• Desk Manager dead

    From Jim Beard@2:250/1 to All on Sat Apr 11 14:29:03 2020
    I tried BitTwister's command to see what desktop manager I was using,

    [jim@sorrel ~]$ systemctl status display-manager.service
    ● gdm.service - GNOME Display Manager
    Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/gdm.service; enabled; vendor preset:>
    Active: inactive (dead)

    Should gdm be other than "dead"? Everything seems to work as I expect,
    but I have only a few things showing on the icon bars.

    Cheers!

    jim b.

    --
    UNIX is not user-unfriendly, it merely expects users to be computer-
    friendly.

    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Bit Twister@2:250/1 to All on Sat Apr 11 17:01:15 2020
    On Sat, 11 Apr 2020 13:29:03 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:
    I tried BitTwister's command to see what desktop manager I was using,

    [jim@sorrel ~]$ systemctl status display-manager.service
    ● gdm.service - GNOME Display Manager
    Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/gdm.service; enabled; vendor preset:>
    Active: inactive (dead)

    Should gdm be other than "dead"? Everything seems to work as I expect,
    but I have only a few things showing on the icon bars.


    It would not have hurt to have provided some information about
    o install type (clean, upgrade)
    o iso used
    o Desktop Environments installed.
    o Desktop Environment in use

    That would go a long way towards someone with time on their hands to
    have a look at your problem/question.

    click up a root terminal to run mcc, navigate
    mcc->Boot->Set up display manager
    to see what is selected.

    If more than one option with one selected, I see no reason that you
    could pick another one, reboot, and if do not like results, go back
    to original selection, and reboot.


    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Jim Beard@2:250/1 to All on Sun Apr 12 01:44:59 2020
    On Sat, 11 Apr 2020 11:01:15 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    On Sat, 11 Apr 2020 13:29:03 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:
    I tried BitTwister's command to see what desktop manager I was using,

    [jim@sorrel ~]$ systemctl status display-manager.service ● gdm.service
    - GNOME Display Manager
    Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/gdm.service; enabled; vendor
    preset:>
    Active: inactive (dead)

    Should gdm be other than "dead"? Everything seems to work as I expect,
    but I have only a few things showing on the icon bars.


    It would not have hurt to have provided some information about o install
    type (clean, upgrade)

    Upgrade

    o iso used o Desktop Environments installed.

    Mageia-7-x86_64.iso 4.1 GiB 2 July 20199
    Only the Gnome desktop installed.

    o Desktop Environment in use

    Gnome

    That would go a long way towards someone with time on their hands to
    have a look at your problem/question.

    click up a root terminal to run mcc, navigate
    mcc->Boot->Set up display manager
    to see what is selected.

    GDM was selected. XDM was available.

    If more than one option with one selected, I see no reason that you
    could pick another one, reboot, and if do not like results, go back to original selection, and reboot.

    I tried a method that sometimes cleans up cruft, by choosing XDM, giving
    that an ok, and when told I needed to reboot backed out until I could
    choose setup display manager again and chose GDM, ok'd that. This time I
    went all the way out and rebooted.[jim@sorrel ~]$

    Logged in, loaded the desktop, checked and found gdm dead.

    Launched mcc, went to systems service, and found gdm was set to start on
    boot, but was stopped. After two or three clicks on start, I got a gray screen with the choice for jim or tester, selected jim.

    That started the desktop, with the proper mageia background. I went into
    a terminal window and ran ps -eF |grep gdm, and got a bunch of lines
    showing gdm and a large set of gdm executable running, something I had
    not seen before.

    $ ps -eF |grep gdm
    root 10878 1 0 66129 7840 0 20:02 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/
    gdm
    root 11109 10878 0 47911 8340 6 20:02 ? 00:00:00 gdm- session-worker [pam/gdm-password]
    gdm 10893 10890 0 43635 4100 0 20:02 ? 00:00:00 (sd-pam)
    gdm 10961 10890 0 76070 6340 6 20:02 ? 00:00:00 /usr/ libexec/at-spi-bus-launcher
    gdm 10903 10890 0 1544 3952 0 20:02 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/ dbus-daemon --session --address=systemd: --nofork --nopidfile --systemd- activation --syslog-only
    gdm 10966 10961 0 1440 3120 3 20:02 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/ dbus-daemon --config-file=/usr/share/defaults/at-spi2/accessibility.conf --nofork --print-address 3
    gdm 11074 10890 0 38751 4972 6 20:02 ? 00:00:00 /usr/ libexec/dconf-service
    gdm 10899 10890 0 9085 248 0 20:02 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/ gpg-agent --daemon
    gdm 11089 10999 0 58939 7184 2 20:02 ? 00:00:00 /usr/ libexec/pulse/gsettings-helper
    gdm 10999 10890 0 65800 12072 7 20:02 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/ pulseaudio --daemonize=no
    gdm 10890 1 0 4268 8860 5 20:02 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/ systemd/systemd --user
    jim 11125 11109 0 46755 5500 0 20:02 tty2 00:00:00 /usr/ libexec/gdm-wayland-session /usr/bin/gnome-session
    jim 11599 11545 0 8786 808 5 20:02 pts/0 00:00:00 grep --
    color gdm

    Back to pan, started this reply, opened a terminal window to do the ps
    routine and copy/past the output, and this time I got only four lines,
    rather than two or three times that. On further inspection, I still had
    the earlier window with the longer list of lines from ps, so I copied and pasted that in above and then did the routine in a new terminal window.

    [jim@sorrel ~]$ ps -eF |grep gdm
    root 10878 1 0 66129 7840 0 20:02 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/
    gdm
    root 11109 10878 0 47911 8340 6 20:02 ? 00:00:00 gdm- session-worker [pam/gdm-password]
    jim 11125 11109 0 46755 5500 0 20:02 tty2 00:00:00 /usr/ libexec/gdm-wayland-session /usr/bin/gnome-session
    jim 12186 12144 0 8786

    The gdm-wayland-session above caught my eye, so I tried a couple of
    things.

    [jim@sorrel ~]$ ls -l .xs*
    -rw------- 1 jim jim 45 Jul 23 2017 .xsession-errors

    [jim@sorrel log]$ ls -l Xorg*
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root jim 34025 Apr 11 20:02 Xorg.0.log
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root jim 33803 Apr 11 19:59 Xorg.0.log.old
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 28468 Feb 14 12:38 Xorg.9.log
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 30139 Jan 19 09:06 Xorg.9.log.old

    [jim@sorrel log]$ ps -eF |grep way
    jim 11216 11196 0 398474 58120 5 20:02 tty2 00:00:00 /usr/bin/ Xwayland :0 -rootless -terminate -accessx -core -listen 4 -listen 5 -
    displayfd 6
    jim 11125 11109 0 46755 5500 0 20:02 tty2 00:00:00 /usr/ libexec/gdm-wayland-session /usr/bin/gnome-session
    jim 12692 12144 0 8786 808 0 20:28 pts/1 00:00:00 grep --
    color way

    And in /var/log

    [root@sorrel log]# grep wayland * |grep -v directory
    security.log.1:Mar 15 04:22:01 sorrel.home.invalid diff:
    - Added packages : x11-server-xwayland-1.20.7-1.mga7 security.log.1:Mar 15 04:22:01 sorrel.home.invalid diff:
    - Removed packages : x11-server-xwayland-1.20.5-1.mga7

    It looks like my system is either alternating between wayland and xorg,
    or trying to run both.

    And I am totally at a loss on what to do about that. I am not inclined
    to do a clean install on a new partition, and nothing short of that would
    seem likely to clean up everything.

    My original question now has an answer, though. The gdm display manager should not be dead.

    Cheers!

    jim b.

    --
    UNIX is not user-unfriendly, it merely expects users to be computer-
    friendly.

    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Bit Twister@2:250/1 to All on Sun Apr 12 10:16:07 2020
    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 00:44:59 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:
    On Sat, 11 Apr 2020 11:01:15 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    On Sat, 11 Apr 2020 13:29:03 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:
    I tried BitTwister's command to see what desktop manager I was using,

    [jim@sorrel ~]$ systemctl status display-manager.service ● gdm.service >>> - GNOME Display Manager
    Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/gdm.service; enabled; vendor
    preset:>
    Active: inactive (dead)

    Should gdm be other than "dead"? Everything seems to work as I expect,
    but I have only a few things showing on the icon bars.


    It would not have hurt to have provided some information about o install
    type (clean, upgrade)

    Upgrade

    Then that would make sense if you assume new systemd/gdm release would
    not automagically know to pick your DM.


    o iso used o Desktop Environments installed.

    Mageia-7-x86_64.iso 4.1 GiB 2 July 20199
    Only the Gnome desktop installed.

    o Desktop Environment in use

    Gnome

    That would go a long way towards someone with time on their hands to
    have a look at your problem/question.

    click up a root terminal to run mcc, navigate
    mcc->Boot->Set up display manager
    to see what is selected.

    GDM was selected. XDM was available.

    Yuck. But then again it could be result of previous install setup/bug.


    If more than one option with one selected, I see no reason that you
    could pick another one, reboot, and if do not like results, go back to
    original selection, and reboot.

    I tried a method that sometimes cleans up cruft, by choosing XDM, giving
    that an ok, and when told I needed to reboot backed out until I could
    choose setup display manager again and chose GDM, ok'd that. This time I went all the way out and rebooted.[jim@sorrel ~]$

    Yep, it does requires a reboot to make sure all applications are on the
    same DM for X window communications.


    Logged in, loaded the desktop, checked and found gdm dead.

    Launched mcc, went to systems service, and found gdm was set to start on boot, but was stopped. After two or three clicks on start, I got a gray screen with the choice for jim or tester, selected jim.

    Yeah, I think that is when the gui login manager is having a hard time connecting to the desired X server DM and has fallen back to using
    the icewm DM.

    That started the desktop, with the proper mageia background.

    You need to check to see if you have a $HOME/.desktop file.
    If so, I recommend either renaming it to something else or remove/delete it.


