I'm running Debian testing with kernel 2.4.18-bf2.4 at the moment. Not much installed.

I had KDE 2.2 from the testing branch and it was working okay. Then I got KMail (maybe from unstable, I'm not sure) and used it with KDE. NB: it said in About KMail -> Kmail 1.5.4 (Using KDE 3.1.4) That worked okay. I shut the computer down, and when I rebooted, the login screen for KDE only has default, twm, and failsafe. There is no more KDE. What happened to it, and how do I get it back?

I have searched and can't find this issue. Any help would be appreciated. I am sick of having to reinstall because I break something and can't figure out how to fix it. This is NOT the *nix way of doing things.

Look here, hope it helps don`t know if your using KDM or GDM http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/KDE-GUI-Lo...n-HOWTO-3.html

I like your sig! I don't know which one I'm using, either. I'll check out that How-To, though.

I believe it is using kde2, but anyone's guess is as good as mine. I read the How-To, and then did
# su -c kcontrol
which returned this:

ngdao@paul:~$ su -c kcontrol
Password:
QPixmap: Cannot create a QPixmap when no GUI is being used
QPixmap: Cannot create a QPixmap when no GUI is being used
Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server
Xlib: No protocol specified

kded: cannot connect to X server :0.0
ERROR: KUniqueApplication: Registering failed!
ERROR: Communication problem with kded, it probably crashed.
Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server
Xlib: No protocol specified

kdeinit: Can't connect to the X Server.
kdeinit: Might not terminate at end of session.
Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server
Xlib: No protocol specified

kcontrol: cannot connect to X server :0.0
ERROR: KUniqueApplication: Registering failed!
ERROR: Communication problem with kcontrol, it probably crashed.
mingdao@paul:~$ Mutex destroy failure: Device or resource busy

mingdao@paul:~$

I tried to edit the lines in the terminal, and found that I don't have /usr/share/config/kdmrc but rather /etc/kde2/kdm/kdmrc. I guess that means I'm using KDM. Anyway, I added kde and kdm in the lines for SessionTypes which already had default, kde2, twm, and failsafe - though kde2 doesn't show up at the login screen.

And I had /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession but this is what it contained:

#!/bin/sh
#
# $Xorg: Xsession,v 1.4 2000/08/17 19:54:17 cpqbld Exp $
#
#
#
#
# $XFree86: xc/programs/xdm/config/Xsession,v 1.3 2001/01/17 23:45:24 dawes Exp $

# invoke global X session script
. /etc/X11/Xsession

Well, once again I've broken something and can't fix it. This is my Linux story, and I'm determined to change it! However, there aren't enough hours in my day, and it seems ridiculous to spend most of my time "working to use my computer" rather than "using my computer to work." So, I'll look some more, sleep about 6 hours, look for new posts, search more - and then, if I can't fix it, I'll reinstall.

I do take notes, and with each new install I learn more. Thanks for the link to the How-To.

the first error that you have posted looks vvv similar to what I got when I first installed "proper" debian, and that turned out to be the x server not being able to use the driver for my graphics - i.e. it's an nvidia card, and although the driver is available from the nvidia site, it's not gpl and so debian wouldn't include it in the "woody" that I got on dvd.

I ended up installing the nvidia driver with lynx and command line (theres a readme on the site), but then it turned out that the driver wouldn't work with the default 2.2.xxx kernel that came with woody, so I had to do a dist upgrade, and install sarge, which gave me a 2.4.xx kernel as default, and then i managed to install the nvidia driver and bingo, I had the x server starting up etc etc.

But, since then (after a good 3 weeks of trying to config the "eye candy" aspects of debian and still wasn't happy with it), I have discovered knoppix, which I already had burned to disc, and when I booted the disc, it was brilliant, it had everything except opera, and after a little exploration, I find that if you install knoppix to your hard drive, it is basically a debian testing/unstable install. So that's the debian flavour that I now run, it seems to work brilliantly, with all the packages etc that I need, but with out the hassle of the vertical learning curve that you get with "proper" debian.

regards

John