debian woody desktop issue

[rustskull]

Hi,
I installed woody3.0r1, used tasksel to install the base xwindow system because I didn't want abiword, koffice, etc all installed...so I did this, using gdm for my display manager. I reboot. System comes up and when I log in I get "you are not using a gnome compliant window manager". This was surprising as all that was installed at the time was gnome.

So I take the next step..I know that enlightenment is a pretty mature wm prog, so I install it and associated dependencies...

same message.

So I say the hell with it and go back to tasksel and pick "desktop environment" because now I'm thinkin I missed some little componenet somewhere and will probably get it if I apply shotgun debug.

same message.

what am I doing wrong here? This is an HP visualize 700C system, if that helps. But it should run just fine...

[Zaren]

Try using xdm instead of gdm? I thought the g in gdm stood for gnome, and you're having some sort of gnome related issues maybe a different display manager would get you somewheres?

Just a shot in the dark...

~Z

[rustskull]

yeah, I've used xdm in the past, but it seems to be feature poor and development ended (would really like to inch closer to totally free territory as time goes on)...what ends up happening is that when I want to get a system up quick, I end up with the kde/kdm set up...which is larger but not unmanageable. I'll probably do it this way again, anyhow, because of course Cadence (along with nearly everyone one else in the tool biz) uses RH releases to indicate compatibility, so...it sort of means that it's tested out defacto on kde...and as such am removing variables from the system. So, I guess I was trying to be clever and ended up pulling the trigger before holster was cleared.

I want to keep using debian because while the stable versions are older stuff, it all works really well (usually) and enjoy the ease of patching/maintenence (once a system is up).

This is sort of a moot point now, as I ran out of space in /usr and was swapping data around partitions and ended up rm -R * in /

No kidding. I haven't ever done that on accident before and I've been using unices for several years now. This time, I'll just select all the bloat in tasksel and make sure that I've allocated plenty of space in the partition this time.

s'all good.

edit
ps. I just noticed that maybe you're not making a distinction between "display" and "window" managers...they're two different things. Gdm seems to come with the gnome desktop by default (so you have something to run, even if your system is stripped).

If one can get to the point where they intuitively understand what's going on with the graphical display of a linux (or any other unice for that matter) you'll be able to get the hang of just about anything else (if you haven't been pointed there during the journey towards the first).

[sharth]

I've never gotten that error ever. I've used both gdm and xdm quite a bit. With enlightenment and blackbox. Quite odd I might say.

[rustskull]

It is very odd to me as well. I have never seen this before, either. I saw something that alluded to a configuration in a user homedir for gnome that triggered this, but I haven't been able to relocate the post again and it was about 3 years old, as well.

I'm loading the source from the net, just getting the system up and going and then using standard front end tools (dselect/tasksel) to get the bulk of stuff. Apt-get is awesome, but I haven't got the knack of it yet. When it knows what you want, it's easier yet than any of the other stuff, but when it doesn't know what I want I have a very difficult time making it understand. Computers are dumb, but obedient.

Anyhow, what I was trying to say is that I'm attempting to have loaded the most current stuff right off the bat, only booting from my old 3.0r0 disk to get the network configs up. Then I go off and get base install from external source and add stuff on top of that. If this keeps up, however, I'm strongly considering taking the time to grab an image of disk 1 3.0r1 so that I get a guaranteed base install.

Thanks for the comments.

[retoon]

Hey, I might just be dumb, but everytime I go to look for debian, I can only find it with a 2.2 kernel. Does any one have a link to an ftp site that i might be able to download the isos for debian with updated kernel 2.4.x? Only because I need for my video card to be supported.

[Zaren]

There are install options when you boot from cd. If you just hit enter, I believe it installs 2.2 by default. If you hit F3 in that first window you will be brought to help stuff. I type in bf24 before I start the process, which installs a 2.4 kernel(2.4.18 I think, not sure). The iso's I got were from following the instructions using jigdo.

Hope that helps

~Z

[rustskull]

If your hardware doesn't support the installer on disk1 3.0 you may need to boot directly from it using another one of the set's iso images. Disk 1 has all the kernels on it, but only the one version of isolinux, it was too new (apparently) for one of my older systems (hardware circa pentium 200mmx, it's not always the processor messing things up!) and hung it.

You can boot the following kernels with the following cd:

CD 1
Allows a selection of kernel images to boot from (the idepci flavor is the default if no selection is made).
CD 2
Boots the `vanilla' flavor.
CD 3
Boots the `compact' flavor.
CD 4
Boots the `idepci' flavor.
CD 5
Boots the `bf2.4' flavor.

this information is available at:
http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-rescue-boot.en.html#s-install-cd

the install guides are available at
http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual

HTH

-rust

[rustskull]

Originally posted by sharth
I've never gotten that error ever. I've used both gdm and xdm quite a bit. With enlightenment and blackbox. Quite odd I might say.

okay. I've got it back up with a minimal xdm going. Is there any reason that I would want to use anything other than xdm? Many commercial tools standardize on a RH platform, is kdm necessary for me to maintain display compatibility? Right now twm is working perfectly and the display actually looks like it's giving me a nice 1600x1200 on with the RIVA kernel stuff installed...I don't know why this helped, but it did...using the nv default config for xfree and having modconf'd the riva module in (gave me this really cool bright green screen when booting...trippy.) I didn't have to hack the default xfree-config file this time.

So suggestions? I'm going to be loading up Cadence tools and probably several others, including labview and synplify asic. possibly mentor and synopsys tools as well.

I have loaded up labview 6.0i on a debian potato, with no problems except needing to load an older library (happens very frequently), and it worked great...all the java stuff just keeps getting better and better...eclipse soon to come!

Maybe I shouldn't load up a wm at all? What can I do to maintain maximum display compatibility with remote systems as well? We have RH and solaris running around campus...is there something that plays nice with boxen running openwin?

prolly more questions than wanted, but hopefully since it's graduated from LNO -> JLC someone might have some good ideas to pass on. ANy assistance anyone is able to offer is greatly appreciated, as usual...

Thanks for the help

-rust