    [jim@sorrel ~]$ ps -eF |grep gdm
    root 10878 1 0 66129 7840 0 20:02 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/ gdm
    root 11109 10878 0 47911 8340 6 20:02 ? 00:00:00 gdm- session-worker [pam/gdm-password]
    jim 11125 11109 0 46755 5500 0 20:02 tty2 00:00:00 /usr/ libexec/gdm-wayland-session /usr/bin/gnome-session
    jim 12186 12144 0 8786

    The gdm-wayland-session above caught my eye, so I tried a couple of
    things.

    Hmmm, I'll try a virtualbox install to see what it what.
    See too many people trying to push wayland to replace Xorg and I want
    nothing to do with it.


    [jim@sorrel ~]$ ls -l .xs*
    -rw------- 1 jim jim 45 Jul 23 2017 .xsession-errors

    [jim@sorrel log]$ ls -l Xorg*
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root jim 34025 Apr 11 20:02 Xorg.0.log
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root jim 33803 Apr 11 19:59 Xorg.0.log.old
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 28468 Feb 14 12:38 Xorg.9.log
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 30139 Jan 19 09:06 Xorg.9.log.old

    I find it handy to delete all those logs prior to a reboot just
    to get a clean copy on next boot. I would also suggest clearing the
    journal just to reclaim some space and start the next boot.

    Snippet from my new_journal script
    journalctl --rotate
    journalctl --vacuum-time=1s
    sleep 2
    rm --force $_log_dir/user-*.journal
    rm --force $_log_dir/*@*


    [jim@sorrel log]$ ps -eF |grep way
    jim 11216 11196 0 398474 58120 5 20:02 tty2 00:00:00 /usr/bin/ Xwayland :0 -rootless -terminate -accessx -core -listen 4 -listen 5 - displayfd 6
    jim 11125 11109 0 46755 5500 0 20:02 tty2 00:00:00 /usr/ libexec/gdm-wayland-session /usr/bin/gnome-session
    jim 12692 12144 0 8786 808 0 20:28 pts/1 00:00:00 grep --
    color way

    And in /var/log

    [root@sorrel log]# grep wayland * |grep -v directory
    security.log.1:Mar 15 04:22:01 sorrel.home.invalid diff:
    - Added packages : x11-server-xwayland-1.20.7-1.mga7
    security.log.1:Mar 15 04:22:01 sorrel.home.invalid diff:
    - Removed packages : x11-server-xwayland-1.20.5-1.mga7

    It looks like my system is either alternating between wayland and xorg,
    or trying to run both.

    Maybe not. you are showing log.1 and that can be confusing you.
    What it think that indicates you had a server-xwayland package update.
    Whether x11-server-xwayland should be removed is another question.

    And I am totally at a loss on what to do about that. I am not inclined
    to do a clean install on a new partition, and nothing short of that would seem likely to clean up everything.

    My original question now has an answer, though. The gdm display manager should not be dead.


    Click up a root terminal,
    systemctl status display-manager.service
    if not active, make sure it is enabled on boot.
    systemctl enabled display-manager.service

    On next boot, check status and whatever error messages if it has failures.


    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Bit Twister@2:250/1 to All on Sun Apr 12 11:32:35 2020
    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 04:16:07 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    ye-gads, I pity any windows escape who tries gnome as their first Linux OS.

    Ok, forget anything else I said about gnome in the above thread.

    The gray screen on login is normal, and does not look anything like
    icewm login screen.

    All the systemctl display stuff does not apply.

    You just need to have gdm.service enabled/running and no errors.
    the wayland stuff is default and does not appear to be removed in a
    stock gnome only install.

    I am sorry about the trouble I put you through.

    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Jim Beard@2:250/0 to All on Sun Apr 12 17:07:53 2020
    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 05:32:35 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 04:16:07 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    ye-gads, I pity any windows escape who tries gnome as their first Linux
    OS.

    Ok, forget anything else I said about gnome in the above thread.

    The gray screen on login is normal, and does not look anything like
    icewm login screen.

    All the systemctl display stuff does not apply.

    You just need to have gdm.service enabled/running and no errors.
    the wayland stuff is default and does not appear to be removed in a
    stock gnome only install.

    I am sorry about the trouble I put you through.

    Life is never so simple, as you can see if you read what I think is
    pertinent from this morning's eplorations and tests.

    reboot
    startx
    open a terminal window
    ps -eF |grep org > deskie
    Cat deskie:
    root 9661 9660 1 97613 36700 4 10:56 tty1 00:00:03 /usr/ libexec/Xorg :0 vt1 -keeptty -auth /home/jim/.serverauth.9638 -
    deferglyphs 16
    jim 11707 10222 0 8787 756 5 11:01 pts/0 00:00:00 grep --
    color org

    ps -eF |grep wayland yields nothing.

    as root
    mcc
    go to system
    go to manage system services
    gdm marked for On boot but stopped
    Start it
    get the gray windows with jim and tester
    log in as jim, get the normal desktop with mageia background
    open a terminal window
    ps -eF | grep wayland
    jim 12841 12821 0 398127 56344 3 11:07 tty2 00:00:00 /usr/bin/ Xwayland :0 -rootless -terminate -accessx -core -listen 4 -listen 5 -
    displayfd 6
    jim 12750 12734 0 46755 5512 6 11:07 tty2 00:00:00 /usr/ libexec/gdm-wayland-session /usr/bin/gnome-session
    jim 13462 13174 0 8786 808 1 11:10 pts/0 00:00:00 grep --
    color wayland

    ps -eF |grep org yields nothing.

    In short, gdm is set for enabled on boot in mcc/system services but fails
    to load. Given I boot to level 3, should it be set to boot or left
    unchecked?

    xinitd is running and is set to start on boot in mcc/manage system
    services. Is this interfering or taking command? My understanding is
    that xinit precedes gdm and should start it up, but if so that is not happening.

    Should I have an .xinitrc file in $HOME with the last line of gdm ??

    startx would be the next point to address, I would think.
    I would think startx should use it if it exists, and when it existed it
    had contents
    DISPLAYMANAGER=gdm
    DESKTOP=GNOME

    Some months ago I was having desktop problems (as were others, due to an upgraded kernel I think) and I had deleted it. I also at one point had DISPLAYMANAGER=dm but that did not seem useful. With it or without it
    today, it seems to do nothing.

    It appears I have a formidable tangle ahead of me, if this thing is to
    work properly.

    Any ideas on what is where that determines what gets loaded?

    Cheers!

    jim b.

    --
    UNIX is not user-unfriendly, it merely expects users to be computer-
    friendly.

    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/0@fidonet)
  • From William Unruh@2:250/0 to All on Sun Apr 12 17:58:24 2020
    On 2020-04-12, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:
    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 05:32:35 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 04:16:07 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    ye-gads, I pity any windows escape who tries gnome as their first Linux
    OS.

    Ok, forget anything else I said about gnome in the above thread.

    The gray screen on login is normal, and does not look anything like
    icewm login screen.

    All the systemctl display stuff does not apply.

    You just need to have gdm.service enabled/running and no errors.
    the wayland stuff is default and does not appear to be removed in a
    stock gnome only install.

    I am sorry about the trouble I put you through.

    Life is never so simple, as you can see if you read what I think is pertinent from this morning's eplorations and tests.

    reboot
    startx

    You have your system set to start on runlevel3? Why do you need a
    display manager then?

    "The display manager is a bit of code that provides the GUI login screen
    for your Linux desktop."
    but you do not need it. You are logging in to the terminal and running
    startx.

    I assume that when you run startx you get an X screen, and can run your
    X programs on that.



    open a terminal window
    ps -eF |grep org > deskie
    Cat deskie:
    root 9661 9660 1 97613 36700 4 10:56 tty1 00:00:03 /usr/ libexec/Xorg :0 vt1 -keeptty -auth /home/jim/.serverauth.9638 -
    deferglyphs 16
    jim 11707 10222 0 8787 756 5 11:01 pts/0 00:00:00 grep --
    color org

    ps -eF |grep wayland yields nothing.

    as root
    mcc
    go to system
    go to manage system services
    gdm marked for On boot but stopped
    Start it
    get the gray windows with jim and tester
    log in as jim, get the normal desktop with mageia background
    open a terminal window
    ps -eF | grep wayland
    jim 12841 12821 0 398127 56344 3 11:07 tty2 00:00:00 /usr/bin/ Xwayland :0 -rootless -terminate -accessx -core -listen 4 -listen 5 - displayfd 6
    jim 12750 12734 0 46755 5512 6 11:07 tty2 00:00:00 /usr/ libexec/gdm-wayland-session /usr/bin/gnome-session
    jim 13462 13174 0 8786 808 1 11:10 pts/0 00:00:00 grep --
    color wayland

    ps -eF |grep org yields nothing.

    In short, gdm is set for enabled on boot in mcc/system services but fails
    to load. Given I boot to level 3, should it be set to boot or left unchecked?

    xinitd is running and is set to start on boot in mcc/manage system
    services. Is this interfering or taking command? My understanding is
    that xinit precedes gdm and should start it up, but if so that is not happening.

    Should I have an .xinitrc file in $HOME with the last line of gdm ??

    startx would be the next point to address, I would think.
    I would think startx should use it if it exists, and when it existed it
    had contents
    DISPLAYMANAGER=gdm
    DESKTOP=GNOME

    Some months ago I was having desktop problems (as were others, due to an upgraded kernel I think) and I had deleted it. I also at one point had DISPLAYMANAGER=dm but that did not seem useful. With it or without it
    today, it seems to do nothing.

    It appears I have a formidable tangle ahead of me, if this thing is to
    work properly.

    Any ideas on what is where that determines what gets loaded?

    Cheers!

    jim b.


    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/0@fidonet)
  • From Jim Beard@2:250/1 to All on Sun Apr 12 18:37:25 2020
    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 16:58:24 +0000, William Unruh wrote:
    <snip>

    You have your system set to start on runlevel3? Why do you need a display manager then?

    Something has to manage an xwindows display, particularly if more than
    one user logs into the machine. My question at the moment is, what decides
    and starts up the windows display.

    If I use startup, with a .desktop directory calling for gdm and Gnome desktop. I get .Xorg and the Gnome desktop. It would be nice if two components intended
    to run and work together actually did so, I would expect.

