Problems Installing KDE 4.2

montecristo · 2009-02-08 20:27:20

Hi all,

I recently made the switch to Arch Linux after having used several other distro's. Mainly debian. I'm trying to get KDE 4.2 installed after having used pacman to install as it says to do in the wiki.

pacman -Sy kde

I let all of the packages install, and after having done this, I figure I'd reboot and everything would start just fine. But I didn't get any desktop. So I wandered around on the internet, and found this article.

http://archux.com/page/installing-and-setting-kde-4

Tried everything in that article, (modifying my inittab and rc.conf) but to no avail. I still don't have KDE starting when I boot. Obviously people have it working, could anyone fill me in as to what I'm not doing/missing?

Thanks.

Shaika-Dzari · 2009-02-08 20:37:23

Hello!

How did you start kde?
With startx, kdm or other login manager?

@+

montecristo · 2009-02-08 20:55:29

I think it was with KDM. Because in my inittab, I have the line

x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/kdm -nodaemon

if thats not the answer you're looking for, I don't really know what the question is.

Rasi · 2009-02-08 21:06:09

montecristo wrote:

I think it was with KDM. Because in my inittab, I have the line
x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/kdm -nodaemon
if thats not the answer you're looking for, I don't really know what the question is.

you also need to set the default init level to 5 in the same file...

id:5:initdefault:

montecristo · 2009-02-08 21:08:16

you also need to set the default init level to 5 in the same file...

that has been done.

wankel · 2009-02-08 21:11:44

try edition your ~/.xinitrc file and uncommenting the startkde part. then use startx and see if that works.

t3ddy · 2009-02-08 22:21:26

montecristo wrote:

I didn't get any desktop. So I wandered around on the internet, and found this article.

What does this exactly mean?
What about the backinstore option in xorg.conf?

deltaecho · 2009-02-09 01:36:57

I've been having trouble getting KDM to work myself (4.2.0 seems to have a couple bugs)

I've given up on it for the time being and installed GDM -- it requires a few extra libraries but will save you a lot of trouble. Just install GDM:

$ sudo pacman -Sy gdm

...then, modify your /etc/rc.conf to use GDM:

...
DAEMONS="... hal fam gdm ..."

...and, finally, edit your /etc/inittab:

...
#id:3:initdefault:
id:5:initdefault:
...
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/xdm -nodaemon
x:5:respawn:/usr/sbin/gdm -nodaemon
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/kdm -nodaemon
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/slim >& /dev/null

You can leave your ~/.xinitrc as it is, if you want -- KDE doesn't have any problems running from GDM.

Last edited by deltaecho (2009-02-09 01:39:41)

montecristo · 2009-02-09 03:05:45

I can't quote anyone right now, I'm doing this from the command line browser lynx if any of you have ever used it.
When I say I don't have any desktop I mean in the sense that, I get
booted right into the command line. I don't know what you mean when you
say to edit my ~/.xinitrc file, unfortunately I'm not that skilled a user.
I might try using GDM, but I'd really like it if I could get KDE 4.2 to
work. I read the wiki article on Adding a login manager to automatically
boot on startup, and followed that to the letter, but I still can't get
the desktop to come up. I really appreciate everyone's help though.

t3ddy · 2009-02-09 13:28:29

try the command startkde and see if it gives any error

Rokixz · 2009-02-09 13:41:25

You may install KDEmod. Everything's fine here

schuay · 2009-02-09 13:57:01

.. just run

sudo kdm

from the commandline?

once you got that working, you can add kdm to the daemons line in /etc/rc.conf

you will also need hal running, put it somewhere before kdm in the daemons line..

Last edited by schuay (2009-02-09 14:02:34)

deltaecho · 2009-02-09 14:24:52

montecristo wrote:

I might try using GDM, but I'd really like it if I could get KDE 4.2 to work.

You can run KDE from GDM, the only thing different is that you will be logging in from Gnome's Desktop Manager rather than KDE's Desktop Manager.

montecristo wrote:

I don't know what you mean when you say to edit my ~/.xinitrc file, unfortunately I'm not that skilled a user.

