GUI mode

[Fadia Almarei]

Dear ALL
i have a redhat Enterpride Linux ES v.3 ,it runs now in text mode ,and it is seems to be installed to run on that , i try to run init 5 but it does not work , i think that i need to install more RPM's to get it run in GUI mode ,but i do not know what the specified RPM's for that, kindly your help

[Michael Denney]

grep for prefdm in /etc/inittab, you should see something similiar to :

x:5:respawn:/etc/X11/prefdm -nodaemon


If that line exists, verify the script exists:

file /etc/X11/prefdm

should return:
/etc/X11/prefdm: Bourne shell script text executable

If that checks out, see if you have X installed.

rpm -q -a|grep X

This should return numerous packages.

[Stuart Browne]

What happens when you do 'init 5'? Does the console flicker and flash, or does it just do nothing at all?

[Gopi Sekar]

few reasons could be the problem for this:

* You don't have required RPM's installed for X , kde/gnome. Check whether you have X11 binary in your path (type X and press tab and you should be presented with all X11 programs)

* Your X server is not configured properly or your video card is not supported by X server (run Xconfigurator as root and configure your X server)

* X font server is not running (run service xfs restart and see whether it solves the problem)

Regards,
Gopi

[Fadia Almarei]

when i do init 5 nothing flash , it return me again to text mode.

[Stuart Browne]

Ok, what does the log file '/var/log/X*.log' say?

Also, what about 'rpm -qa "X*"' ?

[Steven E. Protter]

Seems you did not choose to install X Windows.

If you are early in the install process, consider doing the installation over again.

Otherwise use yum or the original CD's to install the X server and the default gnome X environment.

SEP

[Fadia Almarei]

Dear All
the the X packages are installed and every thing is ok in the inittab file ,when i run init 5 it start the services ,then give me that
"use S72arserver stop to terminate these processes"
"start some processes"

[Stuart Browne]

Well, if you're on the console, and it isn't working, run 'redhat-config-xfree86', and ensure that decent values are in there.

I'm not sure if we've confirmed this, but you *ARE* on the console aren't you?

[Fadia Almarei]

im in the console but this xfree86 does not found

[Gopi Sekar]

check for system-config-* and see anything related to X or display is available. if so, use them to configure the GUI.

BTW, what is the make of the video card your system has. it would be beter if we get to know the make and we can find out whether it is actually supported by RHEL 3 or not

Regards,
Gopi

[renarios]

Hi Fadia,

What does your syslog say when you change o init 5?

Cheers,

Renarios

[Fadia Almarei]

there is not any sys-config-* file on the server , what should i do, can i rboot from the CD and install the GUI mode without affecting the applications that runs on the system

[Stuart Browne]

See if you can install the package 'redhat-config-xfree86'. It will be on the CD's somewhere, or use 'up2date -i redhat-config-xfree86'.

[Gopi Sekar]

if you can not find anything related redhat-config-xfree86 or Xconfigurator then it is more likely that your system does not have all the packages required for X to function.

see whether you have X11 program in your path, if so try executing it manually and post the error message you get.

I am not sure whether RH is intelligent enough to take care of existing installation. other experts might be help in this.

For your information, once you get the basic X up and running (without any window manager) you can run redhat-config-packages program using which you can add or remove packages easily.

Regards,
Gopi

[Huc_1]

On this fedora 3 I find the following

# yum list xorg-x11
Setting up Repos
Reading repository metadata in from local files
extras : ################################################## 952/952
base : ################################################## 2622/2622
updates-re: ################################################## 865/865
Installed Packages
xorg-x11.i386 6.8.2-1.FC3.13 installed

so I think this is probably what you also need to have installed on your system

do an

#rpm -qla xorg-x11

on your system to see what you have got ?

I have put i, the file attached here the result of the above command on my system

Hope this helps you ?

Jean-Pierre Huc

[Stuart Browne]

RHES3 still uses the XFree86 range of X packages.

[Fadia Almarei]

I have the X11 folder empty,and i try to install the redhat-config-xfree86, but it need many dependances, so i need more help.and i need to know if there is any way to install this from the CD's by something similar to reinstalling the system but without affecting the application

[Stuart Browne]

Required package for X:

XFree86
XFree86-font-utils
XFree86-tools
XFree86-twm
XFree86-xauth
XFree86-75dpi-fonts
XFree86-100dpi-fonts
XFree86-libs

Then if you want a windows manager like Gnome, there's even more.

control-center
desktop-file-utils
desktop-printing
gnome-applets
gnome-icon-theme
gnome-panel
gnome-session
gnome-terminal
gnome-utils
libgail-gnome
metacity
nautilus
nautilus-media
switchdesk-gnome
yelp

All these package lists were grabbed from the first CD, in 'RedHat/base/comps.xml'.

[Gopi Sekar]

First install basic X packages alone. Go through stuart's response and all these rpm's are available in 1st CD of RH.

mount the CD
go to cdrom:/RedHat/RPMS folder
run 'rpm -ivh '

this will install basic X package. if it cries for dependency packages then install them first before continuing to install X packages.

once you are done with that, do startx and see whether you can see some GUI screen (not attractive, only blank white screen). if you can then you are almost there and installing KDE/GNOME packages after this is easy.

Regards,
Gopi

[Fadia Almarei]

the Xfree86 packaged found on the second CD,and you said something about compas.xml,how can i use this to install packages

[Stuart Browne]

You can't use it to 'install packages'.. but if you're willing to decipher the content, it will tell you what the default installer uses as required/optional/defaults based on basic package groups..

[Fadia Almarei]

Dear All
when i try to install any of the Xfree86 packages it need many dependances , and it is very diffecult to do install them ,so what should we do

[Stuart Browne]

they'll all be on there. keep plugging at it, fulfill those dependancies! :)

Probably easiest to copy all the RPM's from the install media to somewhere on your HDD first, then go from there.

[Ross Minkov]

Fadia,

I just read the whole thread and here is what I think might be the easiest solution to the problem. Re-install Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Select all packages during the install.

Regards,
Ross