[vox-tech] KDE on FreeBSD Hanging on login

[Bill Kendrick]

On Tue, Nov 29, 2005 at 08:26:06PM -0800, Michael Benedetti wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> This is my first post on this forum.  I did not find this issue in the 
> archives, if it is a duplicate, I apologize.  Along the apology lines, 
> I hope the lines are wrapping ok for you.

Hi Michael, welcome!  And yes, your lines seem to be wrapping fine for me. ;^)


> I am a newbie to FreeBSD.

Disclaimer: I've never used FreeBSD as a desktop system, so my comments
will come as a KDE-on-Linux user. :^)


> I managed to get the install to work after 
> three tries, and even configured it to boot directly to the KDE boot 
> manager, where I can login.  I have a few minor issues, beginning with 
> the inability to login using the KDE boot manager.  This behavior 
> started as soon as I tried to use the KDE boot manager to start Gnome.  
> (I wanted to automount the cd drives, and read that Gnome does this by 
> default, while I was not able to accomplish this in KDE.  I am getting 
> an error whenever I try to mount the CD in KDE.)

FWIW, KDE 3.5 apparently has quite a nice system for detecting external
media... at least under Linux.  (3.5 was released in the last day or so,
and they've got a screenshot of this feature in the PR.)

Now, if KDE can't mount a CD, I'm not sure why Gnome would be able to.
I guess the first thing to do is to see if _you_, the user you'd be logged
in as, can mount and view the contents of a CD.

Under Debian Linux, it's typically set up where groups control who can
access what (sound, modem, etc.), and you simply need to put the appropriate
people into the appropriate group(s).

For example:

  $ ls -l /dev/cdrom
  lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root 8 2005-02-03 23:19 /dev/cdrom -> /dev/hdc

Ah, it's a symbolic link to /dev/hdc.  Makes sense...

  $ ls -l /dev/hdc
  brw-rw----  1 root cdrom 22, 0 2004-09-18 04:51 /dev/hdc

So one needs to be in the 'cdrom' group to be able to read/write to the CD.
(My "CD drive" is actually a DVD writer.)


> When I try to login using the graphical login screen, it acts like it 
> will work, and then immediately returns to the graphical login screen.

So something died in the process of launching the session.  It'd be a good
idea to check KDM's logs.  On my Debian Linux box, these are stored
in "/var/log/kdm.log".


> I have tried using the Menu button to choose the Session Type as KDE, 
> but nothing seems to work.

Out of curiosity, how did you install KDE and/or Gnome?  I know that
under Debian, there's a "metapackage" that you can install which grabs
most of the kit-and-kaboodle.  However, you can also install things
piecemeal.  (Only KDM, KWin and Kicker, but not Konqueror, Kate or
Konversation, for example.)

Perhaps some packages are missing?  This is where someone familiar with
FreeBSD + KDE will hopefully pop in to help. ;^0


> The Console Login seems to be inoperative.

As in text-mode?  (Under Linux, typically accessed via Ctrl+Alt+F1..F6, etc.)


> I suppose I should be able to boot directly to a command prompt, but I 
> don't know how to make that change at boot time.  Even if I manage to 
> boot into console mode, I don't know where my configuration has been 
> corrupted.

If you're on a network, it should also be possible to login remotely, to
see what's going on.

In fact, at least with XFree86 and X.org on Linux, it's possible to run
multiple X servers and switch between them.  This can be useful for allowing
multiple users to access the GUI without anyone needing to log off or
otherwise close their apps/session.  It can also be useful for testing
new X server configurations.  (e.g., run "startx -- :1" from the 'F1' console
to start a new X display "on 'F8'," while the one on 'F7' is still running)

Whew... I hope I'm making sense.  It's late!


> I also have a couple of minor issues with configuring printer, portable 
> USB HD, and sound that I am hoping to work through.

Well, if there are any FreeBSD gurus around, and you and they are both
free this Saturday... there's an Installfest!  http://www.lugod.org/if/


> If you have any suggestions, I am happy to try them.  I am considering 
> the sledge-hammer approach of reinstallation, but I would prefer to 
> learn a little more about the OS instead.

Always a smart move! :)

Good luck!

-- 
-bill!
bill at newbreedsoftware.com
http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/