Geforce 2 on Debian 8?

[HelpINeedSomebody]

Hey everyone. I just started using Debian 8 after using the easy Debian install. Problem: I have no GUI interface. Text only.
I think this is because my graphics card is a Nvidia GeForce 2 and there isn't a driver for this already installed. But I could be wrong. Does anyone know why my attempt to run 'startx' results in 'something has gone wrong'? I think it's the old graphics card. Does anyone know a way to address this graphics card issue? I think this because the error log says that the nvidia module did not load when I run the startx command.

Thanks in advance.

-HelpINS

[Head_on_a_Stick]

I think this because the error log says that the nvidia module did not load when I run the startx command.

Post the error log.

[HelpINeedSomebody]

I have no idea how to do that with a text-only operating system and no mouse. Is there a simple way to copy and paste from nano to www-browser?

[Head_on_a_Stick]

If you have an internet connection at the console screen, you can use:

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# apt-get install pastebinit
cat <text file> | pastebinit

Then post the URL here.

Alternatively, copy the file to a USB stick for export or load up a live ISO and copy&paste it from the filesystem to the browser in the live environment.

[HelpINeedSomebody]

I succesfully installed pastebinit and the command works but I do not know how to find the url of the paste. I tried something like cat filename | pastebinit -b but that did not work.

[thanatos_incarnate]

The default open source driver called Nouveau should support your video card according to this.
Sadly, the proprietary driver from Nvidia doesn't have support for it anymore. I also don't think you could manually install it in Jessie.

The file you should look at is located here:

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/var/log/Xorg.0.log

You can issue:

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less /var/log/Xorg.0.log

and read the file. What is interesting are lines starting with EE, because that's where the error messages are. You can search for them by hitting / and then writing EE and hitting enter. Every hit on the n key will jump to the next occurrence of an error line. If you don't manage to give us the error log with pastebin, then at least try to write down the errors that you can read.

[dasein]

...my attempt to run 'startx' results in 'something has gone wrong'

This sounds suspiciously like GNOME's (useless) startup error message, which would imply that X is actually running.

[stevepusser]

Try installing an additional lighter desktop, such as xfce4 or lxde, and see if you can start a session for one of those from the login screen. At least you'll have a GUI.

Probably this would be a good idea for any user, as long as they have the minimal disk space needed. GNOME and KDE can get broken in several ways with video driver mishaps that the other desktops aren't affected by.

[millpond]

Nouveau doesnt work on older cards.
As longs as the VESA driver is installed, you should get a gui, just not 3D.

Here there is an old radeon card, and I even compiled the kernel module for it. It even even loads, but Nouveau wont work with it.

[HelpINeedSomebody]

The only ee is nvidia module not found. How would I set my video card to VESA? Also, I'll try installing lxde or xfce4 quickly to see if that works. Furthemore, if x is running where do I go from 'startx' to GUI?

Ha, I installed xfce4 and it is working flawlessly so far. I'll let you guys know if I have graphics card trouble.

[thanatos_incarnate]

Nouveau doesnt work on older cards.
As longs as the VESA driver is installed, you should get a gui, just not 3D.

Here there is an old radeon card, and I even compiled the kernel module for it. It even even loads, but Nouveau wont work with it.

The Nouveau driver is for Nvidia cards only, not for Radeon cards!
Also, yes, GeForce 2 cards should just work with Nouveau as explained in the Nouveau link.

It might be that the fancier desktops are using some advanced OpenGL stuff that the video card cannot provide. GeForce 2 is, I think, only OpenGL 1.2 compliant. Gnome could just as well depend on later OpenGL versions. This would explain why Xfce works and Gnome doesn't.

[HelpINeedSomebody]

Now I am having a new technical difficulty. I tried installing some software on Xfce4 : Freeciv, Spotify, and Minetest. ApplicationFinder could not initliaze these files. I thought a reboot would address this problem. I rebooted but the machine froze and I had to force a reboot. After the forced reboot Xfce4 will not initialize. Does anyone know why it will not initilize? Xinit is working okay. I enter 'startxfce4' and I get a gtk+ warning that it is unable to open display.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

I tried installing [...] Spotify

How did you install this?
https://packages.debian.org/search?keyw ... ection=all

Post the content of /var/log/Xorg.0.log

[dasein]

The Web search that the OP should have done before trying to bork his/her system makes it clear: spotify on jessie requires some "creative" repo choices. https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian/

I fear this will not end well.

In other news... @OP: the "one problem, one thread" rule exists for a reason.