    "The display manager is a bit of code that provides the GUI login screen
    for your Linux desktop."
    but you do not need it. You are logging in to the terminal and running startx.

    Again, yes, I was logging into the terminal and running startx, but that did not
    start the Gnome Desktop Manager gdm, that I thought would be a good idea.

    I assume that when you run startx you get an X screen, and can run your X programs on that.

    Yes. From a fresh boot and login, startx delivers an Xorg desktop. When I
    go into mcc and start gdm from the manage services section, I get Xwayland
    as the Gnome desktop.

    How do I get Xwayland and Gnome desktop without starting up mcc, going to system services, and manually start gdm there?

    Cheers!

    jim b.

    --
    UNIX is not user-unfriendly, it merely expects users to be computer-friendly.

    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Bit Twister@2:250/1 to All on Sun Apr 12 18:47:55 2020
    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 16:07:53 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:
    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 05:32:35 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:


    Life is never so simple, as you can see if you read what I think is
    pertinent from this morning's eplorations and tests.

    reboot
    startx

    In the past that would work. I suggest you might want to read
    https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16894

    Now when I want to use startx, I use the Exec line in the DE desktop file.
    For Example:
    $ grep ^Exec= /usr/share/xsessions/*
    Exec=icewm
    Exec=icewm-session
    Exec=/usr/bin/mythfrontend
    Exec=startxfce4

    I would have to do a startx startxfce4


    startx would be the next point to address, I would think.
    I would think startx should use it if it exists, and when it existed it
    had contents
    DISPLAYMANAGER=gdm
    DESKTOP=GNOME

    Well, what can I say.
    Theoretically your upgrade makes my clean VirtualBox the same as yours.

    There is no ~/.desktop in my setup.


    Should I have an .xinitrc file in $HOME with the last line of gdm ??

    If me I would not. I would verify gdm.service is enabled
    systemctl enable gdm.service
    reboot, log into the test account.


    In short, gdm is set for enabled on boot in mcc/system services but fails
    to load.

    Heheh, you can enable it at the command line:
    systemctl enable gdm.service
    to check enabled or not
    systemctl status gdm.service


    Given I boot to level 3, should it be set to boot or left
    unchecked?

    Can we assume this is a temporary state of affairs. ?


    xinitd is running and is set to start on boot in mcc/manage system
    services. Is this interfering or taking command? My understanding is
    that xinit precedes gdm and should start it up, but if so that is not happening.

    I has been years since I researched system start up. Last few days I have been trying to figure just how the system works. So far I can not even find
    how the greeter knows what DE to use by user. :(


    Any ideas on what is where that determines what gets loaded?

    Other than systems services determines what gets loaded, no.

    Here you go, a dump of services of the gnome virtualbox guest services
    with loaded active removed to help output.

    $ systemctl list-units --type=service
    UNIT ACTIVE SUB DESCRIPTION accounts-daemon.service running Accounts Service
    acpid.service running ACPI Event Daemon alsa-state.service running Manage Sound Card State (restore and store)
    chronyd.service running NTP client/server
    colord.service running Manage, Install and Generate Color Profiles
    crond.service running Command Scheduler
    dbus.service running D-Bus System Message Bus dracut-shutdown.service exited Restore /run/initramfs on shutdown
    fedora-loadmodules.service exited Load legacy module configuration
    fedora-readonly.service exited Configure read-only root support
    gdm.service running GNOME Display Manager gpm.service running Console Mouse manager kmod-static-nodes.service exited Create list of required static device nodes for the current kernel
    ldconfig.service exited Rebuild Dynamic Linker Cache lvm2-monitor.service exited Monitoring of LVM2 mirrors, snapshots etc. using dmeventd or progress polling
    mandriva-everytime.service exited Reconfigure the system on administrator request
    mdmonitor-takeover.service exited Software RAID Monitor Takeover mdmonitor.service running Software RAID monitoring and management
    msec.service exited LSB: Enables MSEC security policy on boot
    network-up.service exited LSB: Wait for the hotplugged network to be up
    network.service running LSB: Bring up/down networking numlock.service exited LSB: Locks NumLock key at init runlevel change
    partmon.service exited LSB: Checks if a partition is close to full up
    polkit.service running Authorization Manager resolvconf.service exited LSB: Nameserver information manager
    rtkit-daemon.service running RealtimeKit Scheduling Policy Service
    shorewall.service exited Shorewall IPv4 firewall shorewall6.service exited Shorewall IPv6 firewall systemd-fsck-root.service exited File System Check on Root Device
    systemd-hwdb-update.service exited Rebuild Hardware Database systemd-journal-catalog-update.service exited Rebuild Journal Catalog systemd-journal-flush.service exited Flush Journal to Persistent Storage
    systemd-journald.service running Journal Service systemd-logind.service running Login Service systemd-modules-load.service exited Load Kernel Modules systemd-random-seed.service exited Load/Save Random Seed systemd-remount-fs.service exited Remount Root and Kernel File Systems
    systemd-sysctl.service exited Apply Kernel Variables systemd-sysusers.service exited Create System Users systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service exited Create Static Device Nodes in /dev
    systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service exited Create Volatile Files and Directories
    systemd-udev-settle.service exited udev Wait for Complete Device Initialization
    systemd-udev-trigger.service exited udev Coldplug all Devices systemd-udevd.service running udev Kernel Device Manager systemd-update-done.service exited Update is Completed systemd-update-utmp.service exited Update UTMP about System Boot/Shutdown
    systemd-user-sessions.service exited Permit User Sessions udisks2.service running Disk Manager
    upower.service running Daemon for power management user-runtime-dir@0.service exited User Runtime Directory /run/user/0
    user@0.service running User Manager for UID 0 vboxadd-timesync.service running VirtualBox Guest Addons

    LOAD = Reflects whether the unit definition was properly loaded.
    ACTIVE = The high-level unit activation state, i.e. generalization of SUB.
    SUB = The low-level unit activation state, values depend on unit type.


    Some months ago I was having desktop problems (as were others, due to an upgraded kernel I think) and I had deleted it. I also at one point had DISPLAYMANAGER=dm but that did not seem useful. With it or without it
    today, it seems to do nothing.

    It appears I have a formidable tangle ahead of me, if this thing is to
    work properly.

    Yep. if I was you IT department, I would run "df -h /", and free up
    the amount of used space, create/format/label a partition of that size
    plus extra space for large rpm update download, and do a clean install
    into the new partition.

    If you do not have a dual/multi boot setup so that you can run gparted
    on your system I can highly recommend systemrescue cd.
    http://www.sysresccd.org

    instruction for creating a bootible usb is on the web page.

    I have seen several people say not possible because of all the system customization the made. I always ask, well then, what are you going to
    do if the drive suddenly fails.




    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Bit Twister@2:250/1 to All on Sun Apr 12 18:57:23 2020
    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 17:37:25 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:
    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 16:58:24 +0000, William Unruh wrote:
    <snip>

    You have your system set to start on runlevel3? Why do you need a display
    manager then?

    Something has to manage an xwindows display, particularly if more than
    one user logs into the machine. My question at the moment is, what decides and starts up the windows display.

    systemctl based on the enabled service




    If I use startup, with a .desktop directory calling for gdm and Gnome
    desktop.

    I suggest to you, that is an obsolete feature/function for current xorg release
    on Mageia.




    Yes. From a fresh boot and login, startx delivers an Xorg desktop. When I go into mcc and start gdm from the manage services section, I get Xwayland
    as the Gnome desktop.

    Well, frap, Everything I have been doing with you was based on the
    assumption that you have set gui runlevel as default.
    If default is just multi user runlevel 3. then I have no further suggestions other than what I have given so far.


    How do I get Xwayland and Gnome desktop without starting up mcc, going to system services, and manually start gdm there?

    As root "systemctl start gdm.service" would do the same thing.



    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From William Unruh@2:250/1 to All on Sun Apr 12 19:32:24 2020
    On 2020-04-12, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:
    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 16:58:24 +0000, William Unruh wrote:
    <snip>

    You have your system set to start on runlevel3? Why do you need a display
    manager then?

    Something has to manage an xwindows display, particularly if more than
    one user logs into the machine. My question at the moment is, what decides and starts up the windows display.

    The windows etc are handled by the window manager, I think, which is not
    the display manager. As you found (I assume) not having gdm still gave
    you an xwindows system to launch and display your programs on.


    If I use startup, with a .desktop directory calling for gdm and Gnome
    desktop.
    I get .Xorg and the Gnome desktop. It would be nice if two components
    intended
    to run and work together actually did so, I would expect.

    Which two elements?


    "The display manager is a bit of code that provides the GUI login screen
    for your Linux desktop."
    but you do not need it. You are logging in to the terminal and running
    startx.

    Again, yes, I was logging into the terminal and running startx, but that did
    not
    start the Gnome Desktop Manager gdm, that I thought would be a good idea.

    Why?


    I assume that when you run startx you get an X screen, and can run your X
    programs on that.

    Yes. From a fresh boot and login, startx delivers an Xorg desktop. When I go into mcc and start gdm from the manage services section, I get Xwayland
    as the Gnome desktop.

    Ah, so you are concerned that the desktop you get from startx is not the desktop that you want, is that it?

    I assume that startx is not reading the right file to discover what
    desktop you want to run. You can tell startx which to use (not that I
    can tell you how right now, I just recall seeing that in the past).

    Which desktop does get started?



    How do I get Xwayland and Gnome desktop without starting up mcc, going to system services, and manually start gdm there?



    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Jim Beard@2:250/1 to All on Sun Apr 12 20:53:47 2020
    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 12:57:23 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 17:37:25 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:
    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 16:58:24 +0000, William Unruh wrote:
    <snip>

    You have your system set to start on runlevel3? Why do you need a display >>> manager then?

    Something has to manage an xwindows display, particularly if more than
    one user logs into the machine. My question at the moment is, what decides >> and starts up the windows display.

    systemctl based on the enabled service




    If I use startup, with a .desktop directory calling for gdm and Gnome desktop.

    I suggest to you, that is an obsolete feature/function for current xorg
    release
    on Mageia.




