[SOLVED] Fluxbox won't work and mirror problem

The Avatar of Time · 2008-02-15 05:24:04

Hello all, I recently tried to make the switch to Arch again from Ubuntu. Ran into some trouble though. Obviously I was using the 64 bit version. It installed just fine, but once I booted into it I couldn't use pacman to install anything or even refresh. After a bit of playing I found the file where the mirrors hide. The one I set in installation was uncommented as it should be but not working so up above I uncommented the same one (ibilio) and that fixed that. Is that a normal problem? Anyhow no biggie so I moved on. I go for straight Fluxbox. So I installed xorg and fluxbox. But for the life of me I can not get it to boot to fluxbox. Keeps going to twm. I tried everything in the fluxbox guide from the Arch wiki to get it going with no luck. Finally gave up and went back to Ubuntu. Now I used the 32 bit a time or two on an old computer and fluxbox worked fine. Here like I say startx would bring up twm. And startfluxbox (think thats the right command) would get a cannot connect to xserver error. Any ideas? I sure would love to use Arch. Sorry I can't be more precise on how it went but I no longer have it installed. If someone thinks they can help me with this though I would love to try again. Thanks.

Last edited by The Avatar of Time (2008-02-16 07:32:36)

tomk · 2008-02-15 07:28:15

Double-check your ~/.xinitrc - that's the cause of your problem.

The Avatar of Time · 2008-02-15 17:42:41

Thanks for the reply. Now I could be way off base but if memory serves I didn't have a ~/.xinitrc what would I do to fix that? I mean I know how to make a file but what should be in it?

wyvern · 2008-02-15 18:14:05

'exec startfluxbox'

I was a long-time fluxbox user, and that was the first thing I would setup/edit after I installed Fluxbox. (I use Openbox now)

The Avatar of Time · 2008-02-15 18:31:00

Thanks for the reply. I have put exec startfluxbox in my startup but startx still goes to twm. And unless I simply missed it somewhere I don't have a .xinitrc file to try exec fluxbox in. If I do a startfluxbox from the command line instead of startx I will get a blank screen and then get kicked back to the terminal, with a cannot connect to xserver message. Also why does xorg come with twm, and is there a way to get around that? Would removing twm help? I have no need for it and would rather not have it. Ubuntu doesn't seem to have it with xorg.

Last edited by The Avatar of Time (2008-02-15 18:33:31)

wyvern · 2008-02-15 18:43:48

Ah, sorry, I should have specified that you add it to your ~/.xinitrc file, and you will most likely have to make then edit that file (as I did) yourself.

touch ~/.xinitrc

and then, with your text editor of choice add this line to that file

exec startfluxbox

and save. If that still doesn't work let me know

You will always get kicked back to the command line, as X cannot find any login manager, and you had no user-specified fallback file that it would look for instead, so it fell back finally on the system-wide fallback, which is TWM.

So you have to rely on writing your own way to start x, which is the ~/.xinitrc file. Otherwise it will always find twm.

If you really don't want twm, you can easily remove it (I don't have it installed at all) with a simple 'pacman -R xorg-twm'.

HTH

Last edited by wyvern (2008-02-15 18:45:07)

The Avatar of Time · 2008-02-16 00:23:07

Thank you kindly, that worked and I can get to fluxbox now. I have a quick question though: what does 'touch' do? I think I figured out where I went wrong, the guide I have says to add exec fluxbox to the .xinitrc OR 'if you would like to use the startfluxbox file' use exec startfluxbox. I was thinking that if I used exec startfluxbox it only needed to be in the ~/.fluxbox/startup file when in fact either way it needs to in .xinitrc. Is that correct? Thanks again for helping me out. I look foward to using Arch full time.

wyvern · 2008-02-16 00:39:06

I have a quick question though: what does 'touch' do?

It creates empty files, or if the file exists, it leaves the contents of the file alone, merely updating the timestamp on it instead. A safer way to check/create a file then other commands

when in fact either way it needs to in .xinitrc. Is that correct?

Yes, it's a standard way to log in to X and even to specify apps/processes/daemons to start when X starting, unless you get into graphical login managers (Slim, GDM, KDM, etc) which use .desktop files, or reference .xsession files instead (just to confuse the matter )

Glad to have helped though, and you've learnt something valuable in the process - it was through using fluxbox I found out about the uses and existence of .xinitrc (and Xdefaults, Xmodmap gtkrc, gtkrc-2.0, etc):D

The Avatar of Time · 2008-02-16 07:34:26

Just thought I would give an update, I have Arch installed and working, enjoying it so far. Few issues to iron out but I think I will get along well with Arch. Thanks again, had you not helped I don't know how long it would of been till I tried Arch again.

jacko · 2008-02-16 15:31:34

I was thinking that if I used exec startfluxbox it only needed to be in the ~/.fluxbox/startup

if u had thought about it, u would have realized that ~/.fluxbox/startup is only called after fluxbox starts, so how is starting fluxbox only after fluxbox starts gonna work?

Last edited by jacko (2008-02-16 15:32:12)

The Avatar of Time · 2008-02-16 23:02:51

Yes that makes sense, I am used to Ubuntu though and have never had to use the .xinitrc so I did not really know what either of them did. That is why I like Arch, it makes me learn.

Last edited by The Avatar of Time (2008-02-16 23:39:08)

Arch Linux

#1 2008-02-15 05:24:04

[SOLVED] Fluxbox won't work and mirror problem

#2 2008-02-15 07:28:15

Re: [SOLVED] Fluxbox won't work and mirror problem

#3 2008-02-15 17:42:41

Re: [SOLVED] Fluxbox won't work and mirror problem

#4 2008-02-15 18:14:05

Re: [SOLVED] Fluxbox won't work and mirror problem

#5 2008-02-15 18:31:00

Re: [SOLVED] Fluxbox won't work and mirror problem

#6 2008-02-15 18:43:48

Re: [SOLVED] Fluxbox won't work and mirror problem

#7 2008-02-16 00:23:07

Re: [SOLVED] Fluxbox won't work and mirror problem

#8 2008-02-16 00:39:06

Re: [SOLVED] Fluxbox won't work and mirror problem

#9 2008-02-16 07:34:26

Re: [SOLVED] Fluxbox won't work and mirror problem

#10 2008-02-16 15:31:34

Re: [SOLVED] Fluxbox won't work and mirror problem

#11 2008-02-16 23:02:51

Re: [SOLVED] Fluxbox won't work and mirror problem

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