[Sussex] Installing Gentoo - more questions

[Geoff Teale]

On Wed, 2003-12-17 at 09:16, John D. wrote:
> Hi list,
> 
> where to start with my questions?

At the beginning - a very good place to start..

> Erm, Ok, now that I've managed to get kde running under gentoo, I notice a few 
> subtle differences, from the way it's presented.

The Gentoo KDE package is vanilla KDE setup as if you had downloaded it
from kde.org and installed it (which is exactly what you have done - via
a somewhat simple route) rather than some predetermined config (a la
Mandrake, SuSE etc..).

> In the kde control centre, there is an X configurator, and I thought it would 
> be good to fine tune a few things.

*Shudder*

> my mouse, monitor and keyboard, seem to be set up properly, though when I look 
> through the list, my graphics card is listed as being a generic nv. Yet I 
> don't follow why, because when I check out http://www.xfree86.org/ list of 
> compatible hardware it shows me
> 
> 10de nVidia group
> 	0172 NV17 (GeForce4 MX420)


... which would be supported by the "Generic NV" driver in XFree86.

> which identifies my graphics card exactly.

... yeah but it's still in the generic nv driver.  The GUI tool is
probably trying to auto-detect your the driver based on you card.  It
won't know about the proprietary Nvidia driver you have installed.

> If I then look at my /etc/X11/XF86Config file and go to the Graphics section I 
> can see
> 
> Section "Device"
> Identifier "Standard VGA"
> Vendor "Unknown"
> Boardname "Unknown"
> Driver " VGA"
> 
> Section "Device"
> Identifier "geforce4 mx420" (which I think is what I've put in)
> Driver "nvidia" (again, I've changed this from nv otherwise I can't see the 
> screen as the "picture" area is corrupted and jumps about)
> #Videoram 65536
> 
> Why does it seem to be showing 2 graphics devices?

The first is some dodgy template device - shouldn't harm anything, you
can define as many devices as you like - latter in the file you select
which device to use.  

Generally you shouldn't be surprised if KDE's GUI config tool writes all
kind of crud into your file


> Next, when I start gentoo, if I try and start kdm from my user account (as in 
> run level 3), it tells me that only root wants to start kdm, I can't even 
> start it if I su to root (I have to start it as root, and then when it "fires 
> up" I get the option of logging into kde as either root or user)
> 
> How would I modify things so I start kdm automatically as user, because I 
> suspect that otherwise I am leaving root access open at some level.


In the file /etc/rc.conf set the following:

DISPLAYMANAGER=kdm

..then, as root do a:

rc-update add xdm default

.. yes, make sure you type xdm and not kdm in the rc-update command.

..All this stuff and more is covered in the Gentoo Dekstop Config guide
I posted the link to you the other day.  For convenience, here it is
again:

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/desktop.xml


> Also, when I tell it to reboot, the kdm closes down and before the system 
> reboot's I see a long list of stuff (modules I presume) that modprobe can't 
> do anything with, I'm suspecting that this is stuff that is checked 
> automatically on startup, but I don't know how to be able to view it, so I 
> can then ask what to do about it, or what, if any, I need to install (because 
> if I open a console, I don't even see a usable bash prompt i.e. instead of 
> something like john at thepc john $ I get bash 2.0-5b$ - or # if I try as root) 
> so I think that the console is doing something entirely different from what I 
> see when the system starts at level 3?
> 
> Any idea's please ?

Bring up a shell under KDE and do the following:

su - 
<enter password>
dmesg | less

... that should allow you to see what you're after.


-- 
GJT 
gteale at cmedltd.com 

Something mysterious is formed, born in the silent void.  
Waiting alone and unmoving, it is at once still and yet in constant motion.  
It is the source of all programs.  
I do not know its name, so I will call it the Tao of Programming.

If the Tao is great, then the operating system is great.  
If the operating system is great, then the compiler is great.  
If the compiler is greater, then the applications is great.  
The user is pleased and there is harmony in the world.

The Tao of Programming flows far away and returns on the wind of
morning.
		-- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"