    Yes. From a fresh boot and login, startx delivers an Xorg desktop. When I >> go into mcc and start gdm from the manage services section, I get Xwayland >> as the Gnome desktop.

    Well, frap, Everything I have been doing with you was based on the
    assumption that you have set gui runlevel as default.
    If default is just multi user runlevel 3. then I have no further suggestions other than what I have given so far.


    How do I get Xwayland and Gnome desktop without starting up mcc, going to
    system services, and manually start gdm there?

    As root "systemctl start gdm.service" would do the same thing.

    Thank you for dispelling some of my ignorance.

    I will abandon the .desktop file entirely. "systemctl start gdm.service" would appear
    to be one way start Gnome with wayland. I suppose I could alias that to startgnome or
    something.

    I have found some old ways of starting wayland and Gnome, with at least one of them
    requiring a reboot to get back to run level 3.

    It seems I have a bunch of experimentation to do, to find out what works and what
    works best for me. And possibly learn a bit more about startx, and spend some time with the Gnome Display Manager manual.

    I will hack at it now and then for a while, and if anything useful emerges, report back.

    Cheers!

    jim b.

    --
    UNIX is not user-unfriendly, it merely expects users to be computer-friendly.

    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Jim Beard@2:250/1 to All on Sun Apr 12 21:12:05 2020
    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 18:32:24 +0000, William Unruh wrote:

    On 2020-04-12, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:
    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 16:58:24 +0000, William Unruh wrote:
    <snip>

    You have your system set to start on runlevel3? Why do you need a display >>> manager then?

    Something has to manage an xwindows display, particularly if more than
    one user logs into the machine. My question at the moment is, what decides >> and starts up the windows display.

    The windows etc are handled by the window manager, I think, which is not
    the display manager. As you found (I assume) not having gdm still gave
    you an xwindows system to launch and display your programs on.

    Correct. I failed to precisely distinguish between the display manager and
    the xwindows manager. And yes, I did get an xwindows system by use of
    startx, but to Xorg system rather than the Gnome system involving wayland if started manually from mcc/systemservices/gdm enable and start.

    If I use startup, with a .desktop directory calling for gdm and Gnome desktop.
    I get .Xorg and the Gnome desktop. It would be nice if two components intended
    to run and work together actually did so, I would expect.

    Which two elements?
    GDM and the Gnome desktop running on wayland. Yes, Gnome will run with the Xorg system as well, but I would prefer the Gnome Display Manager created
    for the Gnome desktop.


    "The display manager is a bit of code that provides the GUI login screen >>> for your Linux desktop."
    but you do not need it. You are logging in to the terminal and running
    startx.

    Again, yes, I was logging into the terminal and running startx, but that did not
    start the Gnome Desktop Manager gdm, that I thought would be a good idea.

    Why?

    Compatibility of things made to work together, perhaps? Even if compatibility with other existing systems is also provided.

    I assume that when you run startx you get an X screen, and can run your X >>> programs on that.

    Yes. From a fresh boot and login, startx delivers an Xorg desktop. When I >> go into mcc and start gdm from the manage services section, I get Xwayland >> as the Gnome desktop.

    Ah, so you are concerned that the desktop you get from startx is not the desktop that you want, is that it?

    Actually, I get a (repeat a) Gnome desktop from startx, but running on
    the Xorg system. I want gdm running the Gnome desktop on wayland.

    I assume that startx is not reading the right file to discover what
    desktop you want to run. You can tell startx which to use (not that I
    can tell you how right now, I just recall seeing that in the past).

    I have taken a brief look at startx, and did not find anything which
    appeared to do just what I wanted. Perhaps I did not understand all
    involved in startx, or perhaps what I want is outside the capabilities
    of startx as it exists at the moment.

    Which desktop does get started?

    The Gnome Desktop gets started, but involvement of Xorg or gdm/wayland
    depends on where and how I start it up.

    How do I get Xwayland and Gnome desktop without starting up mcc, going to
    system services, and manually start gdm there?

    BitTwister has provided "systemctl start gdm.service" which may do what mcc/system services currently does when I start up gdm there.

    Cheers!

    jim b.

    --
    UNIX is not user-unfriendly, it merely expects users to be computer-friendly.

    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Bit Twister@2:250/1 to All on Sun Apr 12 21:34:28 2020
    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 19:53:47 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:

    I have found some old ways of starting wayland and Gnome, with at least one
    of them
    requiring a reboot to get back to run level 3.

    In my stupid opinion, you should set mcc boot option to boot
    grub2 graphical menu

    Upon next boot, gdm and X windowing are started and you should get the
    greeter screen, where you login and should wind up in gnome DE.

    Any time you fail to get the greeter login screen you can always reboot,
    hit the Esc key at the grub menu, use arrows to add a space 3 at the
    end of the /boot/vmlinuz line and hit Ctrl+x to boot into runlevel 3.
    enter how to boot runlevel 3 grub
    in the first box at https://www.google.com/advanced_search
    if you are not sure on how to boot runlevel3 via grub.

    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Jim Beard@2:250/1 to All on Mon Apr 13 16:14:18 2020
    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 15:34:28 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 19:53:47 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:

    I have found some old ways of starting wayland and Gnome, with at least one of them
    requiring a reboot to get back to run level 3.

    In my stupid opinion, you should set mcc boot option to boot
    grub2 graphical menu

    Trials so far indicate that if I have a gui desktop up and log in to gnome, then use
    Cntl-Alt-2 to go to tty2, and attempt to return to tty1 with Cntl-Alt-2 I get a gui login screen.

    If I login on tty1 and then run
    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland exec dbus-run-session gnome-session
    I can use Cntl-Alt-2 to go to tty2 and then return to tty1 with Cntl-Alt-1
    and find myself back at the gui desktop just as I left it.

    That ability to go back and forth between desktop/tty terminal is
    a good thing in my estimation.

    Dave Hodgins offers this approach, untested, that might provide a login
    in level 3 and then go automatically to Gnome:

    To start on login to tty1, add the following to your .bash_profile:

    if [[ -z $DISPLAY ]] && [[ $(tty) = /dev/tty1 ]] && [[ -z $XDG_SESSION_TYPE ]]; then
    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland exec dbus-run-session gnome-session
    fi


    Your approach of using (as root) "systemctl start gdm.service" from level 3 command line did start up Gnome with the wayland display manager, but I could not use Cntl-Alt-2 to get to tty2.

    Cheers!

    jim b.

    --
    UNIX is not user-unfriendly, it merely expects users to be computer-friendly.

    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Bit Twister@2:250/1 to All on Mon Apr 13 16:55:10 2020
    On Mon, 13 Apr 2020 15:14:18 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:


    Your approach of using (as root) "systemctl start gdm.service" from level 3 command line did start up Gnome with the wayland display manager, but I
    could
    not use Cntl-Alt-2 to get to tty2.

    Not surprising since different runlevel logic is involved.

    I am interested in knowing if you set the system to boot
    grub2 graphical menu ( gui runlevel 5), works as far as getting logged in.



    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Jim Beard@2:250/1 to All on Tue Apr 14 17:36:55 2020
    On Mon, 13 Apr 2020 10:55:10 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    On Mon, 13 Apr 2020 15:14:18 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:


    Your approach of using (as root) "systemctl start gdm.service" from level 3 >> command line did start up Gnome with the wayland display manager, but I could
    not use Cntl-Alt-2 to get to tty2.

    Not surprising since different runlevel logic is involved.

    I am interested in knowing if you set the system to boot
    grub2 graphical menu ( gui runlevel 5), works as far as getting logged in.

    I set the system to boot grub2 graphical, rebooted, and found myself at a loging prompt. That worked to log me in, but no gui desktop.

    To get the gui on run level 5 to come up automatically on reboot, I had to
    use mcc, setup boot, click on set up autologin to automatically log in,
    and there tell it to launch the graphical environment when the system starts.

    Oddly, in my tinkering around, I have sometimes found myself at a login
    prompt but the asterisk ' would not show if I hit that key. Something
    seems to have been a messed up locale setting, as I was getting French diacritics at some point, even though locale was set for all UTF-8.

    Once I launched the Gnome desktop (manner of launch does not matter)
    my locale returned to normal.

    Also oddly, I have lost the startup for gdm that I once had. I should
    keep a list of everything done in sequence rather than just tinkering
    around to see what happens, but that is a great deal of note-taking
    that very rarely is useful. In this case, it means I will have to
    redo earlier tinkering if I want gdm working, or just leave it as
    is, as it does not seem necessary.

    Cheers!

    jim b.

    --
    UNIX is not user-unfriendly, it merely expects users to be computer-friendly.

    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Jim Beard@2:250/1 to All on Wed Apr 15 15:35:08 2020
    On Tue, 14 Apr 2020 12:24:52 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    On Tue, 14 Apr 2020 16:36:55 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:
    On Mon, 13 Apr 2020 10:55:10 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    On Mon, 13 Apr 2020 15:14:18 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:


    Your approach of using (as root) "systemctl start gdm.service" from level >>>> command line did start up Gnome with the wayland display manager, but I could
    not use Cntl-Alt-2 to get to tty2.

    Not surprising since different runlevel logic is involved.

    I am interested in knowing if you set the system to boot
    grub2 graphical menu ( gui runlevel 5), works as far as getting logged in. >>
    I set the system to boot grub2 graphical, rebooted, and found myself at a
    loging prompt. That worked to log me in, but no gui desktop.


    Do remove/change the auto login setting you made.

    I suggest resetting your test account to clean install/day one settings,
    run the root commands to setup gui login and login on the test account.

    Commands to reset test account follows.
    I am using "junk" as the test account in the following commands.
    Commands have to be executed by root.

    rsync --delete -aAHSXxv /etc/skel/ /home/junk
    chown -R junk:junk /home/junk

    Commands to set gui runlevel 5 login.
    In a root terminal prompt, paste the following:

    systemctl enable gdm.service
    ln -sf /lib/systemd/system/graphical.target
    /etc/systemd/system/default.target
    systemctl set-default graphical.target
    systemctl enable getty@tty1.service
    reboot

    on next reboot you should be at the graphical login screen.
    Pick desired user, and at the enter password prompt, pick the desired
    desktop by clicking on the gear icon, then enter password.

