[PLUG] Slackware Install, 2nd try

[King Beowulf]

On 11/26/18 1:30 PM, Dick Steffens wrote:
> On 11/26/18 11:43 AM, Dick Steffens wrote:
>> I switched from KDE to xfce to try it out. Then I started looking into
>> how to install the programs I use. First I started up Firefox. I
>> checked the box that makes Firefox my default browser. The mouse and
>> track point stopped responding, and the screen has gone blank.
>> <ctrl><alt><F1> doesn't do anything. It appears that the system is hung.
> 
> I powered down and back up. I logged in as a normal user. xfce came up
> as expected. I started Firefox, did not check the box making it my
> default browser, declined to sync with a non-existent account at
> accounts.firefox.com, and the same thing happened again. There appeared
> to be a lot of disk activity, so I left it and went downstairs to lunch.
> That was at 12:07. The machine was still hung when I got back a few
> minutes ago. I powered down again and powered back up, but with the
> Ethernet cable unplugged.
> 
> After logging in as my regular user, I started Firefox again. This time
> the sync invitation had a "Server not found" message, since Ethernet is
> not there. I closed that tab. Then there is a tab about Firefox
> features. The mouse still works, so I closed that tab. Then I set
> preferences to not check for Firefox being the default browser, starting
> on my home page, and making my home page about:blank. I closed Firefox
> and reopened it. The mouse still works. But after plugging the Ethernet
> cable back in, no network. Logging out and back in didn't change it.
> Logging out and logging back in as root gives me access to the network.
> As long as I was there, I changed the settings in root's Firefox to
> those mentioned above.
> 
> Also, the time is incorrect. I have "Set date and time automatically"
> checked, and set to Public Time Server (pool.ntp.org), and I have the
> time zone set to Los Angeles. The date is correct, but it is 1:23 PM
> here, and the laptop thinks it's 9:24 PM.
> 
> BTW, the switch from KDE to xfce did not stick. So I'm back to using KDE
> for now.
> 
> Powered down and back up and logging in as ordinary user, and now
> Firefox can see the Internet. But the time is still wrong.
> 
> Clearly, much more to learn.
> 


Hmmm... Firefox shouldn't try to sync or do anything on the network when
launching. The version installed is old.  You should update to the
newest one via slackpkg.

During install, if you selected network manager to control the network,
switching from wireless to wired can confuse it for some network
devices.  Also note, that if you set yo wireless with network manager
and used KDE wallet to store the passphrase, XFCE can't see it. when
switching DE or network interface, in the DE (you need to have teh
networkmanager applet running), as a normal user, open a terminal and run:

su -
<root password>
/etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager restart
exit

(remember that Slackware does NOT use systemd or sudo).  Network Manager
has some nice features but the GUI applet is easily confused and the CLI
version is cryptically brain dead.

When X hangs, it may just be X Windows not Firefox etc.  KDE and XFCE
use different GUI widgets.  To see if it is just X and not the whole
system. press ctrl-alt-backspace to kill X and drop to the command line
(this is why I never run a graphical login manager).  You  can then
"startx" to reload.  Again, be sure to update as there have been a
number of important bug fixes to X.org, FF, etc.

xwmconfig sets the user DE.  setting for "root" will not set for your
normal user and vice versa.  it copies '/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.<DE>' to
'$HOME/.xinitrc' and if that doesn't exist '/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc' is a
symlink to ''/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.kde' as the default.

During install, when asked about your system clock, did you pick local
or UTC?  If you set UTC but the BIOS clock is local time you then just
confused the heck out of it.

1. Set BIOS to correct local time
2. open command terminal

su -
<root password>
timeconfig
... set for loacl and timezone
nano /etc/ntp.conf
...uncomment one or more NTP servers
..save
ntpd -gq
hwclock -w
...

You should now be all time synchronized.  Xfce does not autoupdate time.
KDE can but is a bit gimpy.  To synchronize on each boot, and run the
ntpd daemon

chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.ntpd

(rc.ntpd can then be used for start|stop|restart|status)

see also "man ntpd"

Note that rc.ntpd will not update the hardware clock, use "hwclock -w"

Have Fun!
Ed







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