x-windows or xorg?? Where is my mistake??

[bafman]

Hi I have a Dell PC with Debian GNU/Linux lenny.sid that was working as a game server. After solving the problem with the login to the server (Help came from Nadir which is a member in this forum, Thanks Nadir) the system comes to root .

I tried startx command but the result was command not found. I could not find the .bin/bash_profile to edit it
.
I had in mind to #nano /etc/inittab

1respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1

edit it to 1respawn:/bin/login -f “root” tty1 </dev/tty1 >/dev/tty1 2>&1

I did not do it since i had to edit the .bash_profile with startx command which I was not able to spot. Whereis could not find the file.

I tried to apt-get install x-windows-system but apparently I have a problem with my internet cause it can not download from Debian repositories. I check with ifconfif and later ping and i had results so i might not have problem with the internet.

Is it possible the server to be set up so the user can not get into the x-window system? Did they disable anything?

Do I have to install xorg and if yes can anybody give me an idea how I can do it?

Is it any way to start the windows system? Any ideas Please?

Thank you very much

[Absent Minded]

typically you don't want an x-system on a server. Without a little more information though it is hard to tell if you have one installed already. How did you do the setup? What options were choosen?

[bafman]

Hi Absent and thank you for your post.
Well the machine came to me from my friends father shop. We know is a game server. I did not set it up so i do not know what options they used when setting it up.
If you tell me where about to check i can post all the results i find. I can give you any informations but i do not know where to check.
In case they did not set up a X-window is it or it is not possible for me to set up a x-window??
It is very hard for me to use it from console as root. It will be difficult to make the settings as i want isnt it??

Thank you very much

[Absent Minded]

okay the easiest way for me to check is to have you try and install one and we can go from there. There are other methods but I don't remember which log files to check at the moment. Which DE would you prefer? Myself I use KDE. To install it I normally use this command:

Code: Select all

aptitude install xorg kde kdm

For Gnome the command is simular:

Code: Select all

aptitude install xorg gnome gdm

[bafman]

Hello Absent and thank you for your post
Well I tried both commands and both of them give me this error
E: Some packages could no be authenticated

Well I thought that aptitude is not installed in the system so I went #apt-get install aptitude . The system is trying to connect to ftp.uk.debian.org..... but can not. Also I tried to #apt-get install update with the same problems. Also tried to #apt-get install –fix-missing but again can not connect to debian server.

As mentioned to my first post I have connection to the internet I thing because when I type ifconfig it shows that I have active LAN connection and I can ping to www.google.com.

I am not sure if the system has any limitations and if yes where can I dissable them.

Thank you very much

[Absent Minded]

I need to get some rest so I won't be around for a few hours but can you ping ftp.uk.debian.org?

[nadir]

assuming you got internet up and running:

the first thing i would check is the /etc/apt/sources.list.
either post it or compare it with this one:

Code: Select all

    deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free

which i copied from here:
overview

have a look if it says lenny(aka stable), squeeze (aka testing) or sid (aka unstable).
have a look if it is "main" or "main and contrib" or "main, contrib and non-free"
if you are not in UK you may want to change the country code.

if anything looks completeley different in your sources.list post it. or post it anyway.
check if there is an etc/apt/preferences or /etc/apt/apt.conf. if yes post it too.

have a look at the link above and at this one:
guide
why? you seem to tend to search for difficult solutions instead of easy ones
(in my eyes, which doesn`t say that much)
as said: dont forget to back-up any files you edit.
greetings

<off-topic> the smartass ones who find spelling or grammar error`s in my post may keep them <off-topic>

[bafman]

Hello
I checked the /etc/apt/sources.list.
What I have is deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non free

There is no etc/apt/preferences Nadir


I found /etc/apt/apt.conf opened it with nano and says
APT {
Install-Recommends “false”;
}
Can someone help me to understand what does it means please


Later I discovered that I am still a dump newbie and realized hat I do not have active internet connection as I was mentioning that I had. Sorry guys

So I edited the /etc/network/interfaces to iface eth0 dhcp and resolve the issue with the internet. It appears that the people were using the server were using it as a local server because they had set the eth0 to inet static I believe

Later I edited the /etc/apt/sources.list. As per Nadir instructed
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free

So as Absent recommended I typed
first #apt-get install aptitude and then
#aptitude install xorg kde kdm and that was it.
After some time the server now has a KDE windows system.

Thank you all

[Absent Minded]

You are welcome, I am glad we were able to be of some assistance.

[craigevil]

Why are you running unstable on a server to begin with?

I love sid and its the only debian I have ever ran, but most people use stable for servers.

[nadir]

it aint his "fault":

bafman wrote:
Well the machine came to me from my friends father shop. We know is a game server. I did not set it up so i do not know what options they used when setting it up.

and it still ain`t clear what system it is (something based on Debian). I would go for stable too, but it is installed the way it is, and as long as it runs and doesn`t give trouble...

glad you got it up and running now. . enjoy.