~/.xinitrc is just a file that tells X what desktop environment to start when you run `$ startx'. If you want, just run this command to configure it to use KDE:

$ echo -e "#!/bin/sh\n\nexec startkde" > ~/.xinitrc

...then, run `$ startx' and see if KDE comes up.

montecristo wrote:

I can't quote anyone right now, I'm doing this from the command line browser lynx if any of you have ever used it.

I prefer elinks.

eerok · 2009-02-09 18:05:42

montecristo wrote:

Tried everything in that article, (modifying my inittab and rc.conf) but to no avail. I still don't have KDE starting when I boot. Obviously people have it working, could anyone fill me in as to what I'm not doing/missing?

Did you add hal to your daemons? I just put 4.2 on a few minutes ago and it works perfectly as far as I can tell. I did put it on top of an openbox install that I cloned to another partition, though, so all the xorg stuff was already taken care of. The KDE itself seems solid, though, just so you know.

montecristo · 2009-02-10 01:30:47

Did you add hal to your daemons?

Yeah, I went through the entire article posted at the beginning of the thread.

You can run KDE from GDM, the only thing different is that you will be logging in from Gnome's Desktop Manager rather than KDE's Desktop Manager.

I've installed GDM sucessfully, and have decided to use that as such, perhaps sometime later I will try to make it work entirely.

Thanks for everyone's help!

test1000 · 2009-02-10 02:29:34

have you done the stuff in beginners guide? wiki.archlinux.org

also i forgot: i saw a similar bug report(bugs.archlinux.org).. this is probably wrong but if you force install the various kde components it might work.

Last edited by test1000 (2009-02-10 02:34:58)

Wintervenom · 2009-02-10 06:02:26

deltaecho wrote:

I've been having trouble getting KDM to work myself (4.2.0 seems to have a couple bugs)
I've given up on it for the time being and installed GDM -- it requires a few extra libraries but will save you a lot of trouble. Just install GDM:
$ sudo pacman -Sy gdm
...then, modify your /etc/rc.conf to use GDM:
...
DAEMONS="... hal fam gdm ..."
...and, finally, edit your /etc/inittab:
...
#id:3:initdefault:
id:5:initdefault:
...
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/xdm -nodaemon
x:5:respawn:/usr/sbin/gdm -nodaemon
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/kdm -nodaemon
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/slim >& /dev/null
You can leave your ~/.xinitrc as it is, if you want -- KDE doesn't have any problems running from GDM.

You should use only one method of launching the display manager. That is, either via /etc/rc.conf or via /etc/inittab. Not both.

Last edited by Wintervenom (2009-02-10 06:04:45)

tim · 2009-02-10 06:42:32

This may sound like a silly question but do you have xorg installed and your xorg.conf setup?

Arch Linux

#1 2009-02-08 20:27:20

Problems Installing KDE 4.2

#2 2009-02-08 20:37:23

Re: Problems Installing KDE 4.2

#3 2009-02-08 20:55:29

Re: Problems Installing KDE 4.2

#4 2009-02-08 21:06:09

Re: Problems Installing KDE 4.2

#5 2009-02-08 21:08:16

Re: Problems Installing KDE 4.2

#6 2009-02-08 21:11:44

Re: Problems Installing KDE 4.2

#7 2009-02-08 22:21:26

Re: Problems Installing KDE 4.2

#8 2009-02-09 01:36:57

Re: Problems Installing KDE 4.2

#9 2009-02-09 03:05:45

Re: Problems Installing KDE 4.2

#10 2009-02-09 13:28:29

Re: Problems Installing KDE 4.2

#11 2009-02-09 13:41:25

Re: Problems Installing KDE 4.2

#12 2009-02-09 13:57:01

Re: Problems Installing KDE 4.2

#13 2009-02-09 14:24:52

Re: Problems Installing KDE 4.2

#14 2009-02-09 18:05:42

Re: Problems Installing KDE 4.2

#15 2009-02-10 01:30:47

Re: Problems Installing KDE 4.2

#16 2009-02-10 02:29:34

Re: Problems Installing KDE 4.2

#17 2009-02-10 06:02:26

Re: Problems Installing KDE 4.2

#18 2009-02-10 06:42:32

Re: Problems Installing KDE 4.2

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