    Before resetting the tester account per above (sometime later today,
    I think), I will provide an account of results from some of my tinkering
    that seem useful:

    mcc settings:
    grub2 graphical interface
    launch graphical interface on boot not checked
    display manager gdm
    do not start gui on login

    Result: no gui desktop on login, gdm not running per ps.
    gnome started with
    systemctl start gdm.service
    Password required, in this case that of jim who is logged in.
    Login desktop with jim and tester as users comes up on tty1.
    Ctl-Alt-F2 can be used to change to a terminal window on tty2, etc

    On the login desktop, select user jim and log in.
    Ctl-Alt-F3 loads a terminal window on tty3.
    tty1 is the Gnome graphical login screen with users.
    tty2 is a Gnome graphical desktop (jim).
    tty3 is the terminal window.

    Return to the login desktop with Ctl-Alt-F1 and
    login in as tester. This loads a Gnome desktop for tester
    on tty4. Use of Cntl-Alt-Fx to move to ttyx which may
    or may not have a desktop is possible.

    Selecting the power switch icon, selecting the user
    of the desktop currently loaded, and selecting log out
    returns to the login screen on tty1. The command 'who'
    no longer shows the user that had just logged out, and
    Ctl-Alt-Fx to the tty just in use by that user yields
    a new login terminal window

    From earlier tinkering, I speculate that login at run
    level 3, su - to root, systemctl start gdm.service
    would start up gdm and the Gnome graphical login screen,
    without a password needed.

    Cheers!

    jim b.

    --
    UNIX is not user-unfriendly, it merely expects users to be computer-friendly.

    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Bit Twister@2:250/1 to All on Wed Apr 15 17:25:26 2020
    On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 14:35:08 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:

    mcc settings:
    grub2 graphical interface
    launch graphical interface on boot not checked
    display manager gdm
    do not start gui on login

    Result: no gui desktop on login, gdm not running per ps.

    Ok, looks normal for a runlevel 3 setup.

    Based on start of this thread, I am/was trying to get you a normal
    runlevel 5 gui login with gdm-wayland/Gnome desktop.
    That would would be
    grub2 graphical interface
    launch graphical interface on boot CHecked
    do start gui on login

    Some googling about greeters indicates it starts the Display Manager
    then launches the user's Desktop Environment upon a valid password.

    If you want to stick with runlevel3 boot, then you will have to run
    systemctl start gdm.service or pick the desired ""startx whatever here"
    to get a gui desktop envionment.


    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Jim Beard@2:250/1 to All on Thu Apr 16 16:11:46 2020
    On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 11:25:26 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 14:35:08 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:

    mcc settings:
    grub2 graphical interface
    launch graphical interface on boot not checked
    display manager gdm
    do not start gui on login

    Result: no gui desktop on login, gdm not running per ps.

    Ok, looks normal for a runlevel 3 setup.

    Based on start of this thread, I am/was trying to get you a normal
    runlevel 5 gui login with gdm-wayland/Gnome desktop.
    That would would be
    grub2 graphical interface
    launch graphical interface on boot CHecked
    do start gui on login

    Some googling about greeters indicates it starts the Display Manager
    then launches the user's Desktop Environment upon a valid password.

    If you want to stick with runlevel3 boot, then you will have to run
    systemctl start gdm.service or pick the desired ""startx whatever here"
    to get a gui desktop envionment.

    I seems I have my choice of 1. starting up gdm as the display manager,
    and being able to move among two or more gui desktops and terminal
    consoles on ttyx but with the gdm greeter-login screen always on tty1,
    or 2. starting the Gnome desktop without gdm, which does not allow
    multiple Gnome desktops on different ttys but does allow exiting the
    Gnome desktop and reverting to a level 3 console window.

    systemctl start gdm.service

    as root is the easy way to start up gdm as the display manager, and at
    that point the login screen is on tty1 and stays there. This does use
    the wayland display manager on my system currently. I speculate gdm
    will use wayland by default.

    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland exec dbus-run-session gnome-session
    and
    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland dbus-run-session gnome-session

    both start up a Gnome desktop on the current tty, tty1 if I have
    just logged in, and it is possible to logout from that desktop and
    get back to the level 3 command line prompt without having a gui
    continue on tty1 or anywhere else. I can move around
    among tty2-tty6 using Cntl-Alt-F[2-6] but cannot start a Gnome
    desktop on a new tty without it killing the old one.

    I am keeping a copy of your routine for resetting an account to
    day one status, setup the gui login, and login on the test account,
    from your earlier post in this thread 14 Apr 2020 12:24:52. That
    could come in handy, but does not seem necessary at the moment.

    Cheers!

    jim b.

    --
    UNIX is not user-unfriendly, it merely expects users to be computer-friendly.

    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Bit Twister@2:250/1 to All on Thu Apr 16 16:42:35 2020
    On Thu, 16 Apr 2020 15:11:46 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:


    I seems I have my choice of 1. starting up gdm as the display manager,
    and being able to move among two or more gui desktops and terminal
    consoles on ttyx but with the gdm greeter-login screen always on tty1,
    or 2. starting the Gnome desktop without gdm, which does not allow
    multiple Gnome desktops on different ttys but does allow exiting the
    Gnome desktop and reverting to a level 3 console window.

    Ok, I would like to know if you want to boot the system in
    runlevel 3 (cli login) or runlevel 5 (gui login)



    I am keeping a copy of your routine for resetting an account to
    day one status, setup the gui login, and login on the test account,
    from your earlier post in this thread 14 Apr 2020 12:24:52. That
    could come in handy, but does not seem necessary at the moment.

    When you are debugging problems, it is best to remove all/as many variables
    as possible and start from a known condition/state.

    The up thread instructions to reset/clear out the test account and
    set it to a normal new user condition was to get to a known point
    to start testing/troubleshooting.




    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From William Unruh@2:250/1 to All on Thu Apr 16 17:45:19 2020
    On 2020-04-16, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:
    On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 11:25:26 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 14:35:08 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:

    mcc settings:
    grub2 graphical interface
    launch graphical interface on boot not checked
    display manager gdm
    do not start gui on login

    Result: no gui desktop on login, gdm not running per ps.

    Ok, looks normal for a runlevel 3 setup.

    Based on start of this thread, I am/was trying to get you a normal
    runlevel 5 gui login with gdm-wayland/Gnome desktop.
    That would would be
    grub2 graphical interface
    launch graphical interface on boot CHecked
    do start gui on login

    Some googling about greeters indicates it starts the Display Manager
    then launches the user's Desktop Environment upon a valid password.

    If you want to stick with runlevel3 boot, then you will have to run
    systemctl start gdm.service or pick the desired ""startx whatever here"
    to get a gui desktop envionment.

    I seems I have my choice of 1. starting up gdm as the display manager,
    and being able to move among two or more gui desktops and terminal
    consoles on ttyx but with the gdm greeter-login screen always on tty1,
    or 2. starting the Gnome desktop without gdm, which does not allow
    multiple Gnome desktops on different ttys but does allow exiting the
    Gnome desktop and reverting to a level 3 console window.

    systemctl start gdm.service

    as root is the easy way to start up gdm as the display manager, and at
    that point the login screen is on tty1 and stays there. This does use
    the wayland display manager on my system currently. I speculate gdm
    will use wayland by default.

    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland exec dbus-run-session gnome-session
    and
    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland dbus-run-session gnome-session

    both start up a Gnome desktop on the current tty, tty1 if I have
    just logged in, and it is possible to logout from that desktop and
    get back to the level 3 command line prompt without having a gui
    continue on tty1 or anywhere else. I can move around
    among tty2-tty6 using Cntl-Alt-F[2-6] but cannot start a Gnome
    desktop on a new tty without it killing the old one.

    You can tell startx to start the new session on a different output.
    I have never done this with wayland/gnome, but do it all the time with
    plasma.
    startx -- :2
    say


    I am keeping a copy of your routine for resetting an account to
    day one status, setup the gui login, and login on the test account,
    from your earlier post in this thread 14 Apr 2020 12:24:52. That
    could come in handy, but does not seem necessary at the moment.

    Cheers!

    jim b.


    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Jim Beard@2:250/1 to All on Thu Apr 16 21:54:52 2020
    On Thu, 16 Apr 2020 16:45:19 +0000, William Unruh wrote:

    On 2020-04-16, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:
    On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 11:25:26 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 14:35:08 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:

    mcc settings:
    grub2 graphical interface
    launch graphical interface on boot not checked
    display manager gdm
    do not start gui on login

    Result: no gui desktop on login, gdm not running per ps.

    Ok, looks normal for a runlevel 3 setup.

    Based on start of this thread, I am/was trying to get you a normal
    runlevel 5 gui login with gdm-wayland/Gnome desktop.
    That would would be
    grub2 graphical interface
    launch graphical interface on boot CHecked
    do start gui on login

    Some googling about greeters indicates it starts the Display Manager
    then launches the user's Desktop Environment upon a valid password.

    If you want to stick with runlevel3 boot, then you will have to run
    systemctl start gdm.service or pick the desired ""startx whatever here"
    to get a gui desktop envionment.

    I seems I have my choice of 1. starting up gdm as the display manager,
    and being able to move among two or more gui desktops and terminal
    consoles on ttyx but with the gdm greeter-login screen always on tty1,
    or 2. starting the Gnome desktop without gdm, which does not allow
    multiple Gnome desktops on different ttys but does allow exiting the
    Gnome desktop and reverting to a level 3 console window.

    systemctl start gdm.service

    as root is the easy way to start up gdm as the display manager, and at
    that point the login screen is on tty1 and stays there. This does use
    the wayland display manager on my system currently. I speculate gdm
    will use wayland by default.

    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland exec dbus-run-session gnome-session
    and
    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland dbus-run-session gnome-session

    both start up a Gnome desktop on the current tty, tty1 if I have
    just logged in, and it is possible to logout from that desktop and
    get back to the level 3 command line prompt without having a gui
    continue on tty1 or anywhere else. I can move around
    among tty2-tty6 using Cntl-Alt-F[2-6] but cannot start a Gnome
    desktop on a new tty without it killing the old one.

