Still can't boot into wm.

Hybris · 2010-10-03 09:57:06

Hello Arch forum!

This is my first post. I just installed Arch yesterday from a core-cd. After a lot of configuring and troubleshooting (mirrors were seemingly out-of-sync), I got almost everything to work.
Arch is living up to my expectations so far

The problem is that I still boot into tty1, and then I have to execute "xinit /usr/bin/xmonad" to open my wm, xmonad, despite having edited /etc/inittab, like the beginners guide and the wiki says.

Without further ado, I'll copy the relevant files here:

inittab:

http://pastebin.com/2arCTGKX

.xinitrc:

http://pastebin.com/VedyJ4BJ

The weird thing is that while booting, I saw "entering runlevel 5".
So it should then run the display manager (xdm), ask me for login, and the open xmonad.

I already read the beginners guide, and different wiki-articles, but I can't figure this one out. I would try the IRC channel, but I thought it was more convenient to make a post here, what with the files.
In any case, sooner or later I would make a post on this forum. I hope I don't break any forum etiquette (I looked at the forum etiquette thread, but briefly).

- Hybris

edit: now with pastebin.

Last edited by Hybris (2010-10-03 10:10:17)

litemotiv · 2010-10-03 10:06:38

Welcome to the forums Hybris, please use code-tags when pasting code or config files, it helps to keep things readable.

jasonwryan · 2010-10-03 10:12:59

Your wm should be the last line in xinitrc

According to the xmonad wiki article:

To start xmonad automatically, simply add the command exec xmonad to your startup script (e.g. ~/.xinitrc). GDM and KDM users can create a new session file and then select xmonad from the appropriate Session menu.
Recently, users in #xmonad have stated that the exec is not required; simply adding xmonad as the last line in your startup script is the proper way to start this WM. Please use whichever method works for you. If using ck-launch-session, the exec is probably still required.

Hybris · 2010-10-03 10:20:03

Ok, fixed. But I had that line at the end before as well, and it behaved the same way.

karol · 2010-10-03 10:31:23

Maybe http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Start_X_at_Boot will help.

Last edited by karol (2010-10-03 10:35:28)

Hybris · 2010-10-03 10:33:51

Well, that wiki says:
"The majority of users wishing to start an X server during the boot process will want to install a display manager, and see Display Manager for details."

So I went to the Display Manager article, and did what it said. With said results. I don't want to boot into the wm without logging in, like the option in "Start_X_at_Boot" suggests.

karol · 2010-10-03 10:35:17

IIRC 'xsetroot -cursor_name leftr_ptr' should have '&' at the end:

xsetroot -cursor_name leftr_ptr &

Hybris · 2010-10-03 10:38:33

They omit the "&" in the example in http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xmonad

(BTW, I have problems with my sound too, should I make a seperate thread, or just write another post here?)

edit: Sound issues fixed.

update:

I tried running "sh .xinitrc" when I boot into tty1 instead of "xinit /usr/bin/xmonad"

Output:

Cannot open display "default display"
xsetroot: unable to open display ' '
/home/my_username/.xmonad/xmonad-x86_64-linux executeFile: does not exist 
xmonad: user error (open Display)

I haven't seen this before, so this must mean that .xinitrc is never even run at boot. I don't know what these error mean, but it's true that I don't have an .xmonad dir in my user dir.

edit: I think the main problem is something with the dm. I try using the xdm (see link to inittab in OP). I don't want to use

 x:5:once:/bin/su PREFERED_USER -l -c '/usr/bin/startx >/dev/null 2>&1'

because I want a login screen.

Last edited by Hybris (2010-10-03 12:07:36)

Mr.Elendig · 2010-10-03 13:14:13

As said on irc:

15:02:20  MrElendig ╡ mkdir -p ~/.xmonad
15:02:55  MrElendig ╡ echo -e "import XMonad\nmain = xmonad defaultConfig" > ~/.xmonad/xmonad.hs
15:03:01  MrElendig ╡ xmonad --recompile

Last edited by Mr.Elendig (2010-10-03 13:14:40)

Hybris · 2010-10-03 13:18:39

Ok, I did that. Then I created xmonad.desktop as in here: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xmo … ind_xmonad, like you said.

Rebooted. Doesn't work. After going into runlevel 5, there are some error messages that dissappear too quickly to read them, and it goes to tty1.

schen · 2010-10-03 13:25:35

Are you using GDM? You said you were using XDM, and they are two different things. I would use slim, or even better, startx.

Hybris · 2010-10-03 13:51:04

I started with using xdm, but then MrElendig suggested to switch to gdm, so that's what I did.

I decided not to waste more time on this, so I changed inittab to boot me straight up to xmonad, without asking for loginname or password. But it's not exactly what I wanted

schen · 2010-10-03 14:49:31

Show us your new inittab. Have you changed the init runlevel to 5, and have you uncommented the gdm line?

el_nadi · 2010-10-03 14:59:54

Are you sure you installed and configured your window manager properly? Installing and running Slim was pretty easy for me, so maybe it would be a good choice for you.

ewaller · 2010-10-03 15:10:43

I think we trying to run when we have not yet established that we can walk. I would start at run level 3 and not but the login manager in the daemons array.

Then I'd log into a console and, using root privileges, start the login manager by hand

/etc/rc.d/xdm start

At the least, this should enable you to read error messages.

Once you can start it by hand, move on to starting it at run level 5. IMHO, don't start it from the daemons array (personal bias I guess... To much Slackware and Gentoo in my background)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-10-03 09:57:06

Still can't boot into wm.

#2 2010-10-03 10:06:38

Re: Still can't boot into wm.

#3 2010-10-03 10:12:59

Re: Still can't boot into wm.

#4 2010-10-03 10:20:03

Re: Still can't boot into wm.

#5 2010-10-03 10:31:23

Re: Still can't boot into wm.

#6 2010-10-03 10:33:51

Re: Still can't boot into wm.

#7 2010-10-03 10:35:17

Re: Still can't boot into wm.

#8 2010-10-03 10:38:33

Re: Still can't boot into wm.

#9 2010-10-03 13:14:13

Re: Still can't boot into wm.

#10 2010-10-03 13:18:39

Re: Still can't boot into wm.

#11 2010-10-03 13:25:35

Re: Still can't boot into wm.

#12 2010-10-03 13:51:04

Re: Still can't boot into wm.

#13 2010-10-03 14:49:31

Re: Still can't boot into wm.

#14 2010-10-03 14:59:54

Re: Still can't boot into wm.

#15 2010-10-03 15:10:43

Re: Still can't boot into wm.

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