so shutdown/reboot still not working?

also chmod /etc

chmod 0755 /etc

thanks, after reboot the disk icons on the left are all there now in pcmanfm root. trying shutdown not after chmod ...

p.s.: downloaded droid sans ttf fonts from https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=22528
any idea how to choose it as default in the desktop?

actually, in FF (aka Namoroka) I could choose Droidsans font (amongst manz others) and I'm happy with it; seems FF comes with its own set of fonts?!)

shutdown now works from desktop menu "shutdown", but ... doesn't switch off at the end and instead goes into reboot.

p.s.: after reboot I couldn't get online (pppoe-start connect ok, but no DNS resolving). I had to reboot with dsl-modem cable removed. obviously eth0/1 allocations gets reversed depending on boot time network init condition.

have to stop for today. cu tomorrow. thank you for your great help!
==
good morning!

I now just power on the dsl-modem (connected to PCI NIC eth1) after boot finished.

excerpt /etc/ppp/pppoe.conf

# Ethernet card connected to DSL modem
ETH='eth1'

excerpt /etc/rc.conf

# Interfaces to start at boot-up (in this order)
eth0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(eth0)

ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:A5:[...]
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 52:54:00:[...]
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:924 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:980 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:2 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:681343 (665.3 Kb) TX bytes:146583 (143.1 Kb)
Interrupt:16 Base address:0x1480

lo ...
ppp0 ...
===

problems with GXINE:
destroys desktop if you resize/move it's display window or if you go fullscreen and back several times. the desktop is foobar. I have to hit crtl alt del to get back to console to startx again.

is it the fault of fluxbox or gxine?

downloaded vlc with pacman. (38MB!)
vlc installed ok, but refuses to run under root.
logged out (remember this gets me back to console) and logged in as guest and now startx fails for permission errors.

is guest not supposed to run desktop?

added a user test (but has same effect as user guest) and startx hangs with

mktemp: failed to create file via template /tmp/serverauth.XXXXXXX permission denied

and when I hit ctrl C it continues and results in:

excerpt /var/log/Xorg.0.log

1941.310] (EE) Error compiling keymap (server-0)
[ 1941.310] (EE) XKB: Couldn't compile keymap
[ 1941.310] XKB: Failed to compile keymap
[ 1941.310] Keyboard initialization failed. This could be a missing or incorrect setup of xkeyboard-config.
[ 1941.310]
Fatal server error:
[ 1941.310] Failed to activate core devices.

evenso I changed kb back to us-kb under root with

gksu keyboardsetup

btw, why is messages.log 16MB in size???!!! it contains stuff starting Jun-20, e.g.:

21:39:52 nfluxos kernel: Detected 1996.910 MHz processor.

definitely not my cpu!
guess you could save some space on your next release
more: everything.log (20MB), kernel.log (18MB); i'd also delete pacman.log, it's small but goes back even longer.

Found my PCI NIC model in one of the logs:

eth1: RealTek RTL-8029 found at 0x1480, IRQ 16, 52:54:...

and obviously I get the eth1/eth0 issues because at arch linux boot dhcp/pppd is running (errors.log) [now with dsl-modem still off]:

Sep 24 04:06:19 localhost dhcpcd[2252]: timed out
Sep 24 04:08:51 localhost pppd[2415]: Cannot determine ethernet address for proxy ARP

thats all very weird...

it is ARCH testing so some things may break,etc
but I havent experienced any of those issues
and I do know that many people at ARCH forums have
issues with the new Xorg and keyboard setups non-US

also, can you post the output of

cat /proc/cpuinfo

and

lspci

and copy/paste that to next post

have no idea why X wont start...
when did X stop working?
after changing keyboard?

as guest; try doing "sudo xconf" and then try startx?

OH
how do other arch-based distros work on your PC?
heres a couple
http://archbang.org/

http://godane.wordpress.com/

used this method to run vlc as root (I know one shouldn't):

http://www.microdevsys.com/WordPress/2010/07/12/vlc-
videolan-video-player-failed-to-connect-to-the-d-bus-session-daemon-bindbus-launch-terminated-abnormally-with-the-following-error-no-protocol-specified/#Create_A_Script

and it runs great except for:
==
Potential ALSA version problem:
VLC failed to initialize your sound output device (if any).
Please update alsa-lib to version 1.0.23-2-g8d80d5f or higher to try to fix this issue.
==

so I blame the desktop corruption to an error in gxine.

cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 15
model : 1
model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.70GHz
stepping : 2
cpu MHz : 1694.631
cache size : 256 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 2
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm up pebs bts
bogomips : 3389.26
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 128
address sizes : 36 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
power management:

[root@nfluxos ~]# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset Host Bridge (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev 12)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801BA ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 12)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801BA IDE U100 Controller (rev 12)
00:1f.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801BA/BAM USB Controller #1 (rev 12)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400] (rev b2)
02:04.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8029(AS)
02:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82801BA/BAM/CA/CAM Ethernet Controller (rev 03)
02:09.0 Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1370 [AudioPCI] (rev 01)
02:0a.0 SCSI storage controller: Adaptec AHA-2940U/UW/D / AIC-7881U (rev 01)
[root@nfluxos ~]#

> when did X stop working?
> after changing keyboard?

still works with root, but never worked with guest since we got rid of slim-logon.

before I had installed arch linux based Zenwalk 6.4 from live cd and it worked, but I didn't test much. ubuntu 10.04, linux mint also worked great on this CPQ EVO.