    You can tell startx to start the new session on a different output.
    I have never done this with wayland/gnome, but do it all the time with plasma.
    startx -- :2

    Tried that. I first tried it from a terminal windows under Gnome desktop,
    and the error message was that startx had to be run from a console window.
    I then went to tty2 and tried it, only to be told startx was already
    running on :0.

    kde/plasma and whatever your display manager is may do things entirely different, of course.

    Cheers!

    jim b.

    --
    UNIX is not user-unfriendly, it merely expects users to be computer-friendly.

    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From William Unruh@2:250/1 to All on Thu Apr 16 22:45:39 2020
    On 2020-04-16, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:
    On Thu, 16 Apr 2020 16:45:19 +0000, William Unruh wrote:

    On 2020-04-16, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:
    On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 11:25:26 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 14:35:08 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:

    mcc settings:
    grub2 graphical interface
    launch graphical interface on boot not checked
    display manager gdm
    do not start gui on login

    Result: no gui desktop on login, gdm not running per ps.

    Ok, looks normal for a runlevel 3 setup.

    Based on start of this thread, I am/was trying to get you a normal
    runlevel 5 gui login with gdm-wayland/Gnome desktop.
    That would would be
    grub2 graphical interface
    launch graphical interface on boot CHecked
    do start gui on login

    Some googling about greeters indicates it starts the Display Manager
    then launches the user's Desktop Environment upon a valid password.

    If you want to stick with runlevel3 boot, then you will have to run
    systemctl start gdm.service or pick the desired ""startx whatever here" >>>> to get a gui desktop envionment.

    I seems I have my choice of 1. starting up gdm as the display manager,
    and being able to move among two or more gui desktops and terminal
    consoles on ttyx but with the gdm greeter-login screen always on tty1,
    or 2. starting the Gnome desktop without gdm, which does not allow
    multiple Gnome desktops on different ttys but does allow exiting the
    Gnome desktop and reverting to a level 3 console window.

    systemctl start gdm.service

    as root is the easy way to start up gdm as the display manager, and at
    that point the login screen is on tty1 and stays there. This does use
    the wayland display manager on my system currently. I speculate gdm
    will use wayland by default.

    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland exec dbus-run-session gnome-session
    and
    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland dbus-run-session gnome-session

    both start up a Gnome desktop on the current tty, tty1 if I have
    just logged in, and it is possible to logout from that desktop and
    get back to the level 3 command line prompt without having a gui
    continue on tty1 or anywhere else. I can move around
    among tty2-tty6 using Cntl-Alt-F[2-6] but cannot start a Gnome
    desktop on a new tty without it killing the old one.

    You can tell startx to start the new session on a different output.
    I have never done this with wayland/gnome, but do it all the time with
    plasma.
    startx -- :2

    That is
    startx then a space, then two minus signs, then a space, then a colon
    and the number 2.


    Tried that. I first tried it from a terminal windows under Gnome desktop,
    and the error message was that startx had to be run from a console window.
    I then went to tty2 and tried it, only to be told startx was already
    running on :0.

    Yes it HAS to be run from a console alt-ctrl-F2 lets say if that is
    free.


    kde/plasma and whatever your display manager is may do things entirely different, of course.

    Your error message was from startx, not from gdm/gnome. Ie, it has
    nothing to do with the display manager or the login manager.
    It sould to me like you did NOT do the
    -- :2
    part of the above command. It says to run startx on the display
    2, not 0 Your error message says it was trying to do it on display 0



    Of course that may not work for wayland, I do not know.



    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Bit Twister@2:250/1 to All on Thu Apr 16 23:09:28 2020
    On Thu, 16 Apr 2020 21:45:39 -0000 (UTC), William Unruh wrote:


    Your error message was from startx, not from gdm/gnome. Ie, it has
    nothing to do with the display manager or the login manager.
    It sould to me like you did NOT do the
    -- :2
    part of the above command. It says to run startx on the display
    2, not 0 Your error message says it was trying to do it on display 0

    You both need to read the bug report https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16894
    startx does not start default desktop configured in /etc/sysconfig/desktop, defaults to IceWm

    You need to launch startx with whatever DE desired, based on what is installed ..
    A quick glance at a Mageia Gnome only install gives
    $ grep ^Exec= /usr/share/xsessions/* /usr/share/xsessions/gnome-classic.desktop:Exec=startgnome_classic /usr/share/xsessions/gnome.desktop:Exec=/usr/bin/gnome-session /usr/share/xsessions/gnome-xorg.desktop:Exec=/usr/bin/gnome-session /usr/share/xsessions/icewm.desktop:Exec=icewm /usr/share/xsessions/icewm-session.desktop:Exec=icewm-session

    Based on the above I could do a
    startx startgnome_classic
    or startx gnome-session

    If the user has already has launched a startsx then the user will
    have to supply a different DISPLAY number for each new startx command.

    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From William Unruh@2:250/1 to All on Fri Apr 17 01:53:19 2020
    On 2020-04-16, Bit Twister <BitTwister@mouse-potato.com> wrote:
    On Thu, 16 Apr 2020 21:45:39 -0000 (UTC), William Unruh wrote:


    Your error message was from startx, not from gdm/gnome. Ie, it has
    nothing to do with the display manager or the login manager.
    It sould to me like you did NOT do the
    -- :2
    part of the above command. It says to run startx on the display
    2, not 0 Your error message says it was trying to do it on display 0

    You both need to read the bug report https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16894
    startx does not start default desktop configured in /etc/sysconfig/desktop,
    defaults to IceWm

    Uh, I have been using it to start plasma and kde for years now. That bug
    report seems to a massive case of people speaking past each other. You
    the but reporter, labeled it as "won't fix", not the maintainer. He just blithered on about not understanding you.

    You need to launch startx with whatever DE desired, based on what is
    installed
    .
    A quick glance at a Mageia Gnome only install gives
    $ grep ^Exec= /usr/share/xsessions/* /usr/share/xsessions/gnome-classic.desktop:Exec=startgnome_classic /usr/share/xsessions/gnome.desktop:Exec=/usr/bin/gnome-session /usr/share/xsessions/gnome-xorg.desktop:Exec=/usr/bin/gnome-session /usr/share/xsessions/icewm.desktop:Exec=icewm /usr/share/xsessions/icewm-session.desktop:Exec=icewm-session

    Based on the above I could do a
    startx startgnome_classic
    or startx gnome-session

    If the user has already has launched a startsx then the user will
    have to supply a different DISPLAY number for each new startx command.

    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Jim Beard@2:250/1 to All on Fri Apr 17 03:17:19 2020
    On Thu, 16 Apr 2020 21:45:39 +0000, William Unruh wrote:

    On 2020-04-16, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:
    On Thu, 16 Apr 2020 16:45:19 +0000, William Unruh wrote:

    On 2020-04-16, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:
    On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 11:25:26 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 14:35:08 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:

    mcc settings:
    grub2 graphical interface
    launch graphical interface on boot not checked
    display manager gdm
    do not start gui on login

    Result: no gui desktop on login, gdm not running per ps.

    Ok, looks normal for a runlevel 3 setup.

    Based on start of this thread, I am/was trying to get you a normal
    runlevel 5 gui login with gdm-wayland/Gnome desktop.
    That would would be
    grub2 graphical interface
    launch graphical interface on boot CHecked
    do start gui on login

    Some googling about greeters indicates it starts the Display Manager >>>>> then launches the user's Desktop Environment upon a valid password.

    If you want to stick with runlevel3 boot, then you will have to run
    systemctl start gdm.service or pick the desired ""startx whatever here" >>>>> to get a gui desktop envionment.

    I seems I have my choice of 1. starting up gdm as the display manager, >>>> and being able to move among two or more gui desktops and terminal
    consoles on ttyx but with the gdm greeter-login screen always on tty1, >>>> or 2. starting the Gnome desktop without gdm, which does not allow
    multiple Gnome desktops on different ttys but does allow exiting the
    Gnome desktop and reverting to a level 3 console window.

    systemctl start gdm.service

    as root is the easy way to start up gdm as the display manager, and at >>>> that point the login screen is on tty1 and stays there. This does use >>>> the wayland display manager on my system currently. I speculate gdm
    will use wayland by default.

    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland exec dbus-run-session gnome-session
    and
    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland dbus-run-session gnome-session

    both start up a Gnome desktop on the current tty, tty1 if I have
    just logged in, and it is possible to logout from that desktop and
    get back to the level 3 command line prompt without having a gui
    continue on tty1 or anywhere else. I can move around
    among tty2-tty6 using Cntl-Alt-F[2-6] but cannot start a Gnome
    desktop on a new tty without it killing the old one.

    You can tell startx to start the new session on a different output.
    I have never done this with wayland/gnome, but do it all the time with
    plasma.
    startx -- :2

    That is
    startx then a space, then two minus signs, then a space, then a colon
    and the number 2.


    Tried that. I first tried it from a terminal windows under Gnome desktop,
    and the error message was that startx had to be run from a console window. >> I then went to tty2 and tried it, only to be told startx was already
    running on :0.

    Yes it HAS to be run from a console alt-ctrl-F2 lets say if that is
    free.


    kde/plasma and whatever your display manager is may do things entirely
    different, of course.

    Your error message was from startx, not from gdm/gnome. Ie, it has
    nothing to do with the display manager or the login manager.
    It sould to me like you did NOT do the
    -- :2
    part of the above command. It says to run startx on the display
    2, not 0 Your error message says it was trying to do it on display 0

    startx -- :2 was the command used, and it did not work.

    when I started up Gnome on a tty1 commandline with

    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland exec dbus-run-session gnome-session

    and then on a tty2 commandline (after Cntl-Alt-F2)

    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland exec dbus-run-session gnome-session

    both worked. But, I could not start up the Gnome session on tty2 from
    within tty1. That wiped out my first Gnome session, and tty1 was
    frozen blank. In this set of most recent trials, gdm was not running.
    Anything that started up gdm dedicated tty1 to gdm's login screen, and
    that could not be changed, so far as I have been able to determine.

    Cheers!

    jim b.

    --
    UNIX is not user-unfriendly, it merely expects users to be computer-friendly.

