Linux Question...

[darthdavid]

Ok, So I decide that I wan't to install the latest version of the GIMP on my suse 9.0 Box. I nuke the old version of the gimp and get the latest version of the GIMP and the GTK. Then when I try and install the GTK YAST gives me an error message saying that I need to have such and such files to install the GTK. So I go out and get all the rpms I'll need, and their dependencies as well and think i'm set. But there's a snag. one of the things that the GTK needs is librsvg. But librsvg needs libpopt.so.0. Whatever I do I can't get libpopt.so.0 on my system. I've wen't through about 10 different files (all of which supposededly put this resource on your system) and none of them have done squat. So now i'm stuck. What should I do now?

[Pu-239]

Dependency hell. Easiest is to save /etc and /home, and maybe /var, then install a distro that actually manages the dependencies for you (Debian , Fedora, or Gentoo- I suggest Debian (new installer), Gentoo, and Fedora in that order, since you appear to already use Linux.

Otherwise, look on http://rpmfind.net/

[Xisiqomelir]

Install popt-devel.

[darthdavid]

Dependency hell. Easiest is to save /etc and /home, and maybe /var, then install a distro that actually manages the dependencies for you (Debian , Fedora, or Gentoo- I suggest Debian (new installer), Gentoo, and Fedora in that order, since you appear to already use Linux.

Otherwise, look on http://rpmfind.net/

Well I took your advice and installed debian. But I have a problem. Everything works fine till I start X, at that point it won't accecpt input from my keyboard. The only solution I've found is to go to recovery mode so It doesn't boot straight to x and use the login command. And that's not a solution so much as it is a way to let me use x with no keyboard. Which obviously doesn't work to well. Well atleast the cli accecpts my keyboard, wouldn't work too well otherwise .

[Pu-239]

Run xf86cfg to configure your X server, or xf86config for text based configuration (rather primitive- do you know your monitor refresh rates?).
Alternatively, run "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86", and answer the questions. Also, what do you mean by "recovery mode"? Do you mean init 1? While in recovery mode, tell me what running "runlevel" shows. Once you believe X is reconfigured, type init 2 or init 3 (not sure the what the default appears to be for GUI- I have mine configured on 3 so try 3 first). That should load the GUI w/o needing reboot.

[Pu-239]

Install popt-devel.

Why the devel version? That will merely depend on libpopt...

[darthdavid]

Oh for fucks sake. I booted into recovery mode off grub and used the dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86 command to setup everything right. And then I tried startx and lo and behold my keyboard worked. So I reboot and what happens the stupid fucker won't let me type in my login or pw. So I reboot and go into recovery mode again, try startx and I can type. Wtf is that about?

[Pu-239]

- are you using GDM or KDM for your GUI login? If it's GDM, install KDM (run "apt-get install kdm gdm_"), or if you use KDM work, do "apt-get install gdm kdm_" (underscore signifies uninstall).

I also suggest running "apt-get install aptitude", then using aptitude to add/remove stuff.

I'm also assuming you already have the internet up.

You didn't copy the /etc/ from SuSE over Debian's /etc, right?

If worse comes to worse, send me a tarball the contents of /etc.
If that still doesn't work, do "rm /etc/rc3.d/S99gdm" or "rm /etc/rc3.d/S99kdm", and just use startx every time. It shouldn't come to that though.

Also, you do not have to reboot to get to recovery or to get back to normal- CTRL+ALT+F1 to get to a console, login and type "init 1" to go to recovery, or "init 3" to go back to normal GUI login.


It might also help to know what hardware you are using... you will want to install kernel-2.6.x.x and the nVidia drivers (which will require recompiling) some time in the future. When you get done fixing the login, and have the internet working (since this will mean you can't use the apt interface to install from cdrom, unless you merge lines from your original sources.list) edit the contents of /etc/apt/sources.list to:

Code: Select all

#Standard Debian Archive
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free

#Debian Non-US Archive
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian-non-US unstable/non-US main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian-non-US unstable/non-US main contrib non-free

#Debian Experimental Archive
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian ../project/experimental main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian ../project/experimental main contrib non-free

and run apt-get update (or aptitude update if you have aptitude installed). This will update to the latest packages (normal debian install is rather old, which also may account for your problems.).

