Clean install of Arch/GNOME and a bunch of strange problems

Nazgulled · 2009-03-17 01:18:29

I have installed Arch Linux and GNOME in the past few days and haven't installed much applications, it's still a pretty simple and small system. I installed the gnome and gnome-extra group packages and from both I didn't select all packages. For each package I searched the wiki and/or google to see if that specific package had any interest to me.

But since I installed GNOME, I've been having a bunch of really strange issues everywhere that never happened to me in GNOME in any another distro that I've used in the past.

Blue items are solved, red items are yet to be solved...

1) I installed one additional GNOME package (can't remember the name) to have system configuration available under the menu "System » Administration", but every item inside that menu (Network, Services, Shared Folders, Time and Date, Users and Groups) have all their options grayed out when I start them. Basically, I can't change any settings cause it won't let me.

2) In the above menu, the "Time and Date" option doesn't have an icon. Minor thing, but it still bothers me and looks bad.

3) There are bunch of GNOME apps that were installed either in the "gnome" or "gnome-extra" package that simply do not work at all. I click in their menu items and they are not launched. For instance: "Preferences » Main Menu". Actually, I think it's the only one that doesn't start (alacarte is installed).

4) The "System » Preferences » Sessions" is not working. Every change I do, delete an item, add a new item or edit an item, is not saved when I press the "close button". Cause when I open it back, the change I did is not there, only the defaults...

5) I added the "Network Monitor" panel to the top main bar. When I open it, I see a button named "Configure" but when I click on it, the "network monitor" window is closed and a message pops up saying "The interface does not exist. Check that it is correctly typed and that it is correctly supported by your system. Shouldn't it open the "System » Administration » Network" item?

6) This is not related to GNOME but I'll just post it here, maybe someone knows... I installed "Guake" and it's a very nice terminal but it has a little problem. In my system, for some reason, if I type "m" and then any other letter, for instance "a", the "a" will overlap the "m". The same font works just fine on gnome terminal. Any possible way to fix this? It's very annoying...

That's it, any help is appreciated to help me solve all these problems or any of them...

Last edited by Nazgulled (2009-03-18 00:54:00)

Inxsible · 2009-03-17 01:21:59

1) For your first issue, it looks like your user doesn't have the proper privileges. Check to see if you have sudo privs.

2) That could be because of the theme you are using. The theme probably doesn't have an icon for Time and Date. Try using some other theme from Gnome Look to see if it is rectified.

Last edited by Inxsible (2009-03-17 01:22:53)

Nazgulled · 2009-03-17 01:40:48

1) I don't know what you mean by that, but here's the content of my sudoers file: Sudoers File. I think everything's ok, but I'm not the expert.

2) But I'm using the default theme, the one that GNOME selects by default when it's first installed, shouldn't this theme have proper icons for everything that's part of GNOME?

Ghost1227 · 2009-03-17 02:03:37

1. I don't use GNOME, so I could be wrong, but I know that some programs have an unlisted dependency - gksu (or kdesu if you use kde). might help with your first problem, might not.

2. That is almost definitely a problem with the theme, although it could also be a problem with the .desktop file (assuming system utilities have one)

3. Manually run the offending program(s) from the command line and report any errors (or lack thereof) here... that'll give us a better starting point for troubleshooting.

4. Don't know, but it sounds like a session manager issue

5. Verify that the network manager is setup to use the right interface... other than that I don't know.

6. Try changing your font? You could probably also fix it through .Xdefaults - check around the forums for help with that particular file.

Good luck!

don_crissti · 2009-03-17 18:15:20

1.

but every item inside that menu (Network, Services, Shared Folders, Time and Date, Users and Groups) have all their options grayed out when I start them

And they should also have a button "Unlock" right at the bottom of the window. Use it to unlock the thingies.
2.

In the above menu, the "Time and Date" option doesn't have an icon. Minor thing, but it still bothers me and looks bad.

Indeed, the icon is missing if one uses the default Gnome icon set. I use a modified Oxygen theme and the icon shows up OK (it's called time-admin.png)
6.

I installed "Guake" and it's a very nice terminal but it has a little problem.

