also, should i install kde then? i only installed the base workspace (see 1st post), and running firefox with the oxygen theme looks quite terrible, like windows 98 quality lol.

Last edited by Deuterium (2009-09-27 03:33:01)

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#5 2009-09-27 03:32:22

sHyLoCk
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From: /dev/null
Registered: 2009-06-19
Posts: 1,197

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

Deuterium wrote:

oh okay, that means a 400+MB download awaiting... why does GNOME take so much space? is there a way to reduce this?

Read the archwiki about Gnome. You will find detailed description about each gnome package and you can choose to install it or skip it according to your needs. Personally orca, seahorse,hamster..etc are all unnecessary for a working gnome desktop.


~ Regards,
sHy
ArchBang: Yet another Distro for Allan to break.
Blog | GIT | Forum (。◕‿◕。)

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#6 2009-09-27 03:42:10

Deuterium
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Registered: 2009-09-26
Posts: 50

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

thanks shylock smile btw, do you know if the full kde group install will make the appearance of the windows better? (this might be a WM problem, not DE, but just asking)  see above 'edit' post for the info

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#7 2009-09-27 04:12:06

FrozenFox
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From: College Station, TX
Registered: 2008-03-23
Posts: 422
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Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Kde … E_4_Themes

.. and older, slightly out of date information if needed can be found here:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Uni … d_GTK_apps

Last edited by FrozenFox (2009-09-27 04:24:55)

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#8 2009-09-27 04:28:51

Deuterium
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Registered: 2009-09-26
Posts: 50

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

thanks guys smile  i think ill install GNOME anyway (got it down to about 303MB, although i cant choose to not install evolution-data-server :S )

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#9 2009-09-27 04:33:10

FrozenFox
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From: College Station, TX
Registered: 2008-03-23
Posts: 422
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Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

Fyi, if you run any KDE apps in Gnome, they will also not look correct until fixed in systemsettings to use GTK+ or otherwise use the same style (like QTCurve). Pure QT apps will need to have the style corrected from qtconfig. So the situation in some places will just be reversed wink

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#10 2009-09-27 04:33:53

guzz46
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From: New Zealand
Registered: 2009-06-18
Posts: 190

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

Have you thought about trying xfce

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#11 2009-09-27 04:44:03

Deuterium
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Registered: 2009-09-26
Posts: 50

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

not particularly, i have heard a little about it, but i think the popular ones are KDE and GNOME, which would mean more apps and themes etc for them, which i like.  why? is there a feature that xfce has which the 2 above dont?

edit: thanks FrozenFox, ill remember that for GNOME etc.  i actually didnt know you could run KDE apps in GNOME, so thanks smile

Last edited by Deuterium (2009-09-27 04:46:12)

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#12 2009-09-27 04:53:56

guzz46
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From: New Zealand
Registered: 2009-06-18
Posts: 190

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

It's similar to gnome but its faster and more lightweight (if i remember correctly around about half the download size of gnome), it uses gtk as well so you can use gnome themes, i'm currently using unity from the gnome-themes-extras package

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#13 2009-09-27 05:45:35

ugkbunb
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Registered: 2009-02-26
Posts: 227

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

I am going to second the XFCE option... you can run all the apps from gnome/kde on XFCE or any DE for that matter... you just need the neccessary libs/dependencies. Since XFCE is GTK based so you can use gnome these as guzz mentioned.

I pretty sure QT 4.5 already includes gqtkstyle

Last edited by ugkbunb (2009-09-27 05:50:12)

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#14 2009-09-27 06:53:40

Deuterium
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Registered: 2009-09-26
Posts: 50

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

okay, maybe i should reopen this (or at least start a new thread?).. but i installed GNOME but when i launch GDM (placed hal, fam and gdm in the 'daemons' part of rc.conf)  then after i login a terrible-quality login manager (the same problem with kde, i must be missing some application or package??) i get told that "System has no Xclients file, so starting failsafe xterm session..." and then obviously loads an xterm terminal (mouse and keyboard working fine).

now ive searched the forums and the net, and i found that removing gdm from rc.conf and then loging in, then booting X with 'startx' (my ~/.xinitrc executes gnome-session) removes this problem, however im stuck as to how to get gdm to work correctly? i just dont know what to try next..

any hints? or should i start a new thread?