[darthdavid]

I already had aptitude installed. So I used it to uninstall gdm and install kdm. I haven't tried kdm yet.

[darthdavid]

Tried KDM. It didn't work either. I don't intend to install the Nvidia drives because my new Ati video card is supposed to come tommorow and I don't feel like doing the work just so I can have dual moniters for the few hours till 4:30 pm tommorow (yes I know ati's linux support sucks but the 9600 was the best card I could get on my budjet). I used aptitude and had it select all updateable packages and update them.

[Pu-239]

Then try restarting into KDM until it breaks, immediately save the contents of /var/log and send them to me, then run "update-rc.d -f gdm remove" and "update-rc.d -f kdm remove" or just remove both gdm and kdm (don't purge config files). Then send the contents of your /etc (minus /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, that sensitive stuff). Maybe I can see what's broken. Meanwhile, use "startx" (with GDM and KDM removed or disabled, it should always start at the console).

[darthdavid]

Damn it. I reconfigured after installing my new video card and it broke x completely. I think I have a solution though. I've got a copy of lindows. Now it's my understanding that Lindows is debian based and that you can use apt get to basically turn lindows into debian. Now if this is true do you think it would be a good idea to just install lindows rip out the stupid shit they stick in there and then use apt get to get aptitude and then in turn use aptitude to get it up to the latest debian spec thus giving me an idiot frendily install that will be configured to my system yet at the same time has all the nifty things debian brings to the table. I'm not doing this just yet though so if anyone sees any problems with this please tell me so I don't go making an ass of myself...

[Pu-239]

You have to change a line that should look something like

Code: Select all

Driver    "nv"

may be something other than nv, but nv is the non-3d nVidia driver, and replace "nv" with ATI. Anyway, if that doesn't work, using Lindows may work, though you will have to replace many packages (try purging stuff, except KDM and the X server, and core packages). Having not used Lindows, I don't know if you have to remove things or simply "upgrade" them after changing /etc/apt/sources.list. Also, I've seen Lindows boot up and it takes ridiculously long compared to my debian install (10-15 minutes on a Toshiba laptop- must be autodetecting hardware every time). Meanwhile there is also Libranet and Mepis (I've heard good things from a newbie about Mepis), which are also Debian based, as well as installing Knoppix on the hard drive.

[darthdavid]

You have to change a line that should look something like

Code: Select all

Driver    "nv"

may be something other than nv, but nv is the non-3d nVidia driver, and replace "nv" with ATI. Anyway, if that doesn't work, using Lindows may work, though you will have to replace many packages (try purging stuff, except KDM and the X server, and core packages). Having not used Lindows, I don't know if you have to remove things or simply "upgrade" them after changing /etc/apt/sources.list. Also, I've seen Lindows boot up and it takes ridiculously long compared to my debian install (10-15 minutes on a Toshiba laptop- must be autodetecting hardware every time). Meanwhile there is also Libranet and Mepis (I've heard good things from a newbie about Mepis), which are also Debian based, as well as installing Knoppix on the hard drive.

I didn't know you could put knoppix on the hdd I think i'll just do that . And I did select the right driver and all the right configuration options so I don't know how x got broken.

[Pu-239]

I consider knoppix on hard drive to be rather suboptimal, since I believe it still uses all the auto hardware detection, which slows startup (not that startup isn't slow already- mine takes 5 minutes, and also has to load the BIOS for the SCSI, IDE, and video cards. You may want to manually configure some stuff.

[Pu-239]

See http://www.freenet.org.nz/misc/knoppix-install.html

You probably also want to put a password on root and a normal user account, and remove the "knoppix" user.

[darthdavid]

thank 'ee very much for the info. I'll tell you how it goes when I get around to it in a day or two.

[darthdavid]

when I type 'knx-hdinstall' bash tells me that it's not a command.

[darthdavid]

Never mind. I found the right command. I'm inthe process of aptituding my way to a current install with only the pacakges I want.