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#1 2010-04-07 23:23:30

Mr. Inept
Member
Registered: 2010-04-07
Posts: 2

DE dilemma

Hi, I just managed to install Arch today (I spent a day or two preparing) and have hit a problem.  I've installed everything and ran pacman -Syy, as well as installed xorg, gnome, gnome-extra and gdm, but I'm apparently failing at getting gnome to start.  I've read I can make it start at boot by adding gdm to daemons, but I'm unsure of how to open that rc.conf from nano (and I have no idea how to start it otherwise, as nothing seems to work)...

I've checked the wiki, but I find it entirely unhelpful in this matter.  I hope someone can point me in the right direction (so I don't have to linger on this linux mint livecd).  Thanks, though, for any helpful response I get!

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#2 2010-04-07 23:34:31

tm-b
Member
Registered: 2010-04-06
Posts: 1

Re: DE dilemma

Type

$ nano /etc/rc.conf

as root (or use sudo) and go to the bottom of the file. You will find a section for daemons and you simply need to add gdm to it.

Last edited by tm-b (2010-04-07 23:38:21)

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#3 2010-04-07 23:35:57

n0dix
Member
Registered: 2009-09-22
Posts: 956

Re: DE dilemma

Mr. Inept wrote:

Hi, I just managed to install Arch today (I spent a day or two preparing) and have hit a problem.  I've installed everything and ran pacman -Syy, as well as installed xorg, gnome, gnome-extra and gdm, but I'm apparently failing at getting gnome to start.  I've read I can make it start at boot by adding gdm to daemons, but I'm unsure of how to open that rc.conf from nano (and I have no idea how to start it otherwise, as nothing seems to work)...

Hello Mr. Inept. Nano is text editor, to open a rc.conf file you have to do the following:

$ nano /etc/rc.conf

Because the owner of rc.conf is root, so you have to use sudo or login as root:
login as root and open the file:

$ su - 
nano /etc/rc.conf

or using sudo

$ sudo nano /etc/rc.conf

To salve the file press: Ctrl + x, and press 'y' and Enter.

Last edited by n0dix (2010-04-07 23:37:11)

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#4 2010-04-07 23:43:32

HoboJ
Member
Registered: 2010-04-04
Posts: 28

Re: DE dilemma

Mr. Inept wrote:

I've checked the wiki, but I find it entirely unhelpful in this matter.

I hate to be rude but why didn't you use the beginners guide when you installed and setup Arch? It's invaluable to the arch newbie and includes the answer to your question. Also you may want to go read the beginners guide front to back as it will help confirm you've setup your system correctly.

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#5 2010-04-07 23:50:52

Mr. Inept
Member
Registered: 2010-04-07
Posts: 2

Re: DE dilemma

tm-b, thanks a ton for that bit of info!

n0dix, while I appreciate that, I was already familiar with nano and sudo (even if it was just a debian-or-redhat-based distro, I've been using Linux fairly exclusively for over a year now, lol)

Thanks a ton, everyone!  I'll try this now, as soon as I remove this laggy livecd!

Oh, in response to that last post, I did check the beginner's guide, I'm just a bit clumsy with information-gathering... I did find that part about setting gdm to daemons, but I didn't know if that applied when no other method could start it (any further questions about THAT particular moment of mindlessness would just prove how hopeless I can be ^_^ )

Last edited by Mr. Inept (2010-04-07 23:53:15)

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#6 2010-04-08 01:14:06

lasu1
Member
Registered: 2010-02-10
Posts: 83

Re: DE dilemma

It's also possible to start gnome from the command line -- you don't have to use GDM or any other display manager to start your desktop environment. I mention this becuase the original post said that you are faiing to get gnome to start. For straight to X from boot you can also edit your /etc/inittab settings.

Did you add an entry for gnome in your ~/.xinitrc?

See: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Start_X_at_Boot

I assume this means that you can get gnome to start, just not automatically at boot?

EDIT: oops, sorry I see that you've solved this.

Last edited by lasu1 (2010-04-08 01:14:29)

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