    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From William Unruh@2:250/1 to All on Fri Apr 17 03:32:09 2020
    On 2020-04-17, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:
    On Thu, 16 Apr 2020 21:45:39 +0000, William Unruh wrote:

    On 2020-04-16, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:
    On Thu, 16 Apr 2020 16:45:19 +0000, William Unruh wrote:

    On 2020-04-16, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:
    On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 11:25:26 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 14:35:08 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:

    mcc settings:
    grub2 graphical interface
    launch graphical interface on boot not checked
    display manager gdm
    do not start gui on login

    Result: no gui desktop on login, gdm not running per ps.

    Ok, looks normal for a runlevel 3 setup.

    Based on start of this thread, I am/was trying to get you a normal >>>>>> runlevel 5 gui login with gdm-wayland/Gnome desktop.
    That would would be
    grub2 graphical interface
    launch graphical interface on boot CHecked
    do start gui on login

    Some googling about greeters indicates it starts the Display Manager >>>>>> then launches the user's Desktop Environment upon a valid password. >>>>>>
    If you want to stick with runlevel3 boot, then you will have to run >>>>>> systemctl start gdm.service or pick the desired ""startx whatever here" >>>>>> to get a gui desktop envionment.

    I seems I have my choice of 1. starting up gdm as the display manager, >>>>> and being able to move among two or more gui desktops and terminal
    consoles on ttyx but with the gdm greeter-login screen always on tty1, >>>>> or 2. starting the Gnome desktop without gdm, which does not allow
    multiple Gnome desktops on different ttys but does allow exiting the >>>>> Gnome desktop and reverting to a level 3 console window.

    systemctl start gdm.service

    as root is the easy way to start up gdm as the display manager, and at >>>>> that point the login screen is on tty1 and stays there. This does use >>>>> the wayland display manager on my system currently. I speculate gdm >>>>> will use wayland by default.

    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland exec dbus-run-session gnome-session
    and
    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland dbus-run-session gnome-session

    both start up a Gnome desktop on the current tty, tty1 if I have
    just logged in, and it is possible to logout from that desktop and
    get back to the level 3 command line prompt without having a gui
    continue on tty1 or anywhere else. I can move around
    among tty2-tty6 using Cntl-Alt-F[2-6] but cannot start a Gnome
    desktop on a new tty without it killing the old one.

    You can tell startx to start the new session on a different output.
    I have never done this with wayland/gnome, but do it all the time with >>>> plasma.
    startx -- :2

    That is
    startx then a space, then two minus signs, then a space, then a colon
    and the number 2.


    Tried that. I first tried it from a terminal windows under Gnome desktop, >>> and the error message was that startx had to be run from a console window. >>> I then went to tty2 and tried it, only to be told startx was already
    running on :0.

    Yes, you cannot start up a new x session on top of an old one. It will
    try to use that display and complain or go nuts.

    Yes it HAS to be run from a console alt-ctrl-F2 lets say if that is
    free.


    kde/plasma and whatever your display manager is may do things entirely
    different, of course.

    Your error message was from startx, not from gdm/gnome. Ie, it has
    nothing to do with the display manager or the login manager.
    It sould to me like you did NOT do the
    -- :2
    part of the above command. It says to run startx on the display
    2, not 0 Your error message says it was trying to do it on display 0

    startx -- :2 was the command used, and it did not work.

    "It did not work" is a pretty vague statement. What happened?


    when I started up Gnome on a tty1 commandline with

    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland exec dbus-run-session gnome-session

    and then on a tty2 commandline (after Cntl-Alt-F2)

    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland exec dbus-run-session gnome-session

    OK,

    both worked. But, I could not start up the Gnome session on tty2 from

    Of course not.

    within tty1. That wiped out my first Gnome session, and tty1 was
    frozen blank. In this set of most recent trials, gdm was not running. Anything that started up gdm dedicated tty1 to gdm's login screen, and
    that could not be changed, so far as I have been able to determine.

    You should not start up or need gdm. That is for logging in on runlevel
    5. You are wanting to use runlevel 3.
    So you must log into a separate console for each session you wnat to
    run.

    You have done that and it works. What else do you want?

    Either that or start on runlevel 5 with gdm as your login manager.
    It is unclear to me what it is you want to have happen.


    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Bit Twister@2:250/1 to All on Fri Apr 17 12:01:56 2020
    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 16:07:53 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:


    I would think startx should use it if it exists, and when it existed it
    had contents
    DISPLAYMANAGER=gdm
    DESKTOP=GNOME

    I indicated $HOME/.desktop had been deprecated/discontinued.
    I was wrong. Sorry.

    While clearing up bugs in my automated install scripts this morning,
    I found out that /etc/X11/Xsession does source $HOME/.desktop

    I can not find the bug, but I do remember commenting on that the kde
    name change to plasma might break a few people using .desktop because
    some X11 script had a case statement for each DESKTOP name.

    Looking around line 129 I see that the resolution is that DESKTOP=
    has to be the actual command which I am guessing is the same as the
    one in the desktop Exec= line for the desired DE.
    Selections can be found with one of the following:
    grep ^Exec= /usr/share/xsessions/*
    grep ^Exec= /usr/share/wayland-sessions/*.desktop


    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Aragorn@2:250/1 to All on Fri Apr 17 13:23:39 2020
    On 17.04.2020 at 06:01, Bit Twister scribbled:

    I can not find the bug, but I do remember commenting on that the kde
    name change to plasma might break a few people using .desktop because
    some X11 script had a case statement for each DESKTOP name.

    If I recall correctly, then that was the "startx" script itself. But I
    also seem to recall that this was changed a few years ago, so it may
    now be xinit which uses the case statement.


    --
    With respect,
    = Aragorn =


    --- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
    * Origin: A noiseless patient Strider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Jim Beard@2:250/1 to All on Fri Apr 17 14:07:11 2020
    On Fri, 17 Apr 2020 02:32:09 +0000, William Unruh wrote:

    On 2020-04-17, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:
    On Thu, 16 Apr 2020 21:45:39 +0000, William Unruh wrote:

    On 2020-04-16, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:
    On Thu, 16 Apr 2020 16:45:19 +0000, William Unruh wrote:

    On 2020-04-16, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:
    On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 11:25:26 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 14:35:08 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:

    mcc settings:
    grub2 graphical interface
    launch graphical interface on boot not checked
    display manager gdm
    do not start gui on login

    Result: no gui desktop on login, gdm not running per ps.

    Ok, looks normal for a runlevel 3 setup.

    Based on start of this thread, I am/was trying to get you a normal >>>>>>> runlevel 5 gui login with gdm-wayland/Gnome desktop.
    That would would be
    grub2 graphical interface
    launch graphical interface on boot CHecked
    do start gui on login

    Some googling about greeters indicates it starts the Display Manager >>>>>>> then launches the user's Desktop Environment upon a valid password. >>>>>>>
    If you want to stick with runlevel3 boot, then you will have to run >>>>>>> systemctl start gdm.service or pick the desired ""startx whatever here"
    to get a gui desktop envionment.

    I seems I have my choice of 1. starting up gdm as the display manager, >>>>>> and being able to move among two or more gui desktops and terminal >>>>>> consoles on ttyx but with the gdm greeter-login screen always on tty1, >>>>>> or 2. starting the Gnome desktop without gdm, which does not allow >>>>>> multiple Gnome desktops on different ttys but does allow exiting the >>>>>> Gnome desktop and reverting to a level 3 console window.

    systemctl start gdm.service

    as root is the easy way to start up gdm as the display manager, and at >>>>>> that point the login screen is on tty1 and stays there. This does use >>>>>> the wayland display manager on my system currently. I speculate gdm >>>>>> will use wayland by default.

    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland exec dbus-run-session gnome-session
    and
    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland dbus-run-session gnome-session

    both start up a Gnome desktop on the current tty, tty1 if I have
    just logged in, and it is possible to logout from that desktop and >>>>>> get back to the level 3 command line prompt without having a gui
    continue on tty1 or anywhere else. I can move around
    among tty2-tty6 using Cntl-Alt-F[2-6] but cannot start a Gnome
    desktop on a new tty without it killing the old one.

    You can tell startx to start the new session on a different output.
    I have never done this with wayland/gnome, but do it all the time with >>>>> plasma.
    startx -- :2

    That is
    startx then a space, then two minus signs, then a space, then a colon
    and the number 2.


    Tried that. I first tried it from a terminal windows under Gnome desktop, >>>> and the error message was that startx had to be run from a console window.
    I then went to tty2 and tried it, only to be told startx was already
    running on :0.

    Yes, you cannot start up a new x session on top of an old one. It will
    try to use that display and complain or go nuts.

    Yes it HAS to be run from a console alt-ctrl-F2 lets say if that is
    free.


    kde/plasma and whatever your display manager is may do things entirely >>>> different, of course.

    Your error message was from startx, not from gdm/gnome. Ie, it has
    nothing to do with the display manager or the login manager.
    It sould to me like you did NOT do the
    -- :2
    part of the above command. It says to run startx on the display
    2, not 0 Your error message says it was trying to do it on display 0

    startx -- :2 was the command used, and it did not work.

    "It did not work" is a pretty vague statement. What happened?


    when I started up Gnome on a tty1 commandline with

    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland exec dbus-run-session gnome-session

    and then on a tty2 commandline (after Cntl-Alt-F2)

    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland exec dbus-run-session gnome-session

    OK,

    both worked. But, I could not start up the Gnome session on tty2 from

    Of course not.

    within tty1. That wiped out my first Gnome session, and tty1 was
    frozen blank. In this set of most recent trials, gdm was not running.
    Anything that started up gdm dedicated tty1 to gdm's login screen, and
    that could not be changed, so far as I have been able to determine.

    You should not start up or need gdm. That is for logging in on runlevel
    5. You are wanting to use runlevel 3.
    So you must log into a separate console for each session you wnat to
    run.

    You have done that and it works. What else do you want?

    Either that or start on runlevel 5 with gdm as your login manager.
    It is unclear to me what it is you want to have happen.

    What I wanted was the benefits of gdm running EXCEPT I did not want
    the gdm login screen to appear and stay. Put differently, I wanted
    gdm running in the background with the login screen killed and
    replaced with a commandline tty login screen.