As Ghost1227 said, this is a font issue, just right-click on Guake > Preferences > Style and change your font.

Nazgulled · 2009-03-17 18:53:40

1) I do have gksu installed, just tried to reinstall and it didn't help. I haven't noticed that "unclock" button but there's a reason for it... Oddly enough, it's also grayed out, I can't click on it...

2) Ok, I'll look for another theme in the future

3) Here you go;

nazgulled ~ $ alacarte
Xlib:  extension "Generic Event Extension" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "Generic Event Extension" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "Generic Event Extension" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "Generic Event Extension" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "Generic Event Extension" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "Generic Event Extension" missing on display ":0.0".
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/alacarte", line 36, in <module>
    main()
  File "/usr/bin/alacarte", line 32, in main
    app = MainWindow(datadir, version, sys.argv)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/Alacarte/MainWindow.py", line 50, in __init__
    self.editor = MenuEditor()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/Alacarte/MenuEditor.py", line 36, in __init__
    self.__loadMenus()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/Alacarte/MenuEditor.py", line 42, in __loadMenus
    self.applications.path = os.path.join(util.getUserMenuPath(), self.applications.tree.get_menu_file())
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/Alacarte/util.py", line 135, in getUserMenuPath
    os.makedirs(menu_dir)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/os.py", line 157, in makedirs
    mkdir(name, mode)
OSError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/home/nazgulled/.config/menus'

It seems I have some serious permissions problems on my system. Alacarte does not run as normal user, I have the "sessions problem" related on #4, also the problem #1 and when I run "sudo alacarte" (to test if was working), I tried to change any menu settings and the same thing happens is in #4, verything is reverted to defaults, nothing I do is changed...

5) As far as I know it is...

6) Solved... The fonts seemed so similar (between gnome-terminal and guake) that I though they were the same. It's changed now to monospace

Nazgulled · 2009-03-18 00:45:46

For some reason, #3 and #4 are now working... Dunno what I did. #1 is still not fixed, I had hop that they were related (fixing one, would fix all).

Also, the icon in #2 now appears Dunno where that came from...

wonder · 2009-03-18 00:53:52

how do you login to gnome? the best way is to use gdm. seems to me that is a policykit issue. if you use startx just add to .xinitrc : ck-launch-session exec gnome-session .
also i think you have permission issue. chown nazgulled -R /home/nazgulled

Last edited by wonder (2009-03-18 00:55:05)

Nazgulled · 2009-03-18 01:53:29

I add done that chown thing before if I remember, maybe that was the thing that fixed some of my issues...

I normally login as startx other times with gdm, it depends... I'll add that line to .xinitrc and test it, right now, I'm the middle of compiling firefox branded, damn, that takes time...

EDIT:
It worked with GDM, not with that line you suggested to .xinitrc...

Last edited by Nazgulled (2009-03-18 02:46:56)

Nazgulled · 2009-03-23 17:40:24

Any idea what's wrong with the 2 things left to fix?

EDIT:
1) This one seems to work fine (the unlock button works) if I login through GDM... However, every change I do, is not saved...

Last edited by Nazgulled (2009-03-23 18:27:01)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-03-17 01:18:29

Clean install of Arch/GNOME and a bunch of strange problems

#2 2009-03-17 01:21:59

Re: Clean install of Arch/GNOME and a bunch of strange problems

#3 2009-03-17 01:40:48

Re: Clean install of Arch/GNOME and a bunch of strange problems

#4 2009-03-17 02:03:37

Re: Clean install of Arch/GNOME and a bunch of strange problems

#5 2009-03-17 18:15:20

Re: Clean install of Arch/GNOME and a bunch of strange problems

#6 2009-03-17 18:53:40

Re: Clean install of Arch/GNOME and a bunch of strange problems

#7 2009-03-18 00:45:46

Re: Clean install of Arch/GNOME and a bunch of strange problems

#8 2009-03-18 00:53:52

Re: Clean install of Arch/GNOME and a bunch of strange problems

#9 2009-03-18 01:53:29

Re: Clean install of Arch/GNOME and a bunch of strange problems

#10 2009-03-23 17:40:24

Re: Clean install of Arch/GNOME and a bunch of strange problems

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