[PLUG] Now I've done it

[Carlos Konstanski]

On Sun, 22 Nov 2009, John Jason Jordan wrote:

> Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:35:02 -0800
> From: John Jason Jordan <johnxj at comcast.net>
> Reply-To: "General Linux/UNIX discussion and help;	civil and on-topic"
>     <plug at lists.pdxlinux.org>
> To: plug at lists.pdxlinux.org
> Subject: Re: [PLUG] Now I've done it
> 
> On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:16:23 -0700 (MST)
> Carlos Konstanski <ckonstanski at pippiandcarlos.com> dijo:
>
>> On Sun, 22 Nov 2009, John Jason Jordan wrote:
>>
>>> Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:52:20 -0800
>>> From: John Jason Jordan <johnxj at comcast.net>
>>> Reply-To: "General Linux/UNIX discussion and help;	civil and on-topic"
>>>     <plug at lists.pdxlinux.org>
>>> To: plug at lists.pdxlinux.org
>>> Subject: Re: [PLUG] Now I've done it
>>>
>>> Thanks for the suggestions. I'm still not functional, but I did things
>>> and stuff happened.
>>>
>>> First, still booted into the Karmic live CD I created an ~/.xinitrc
>>> file (none existed before) and put "exec gnome-session" in it. Then I
>>> rebooted to the regular boot option in Grub. Result: No change; that
>>> is, mouse and keyboard worked, but no window manager and no gnome-panel.
>>>
>>> Next I booted to Recovery Mode and logged in as root. I installed
>>> xfce4, then edited jjj's .xinitrc file by changing the line to "exec
>>> xfce4-session." Then I switched user to jjj and did cd to my home
>>> folder. And then I did startx. Result: When X came up I had panels and
>>> a desktop, but no mouse or keyboard. There was a popup message "failed
>>> to initialize HAL."
>>>
>>> For my third exercise I shut down (had to use the power button) then
>>> restarted to the regular session. After logging in as jjj I got the
>>> same blank Gnome desktop without a panel or window manager.
>>>
>>> Not sure what this means.
>>
>> What does your HAL policy file for keyboard and mouse look like?
>>
>> /etc/hal/fdi/policy/10-X11-input.fdi:
>
> No such file. I do have a /etc/hal/fdi/policy/preferences.fdi file, but
> it looks like a template with nothing real in it.
>
>> Although since the keyboard and mouse work some of the time, I don't
>> think your HAL policy is at fault.
>>
>> The description of your latest steps (above) does not mention removing
>> the xorg.conf file. Have you tried that?
>
> I don't have an xorg.conf file.
>
>> I agree that Xorg.0.log is a great place to look. It's too big to post
>> here, but you could either post it on one of those tinyurl sites, or
>> email it to me and I'll put it up on my web server. It's a great log
>> file because it reports everything that happens when X starts, not
>> just those things that are "errors".
>
> I read through the log file, but it appeared to be just a bunch of
> stuff related to setting up X for my nVidia chip. There was nothing in
> it that appeared obviously wrong.
>
> I think Rogan is on the right track. But figuring out the details and
> how to fix it is beyond my job description. :(
>
> At least I am back in my testing installation and I can work on things
> properly. :)

It's cool, we have established that gnome, not X or HAL, is your
problem. I'd be inclined to say that you should stick with xfce4 and
call it a done deal, but I don't want to box you in. Linux is all
about choices.

Sorry I can't help with gnome. I use xfce4 when I need a full-on
window manager, and stumpwm 99.99% of the time.

Carlos