[SOLVED] Problem with XFCE installation

zhogan85 · 2011-10-04 17:24:12

I installed arch for the first time this past weekend, and while I've run into a couple kinks, I've been able to wiki my way out of most of them. But this one has had me stumped for a few days now.

I installed X and was able to startx with no problems, but after installing XFCE and SLiM, and diligently following the wikis during the install process, I've had problems. I tried XFCE initially without SLiM, and it would start to load and then come back to the terminal. There were no errors, and in the log, there were only a couple warnings. They were Open ACPI failed, falling back to old probe method for vesa, and falling back to old probe method for fbdev.

In one wiki, (or forum thread, sorry I don't remember, I've pored over dozens of both) installing slim was advised, so I figured I'd try that. The SLiM login screen comes up and after entering my user name and password, appears to accept it, then quickly flashes to a login for tty1, and then returns me to the SLiM login.

I seem to have run into a road block, and have not been able to find any solutions/workarounds.

Can anyone please point in the right direction, or offer me some advise?

Thanks in advance.

ps. Using an ASUS eeePC 1005ha

Last edited by zhogan85 (2011-10-05 14:24:00)

ethail · 2011-10-04 17:45:37

Slim is highly discouraged because it's unmaintained since 2010 or so.

Try with another DM or log into the tty and then startx / xinit

Shark · 2011-10-04 17:53:46

Have you installed graphic drivers?

zhogan85 · 2011-10-04 18:02:07

ethail wrote:

Slim is highly discouraged because it's unmaintained since 2010 or so.
Try with another DM or log into the tty and then startx / xinit

Will do, I'll try this evening.

Shark wrote:

Have you installed graphic drivers?

Yes, I installed the intel drivers.

alphaniner · 2011-10-04 19:15:07

What are the contents of your ~/.xinitrc ? That all sounds similar to what I experienced once when I forgot to edit it.

kyla · 2011-10-04 20:16:28

If slim is discouraged that should really be mentioned in the wiki...

Is slim configured correctly (/etc/slim.conf) What about .xinitrc?

zhogan85 · 2011-10-04 23:22:55

alphaniner wrote:

What are the contents of your ~/.xinitrc ? That all sounds similar to what I experienced once when I forgot to edit it.

exec ck-launch-session startxfce4

I've unistalled Slim, and am trying XDM instead. So now, with xinit, x starts to launch and then comes back to tty, with no errors. And startx does the same thing, but also says hostname:command not found. I had this error when I first installed X, but installing net-tools solved it, so now I'm not sure why it came back.

Any insights? I'm getting pretty frustrated and might just give on on XFCE all together and just go with openbox or fluxbox. I was really hoping to give XFCE a try though.

I'd appreciate any help or advice. Thanks.

skunktrader · 2011-10-04 23:54:59

hostname is now located in the package inetutils

stoat · 2011-10-05 01:23:41

I'm using XDM with XFCE. Some additional things to try/consider/whatever...

1. Have you got an executable ~/.xsession file? If not, then...

$ cp /etc/skel/.xsession $HOME
$ chmod 744 $HOME/.xsession

2. Did you edit /etc/inittab after switching from SLiM?

id:5:initdefault: 
x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/xdm -nodaemon

3. Probably not related, but remember to add your user to the power and storage groups.

Anyway, it's all harmless and reversible stuff.

sudaraka · 2011-10-05 01:29:40

I'm using XFCE without anu DM, I just have the following on my scripts.

.bash_profile:

#
# ~/.bash_profile
#

[[ -f ~/.bashrc ]] && . ~/.bashrc

if [[ -z $DISPLAY && ! -e /tmp/.X11-unix/X0 ]] && (( EUID )); then
	exec startx
fi

.xinitrc

#!/bin/sh
#
# ~/.xinitrc
#
# Executed by startx (run your window manager from here)

if [ -d /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ]; then
  for f in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/*; do
    [ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
  done
  unset f
fi

# exec gnome-session
# exec startkde
# exec startxfce4
# ...or the Window Manager of your choice

exec ck-launch-session dbus-launch --exit-with-session startxfce4

Everything works fine. I also see the hostname warning you mentioned, I just ignored it.

zhogan85 · 2011-10-05 14:22:51

Well, I got the issue mostly resolved. After altering inittab (thanks for the tip, stoat), I was able to get the machine to boot to XDM, but after logging in, it kept returning me to the login. I thought maybe reinstalling XFCE would help but no. So I went back in to inittab to disable XDM, and then for some reason, startxfce4 finally booted me into XFCE. I really didn't change much, just tinkered with ~/.xinitrc and /etc/inittab, so I'm assuming the reinstall did the trick. For now I'll just leave the machine so that it boots to the console and then I can launch XFCE from there, while I get it configured how I like.

Thanks for all the help, I'm not sure what the exact solution was, but the support was appreciated!

And thanks skunktrader, inetutils took care of the hostname command.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-10-04 17:24:12

[SOLVED] Problem with XFCE installation

#2 2011-10-04 17:45:37

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with XFCE installation

#3 2011-10-04 17:53:46

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with XFCE installation

#4 2011-10-04 18:02:07

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with XFCE installation

#5 2011-10-04 19:15:07

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with XFCE installation

#6 2011-10-04 20:16:28

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with XFCE installation

#7 2011-10-04 23:22:55

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with XFCE installation

#8 2011-10-04 23:54:59

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with XFCE installation

#9 2011-10-05 01:23:41

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with XFCE installation

#10 2011-10-05 01:29:40

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with XFCE installation

#11 2011-10-05 14:22:51

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with XFCE installation

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