[smallchange]

Why are you running unstable on a server to begin with?

I love sid and its the only debian I have ever ran, but most people use stable for servers.

These statements are so general as to be meaningless. What is a server? Almost every machine I run acts as a server in at least one respect. There are many cases in which you may run a machine strictly to act as a server of one thing or another and use unstable to use newer features. To take someone to task over this is ignorant and not very welcoming or useful to new users.

[jheaton5]

Why are you running unstable on a server to begin with?

I love sid and its the only debian I have ever ran, but most people use stable for servers.

These statements are so general as to be meaningless. What is a server? Almost every machine I run acts as a server in at least one respect. There are many cases in which you may run a machine strictly to act as a server of one thing or another and use unstable to use newer features. To take someone to task over this is ignorant and not very welcoming or useful to new users.

In this context, server referrs to a machine that provides services to multiple client machines. I agree with craigevil: Don't use anything but stable for a server.

[nadir]

bafman wrote:
Later I edited the /etc/apt/sources.list. As per Nadir instructed
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free

i should have been more clear. i said: compare it, not edit it. i just have choosen lenny as an example.
i didnt post all possibilites to not be more confusing than necessary. that didn`t work. sorry.
check the examples in the link to the post of craigevil i gave above (its in the beginners section, "tips from our members")

if you have unstable it doesnt make much sense simply changing the repo back to lenny/stable. as far i know, but there have been several threads about downgrading the distro, and that it aint much fun.
i for one would either keep the sid/unstable repo or do a fresh install of debian lenny/stable.

the best might be you post your sources.list.

[nadir]

if you have in mind what craigevil and jheaton5 say:
make up your mind if you want to make use of sid/unstable as you can live with it or if you wanna go for a fresh debian lenny/stable install.
they are right, but i for one wouldnt be that keen for a re-installation as long i got a running one.

[bafman]

Hi
First of all that you very much all for your time and useful posts.
As i mentioned i am new to the forum and Linux as well. I was using one year the Ubuntu OS but for a normal home use and i never thought getting in the black screen and working form the terminal.

Well i had the chance to do it now with the server my friend gave me. I discovered lot and learned many commands and this is the way i will continue doing. Linux are powerful. Now I feel that everything can be controlled from the terminal itself if you know what you are doing.

So far i did not understand the idea of stable and unstable system. As a matter of fact after i installed the xorg the server stopped providing service to the client pcs but this is not the issue anymore. I am trying to collect every information i can from the PC, I will try to learn better Debian distro, format the PC and start all over again to make the PC as we want it.

Nadir is right “you seem to tend to search for difficult solutions instead of easy ones”
Otherwise I am not going to learn. This is the way I feel.

Once again thank you very much for your help

[Absent Minded]

sysinfo is a good tool for this also you can install the GUI tool called hardinfo which is another good tool.

[smallchange]

Why are you running unstable on a server to begin with?

I love sid and its the only debian I have ever ran, but most people use stable for servers.

These statements are so general as to be meaningless. What is a server? Almost every machine I run acts as a server in at least one respect. There are many cases in which you may run a machine strictly to act as a server of one thing or another and use unstable to use newer features. To take someone to task over this is ignorant and not very welcoming or useful to new users.

In this context, server referrs to a machine that provides services to multiple client machines. I agree with craigevil: Don't use anything but stable for a server.

Since it serves multiple client machines it should run stable? What if those clients are mounting Samba shares and need a version of samba that is newer than the version in stable? What if he is running a game server with a game engine that requires newer version of libraries or kernel than are available in stable? What is the benefit of using stable on a server? I assume you are thinking of a server needing to be available 24/7 and not needing recent versions of any particular software. Does this user intend to make his server available 24/7? It makes no sense to give advice when you know nothing about the intended use of the machine. It certainly makes no sense to set some kind of "holy grail" of "use stable on a server" and chastise people for not following it. Servers have different uses and require different software. What is installed should be chosen to meet the need.

[sir fer]

Good points above. This laptop i'm using is also my webserver and I am running testing.

IMO people refer to servers when they mean dedicated hardware - i.e. computers that do not much else all day or a machine that is specifically built to be a server with ECC in the CPU & RAM etc etc

[jheaton5]

Since it serves multiple client machines it should run stable? What if those clients are mounting Samba shares and need a version of samba that is newer than the version in stable? What if he is running a game server with a game engine that requires newer version of libraries or kernel than are available in stable? What is the benefit of using stable on a server? I assume you are thinking of a server needing to be available 24/7 and not needing recent versions of any particular software. Does this user intend to make his server available 24/7? It makes no sense to give advice when you know nothing about the intended use of the machine. It certainly makes no sense to set some kind of "holy grail" of "use stable on a server" and chastise people for not following it. Servers have different uses and require different software. What is installed should be chosen to meet the need.

Would you like some of my medication? I could email them to you.