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#15 2009-09-27 07:19:36

guzz46
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From: New Zealand
Registered: 2009-06-18
Posts: 190

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

Have a look at this thread http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php? … 25#p588825 maybe it will help, looks like the same problem

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#16 2009-09-27 07:25:20

Deuterium
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Registered: 2009-09-26
Posts: 50

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

guzz46 wrote:

Have a look at this thread http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php? … 25#p588825 maybe it will help, looks like the same problem

ah yes, i had seen that thread, but i am unsure what to do with this statement?

Make sure you changed the session from Xclients to GNOME

if its talking about my ~/.xinitrc file, then it already spawns a gnome-session, and for extra info, yes i did install kde before, and reverted to GNOME, but i havent removed any of the packages.

also, none of the windows look quite right..? they just look *incredibly* basic.. would installing GTK fix this? (i dont think i installed it as 'pacman -Q gtk' does not return a package) or is it just the themes installed?

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#17 2009-09-27 07:35:11

guzz46
Member
From: New Zealand
Registered: 2009-06-18
Posts: 190

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

Have a look at this http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GNO … Manager.29 i don't use GDM so i'm not sure myself but it talks about a ~/.xprofile
or do you have ~/.Xclients file in your home directory

Try installing gnome-themes-extras and change to a different theme, see if it makes a difference

Last edited by guzz46 (2009-09-27 07:49:50)

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#18 2009-09-27 07:59:41

Deuterium
Member
Registered: 2009-09-26
Posts: 50

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

guzz46 wrote:

Have a look at this http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GNO … Manager.29 i don't use GDM so i'm not sure myself but it talks about a ~/.xprofile
or do you have ~/.Xclients file in your home directory

Try installing gnome-themes-extras and change to a different theme, see if it makes a difference

ive already checked that page too, but i dont think it actually says that i should do anything.. :S  also, i can try changing themes, but i dont get a different appearance, only different colours.. so it semi-works :S im getting confuzled...  any ideas? maybe i should remove all kde packages? even though arch shows that i can have both kde and gnome...

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#19 2009-09-27 08:06:49

guzz46
Member
From: New Zealand
Registered: 2009-06-18
Posts: 190

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

Do you have a ~/.Xclients file, if so what are the contents of it?

What do you mean by windows looking basic, can you post a screen shot to show what they look like, having kde installed shouldn't make any difference so i wouldn't bother uninstalling kde

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#20 2009-09-27 09:39:48

Deuterium
Member
Registered: 2009-09-26
Posts: 50

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

guzz46 wrote:

Do you have a ~/.Xclients file, if so what are the contents of it?

What do you mean by windows looking basic, can you post a screen shot to show what they look like, having kde installed shouldn't make any difference so i wouldn't bother uninstalling kde

no i dont have a .Xclients file, should I?
also, it must have just been the theme, because i realised that it was possible to change the theme from the login screen (idk how to do it from the command line), and after rebooting, it seemed to work fine.  so 1 problem resolved, one to go..

what should be in ~/.Xclients?  thanks for your help by the way smile

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#21 2009-09-27 10:14:38

guzz46
Member
From: New Zealand
Registered: 2009-06-18
Posts: 190

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

no i dont have a .Xclients file, should I?

I'm not sure as i auto login, i assume your selecting gnome-session from the GDM login screen

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#22 2009-09-27 10:21:22

Deuterium
Member
Registered: 2009-09-26
Posts: 50

Re: [SOLVED] using a local version of GNOME to install?

yep, also, some menu's arent displayed? like i cannot change the desktop background (right clicking on desktop and clicking 'change desktop background' doesnt launch any application..)

also i don't have the system->preferences->appearance or system->preferences->login manager menu items... im thinking im missing some package (i didnt download all packages in the 'gnome' group btw)

ill start looking for what ~/.Xclients is and what it should do...

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