    I now know that combination is not possible.

    Cheers!

    jim b.

    --
    UNIX is not user-unfriendly, it merely expects users to be computer-friendly.

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    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From David W. Hodgins@2:250/1 to All on Fri Apr 17 14:21:56 2020
    On Fri, 17 Apr 2020 07:01:56 -0400, Bit Twister <BitTwister@mouse-potato.com> wrote:

    Looking around line 129 I see that the resolution is that DESKTOP=
    has to be the actual command which I am guessing is the same as the
    one in the desktop Exec= line for the desired DE.
    Selections can be found with one of the following:
    grep ^Exec= /usr/share/xsessions/*
    grep ^Exec= /usr/share/wayland-sessions/*.desktop

    That works if the DESKTOP variable is set to a valid command name, which is
    not normally the case.

    Normally, it will fall through to line 139 ...
    /usr/sbin/chksession -x=$DESKTOP

    The easiest way to change the value without having to check manually, is to
    use mcc, enable autologin for the specified user with the desired desktop,
    then if you want turn off the autologin.

    That will leave the ~/.desktop file set with the correct value for from the line
    starting with Name= in the session file.

    $ grep ^Name= /usr/share/xsessions/*.desktop /usr/share/xsessions/01plasma.desktop:Name=Plasma /usr/share/xsessions/30Pekwm.desktop:Name=Pekwm /usr/share/xsessions/AfterStep.desktop:Name=AfterStep /usr/share/xsessions/awesome.desktop:Name=awesome /usr/share/xsessions/cinnamon2d.desktop:Name=Cinnamon (Software Rendering) /usr/share/xsessions/cinnamon.desktop:Name=Cinnamon /usr/share/xsessions/dwm.desktop:Name=Dwm /usr/share/xsessions/enlightenment.desktop:Name=Enlightenment /usr/share/xsessions/fluxbox.desktop:Name=Fluxbox /usr/share/xsessions/fvwm2.desktop:Name=Fvwm2 /usr/share/xsessions/fvwm-crystal.desktop:Name=FVWM-Crystal /usr/share/xsessions/gnome-classic.desktop:Name=GNOME Classic /usr/share/xsessions/gnome.desktop:Name=GNOME /usr/share/xsessions/gnome-xorg.desktop:Name=GNOME on Xorg /usr/share/xsessions/i3.desktop:Name=i3 /usr/share/xsessions/i3-with-shmlog.desktop:Name=i3 (with debug log) /usr/share/xsessions/icewm.desktop:Name=IceWM /usr/share/xsessions/icewm.desktop:Name=icewm /usr/share/xsessions/icewm-session.desktop:Name=IceWM Session /usr/share/xsessions/icewm-session.desktop:Name=icewm /usr/share/xsessions/kodi.desktop:Name=Kodi /usr/share/xsessions/LXDE.desktop:Name=LXDE /usr/share/xsessions/lxqt.desktop:Name=LXQt Desktop /usr/share/xsessions/matchbox.desktop:Name=Matchbox /usr/share/xsessions/mate.desktop:Name=MATE /usr/share/xsessions/mythfrontend.desktop:Name=MythFrontEnd /usr/share/xsessions/openbox.desktop:Name=Openbox /usr/share/xsessions/plasma-mediacenter.desktop:Name=Plasma Media Center /usr/share/xsessions/remmina-gnome.desktop:Name=GNOME + Remmina Kiosk /usr/share/xsessions/spectrwm.desktop:Name=spectrwm /usr/share/xsessions/sugar.desktop:Name=Sugar /usr/share/xsessions/swm.desktop:Name=Swm /usr/share/xsessions/WindowMaker.desktop:Name=Window Maker /usr/share/xsessions/xfce.desktop:Name=Xfce Session

    $ cat .desktop
    DESKTOP=Plasma

    This starts kde plasma just by running the command "startx" from a run level 3 login.

    I can run other desktops by specifying "startx start???h" with the appropriate start
    command, or by updating the .desktop file and using startx.

    Wayland is a complete rewrite of X. While it is available, I don't consider it ready for general usage, and don't use it myself as it doesn't work well yet, on my system.

    Regards, Dave Hodgins

    --
    Change dwhodgins@nomail.afraid.org to davidwhodgins@teksavvy.com for
    email replies.

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  • From Bit Twister@2:250/1 to All on Fri Apr 17 15:44:10 2020
    On Fri, 17 Apr 2020 09:21:56 -0400, David W. Hodgins wrote:
    On Fri, 17 Apr 2020 07:01:56 -0400, Bit Twister
    <BitTwister@mouse-potato.com> wrote:

    Looking around line 129 I see that the resolution is that DESKTOP=
    has to be the actual command which I am guessing is the same as the
    one in the desktop Exec= line for the desired DE.
    Selections can be found with one of the following:
    grep ^Exec= /usr/share/xsessions/*
    grep ^Exec= /usr/share/wayland-sessions/*.desktop

    That works if the DESKTOP variable is set to a valid command name, which is not normally the case.

    Normally, it will fall through to line 139 ...
    /usr/sbin/chksession -x=$DESKTOP

    The easiest way to change the value without having to check manually, is to use mcc, enable autologin for the specified user with the desired desktop, then if you want turn off the autologin.

    That will leave the ~/.desktop file set with the correct value for from the
    line
    starting with Name= in the session file.

    Thank you for that information and clarification.

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  • From Jim Beard@2:250/1 to All on Fri Apr 17 15:56:23 2020
    On Fri, 17 Apr 2020 06:01:56 -0500, Bit Twister wrote:

    On Sun, 12 Apr 2020 16:07:53 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:


    I would think startx should use it if it exists, and when it existed it
    had contents
    DISPLAYMANAGER=gdm
    DESKTOP=GNOME

    I indicated $HOME/.desktop had been deprecated/discontinued.
    I was wrong. Sorry.

    While clearing up bugs in my automated install scripts this morning,
    I found out that /etc/X11/Xsession does source $HOME/.desktop

    I can not find the bug, but I do remember commenting on that the kde
    name change to plasma might break a few people using .desktop because
    some X11 script had a case statement for each DESKTOP name.

    Looking around line 129 I see that the resolution is that DESKTOP=
    has to be the actual command which I am guessing is the same as the
    one in the desktop Exec= line for the desired DE.
    Selections can be found with one of the following:
    grep ^Exec= /usr/share/xsessions/*
    grep ^Exec= /usr/share/wayland-sessions/*.desktop

    Both /usr/share/wayland-sessions/gnome.desktop and /usr/share/xsessions/gnome.desktop exist, and I see no easy way to
    make startx find and use /usr/share/wayland-sessions/gnome.desktop.

    I have created a little one-line script (filename gnome) to launch
    the Gnome desktop, using a command provided by Dave Hodgins long ago.

    cat gnome
    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland dbus-run-session gnome-session

    I will continue to boot to level 3, ignore gdm completely, and when I
    wish to launch a Gnome desktop I will run the command gnome, which
    I have tucked away a subdirectory bin under $HOME. That should be
    adequate for Gnome desktop running on wayland, as many times on as
    many ttys and as many logins as I wish.

    Thanks to all for dispelling some of my ignorance.

    Cheers!

    jim b.

    --
    UNIX is not user-unfriendly, it merely expects users to be computer-friendly.

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    * Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)
  • From Bit Twister@2:250/1 to All on Fri Apr 17 17:56:49 2020
    On Fri, 17 Apr 2020 14:56:23 -0000 (UTC), Jim Beard wrote:



    Both /usr/share/wayland-sessions/gnome.desktop and /usr/share/xsessions/gnome.desktop exist, and I see no easy way to
    make startx find and use /usr/share/wayland-sessions/gnome.desktop.

    I can not get Mageia gnome VirtualBox to boot runlevel 3 by adding 3 to
    end of line but looking as the exec lines

    /usr/share/xsessions/gnome-classic.desktop:Exec=startgnome_classic /usr/share/xsessions/gnome.desktop:Exec=/usr/bin/gnome-session

    I would have tried
    startx /usr/bin/gnome-session

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  • From David W. Hodgins@2:250/1 to All on Fri Apr 17 18:17:30 2020
    On Fri, 17 Apr 2020 10:56:23 -0400, Jim Beard <jim.beard@verizon.net> wrote:

    Both /usr/share/wayland-sessions/gnome.desktop and /usr/share/xsessions/gnome.desktop exist, and I see no easy way to
    make startx find and use /usr/share/wayland-sessions/gnome.desktop.

    The startx command starts the program xinit, part of the X Window System.

    The Wayland X Server is an in progress rewrite of the X Window system started by the command Xwayland, which is in the package x11-server-xwayland.

    The startx command cannot start a wayland session.

    Starting gnome under wayland ...
    XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland dbus-run-session gnome-session

    I just tested this. Booted to run level 3. Started kde plasma on tty1 using startx. Switched to tty2. Logged in as a different user (tester), and ran
    the script with the two above commands. Now have both kde under X running,
    and gnome under wayland running, on tty1 and tty2 respectively.

    Nicely, wayland started on the current tty, without having to specify which one
    to use, like is required by the X window system when not using tty1.

    Also tested with starting plasma under wayland on tty2 for the tester id with XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland dbus-run-session startplasmacompositor

    Regards, Dave Hodgins

    --
    Change dwhodgins@nomail.afraid.org to davidwhodgins@teksavvy.com for
    email replies.

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  • From Doug Laidlaw@2:250/1 to All on Sat May 2 12:02:51 2020
    On 11/4/20 11:29 pm, Jim Beard wrote:
    I tried BitTwister's command to see what desktop manager I was using,

    [jim@sorrel ~]$ systemctl status display-manager.service
    ● gdm.service - GNOME Display Manager
    Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/gdm.service; enabled; vendor preset:>
    Active: inactive (dead)

    Should gdm be other than "dead"? Everything seems to work as I expect,
    but I have only a few things showing on the icon bars.

    Cheers!

    jim b.

    FWIW, that command shows how messed up my system is, but the last line is:

    pam_unix(lightdm:session): session opened for user doug by (uid=0)

    i.e. not "dead."

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