Mandriva had problems starting from installation CD, i.e., some errors reading cd-rw (tried 2 different cd drives), while the cd-rw I burned on a 3rd PC runs great on two other PCs).

just before I installed nFlux I had arch linux core installed; see my first post in this thread.

OK
when you login as guest, did you do "xwmconfig"?
after that try startx
did you change/edit anything in /home/guest as root?

I really dont know why X wont start for guest account...

as last resort maybe install GDM and see if that fixes anything
make sure you edit bottom of /etc/inittab for GDM instead of slim
boot to runlevel 3 and as root enter
gdm
then try to login as guest with fluxbox

> as guest; try doing "sudo xconf" and then try startx?

can't do since the root password toor doesn't work.

> when you login as guest, did you do "xwmconfig"?

tried "xconf" but is refused.

> did you change/edit anything in /home/guest as root?

don't think so

btw, here is some of /home/guest/.bash_history
...
xconf
xorgsetup
xorgconfig
startx
logout
startx
\> Error: Cannot open "/tmp/server-0.xkm" to write keyboard descriptio
logout
...

> as last resort maybe install GDM and see if that fixes anything

pacman -S gdm

resolving dependencies...
looking for inter-conflicts...

Targets (3): polkit-gnome-0.96-3 gnome-session-2.30.2-1 gdm-2.30.5-1

Total Download Size: 1.31 MB
Total Installed Size: 10.32 MB

Proceed with installation? [Y/n] :: Retrieving packages from extra...
polkit-gnome-0.96-... 51.9K 50.7K/s 00:00:01 [#####################] 100%
gnome-session-2.30... 336.2K 59.1K/s 00:00:06 [#####################] 100%
gdm-2.30.5-1-i686 953.5K 60.5K/s 00:00:16 [#####################] 100%
checking package integrity...
(3/3) checking for file conflicts [#####################] 100%
error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files)
gdm: /usr/share/pixmaps/gdm-foot-logo.png exists in filesystem
gdm: /usr/share/pixmaps/nobody.png exists in filesystem
gdm: /usr/share/pixmaps/nohost.png exists in filesystem
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.
[root@nfluxos ~]#

btw, shutdown from dsktop menu worked. didn't change anything not documented above.

> make sure you edit bottom of /etc/inittab for GDM instead of slim

done

> boot to runlevel 3 and as root enter
> gdm

error command not found

oh
yeah ARCH does that sometimes...
do

rm -r /usr/share/pixmaps/gdm-foot-logo.png
rm -r /usr/share/pixmaps/nobody.png
rm -r /usr/share/pixmaps/nohost.png

then install gdm

gdm installed but at the end, I got:

Optional dependencies for gdm
gnome-panel: needed for user switch applet

install?

you dont need it unless you are going to install Gnome desktop

uh, at this point would you consider a reinstall?
how much hdd space does your testbox have?

reinstall of arch09 again?
or install of arch09-updated distro?

now 33GB free on 38GB disk.
the other two disks have some space, I could clonezilla the current nflux install (complete drive) to a file as (compressed) image on one of the two other (ntfs) HDDs - assuming clonezilla knows ntfs.

p.s.: NICs are still reversed from time to time at boot.

===
as you proposed, I rebooted and entered gdm and a nice logon screen
with the user guest, after I clicked away the error:

"There is a problem with your configuration server
/usr/lib/GConf/gconf-sanity-check-2 exited with status 256"

login with guest/guest gave the same error. login with root hangs all badly with mouse still alive.

I would first setup however may partitions you want or distros you might want to install?
you only need 5-10GB for a good ARCH install

but, this time I would use the manual-install method
not nflux-installer
and maybe use Grub2 rather than lilo

If root password and all that other stuff aint working it would be very hard to diagnose or fix

the manual-install is just copy/paste stuff into terminal
setup /etc/fstab/mtab/lilo.conf or grub2
I will walk you thru it

I mentioned the archiso-live and archbang cd's to see if they acted weird on your hardware too?
check out Chakra too maybe

Why ARCH anyway?
The Slackware version uses a older Xorg and is probably much more stable
I favor Slackware vs any other actually

> If root password and all that other stuff aint working it would be very hard to diagnose or fix

please note, root password works fine for login root.

I use this EVO test PC with the nFlux installation we try to fix now all the time (with root startx). now that shutdown works, the only annoyance are so far:

- vlc requiring a newer alsa-lib, a new problem already reported by others under archlinux. but that's not an essential problem for now for me.

- no login as guest. so I need to startx as root (w/o login manager) which automatically starts fluxbox with user root. and logout drops to console.

> the manual-install is just copy/paste stuff into terminal. setup /etc/fstab/mtab/lilo.conf or grub2. I will walk you thru it

walk thru is not so easy once I kill this install.

I've to get online to be 'walkable'. my main PC (which I didn't use since yesterday because I can do my mail and surf on this EVO with nFlux) is on another floor and I have only one dsl-modem which I then carry around and have to print instructions I get here. ok, if two PCs are needed to get one up, I'd temporalily carry the EVO downstairs...

> I mentioned the archiso-live and archbang cd's to see if they acted weird on your hardware too? check out Chakra too maybe.

I don't believe the hardware is a problem. (maybe I could rip off the 2nd (pci) nic which is not needed to simplify hardware)

> Why ARCH anyway?

very good question! thank you! real specialists in a german forum - relatively young people (you know these mulTitasKingers ) - told me ARCH would the best linux. Before, just recently, a friend told me he prefers slackware and he uses it since 2001 on various old hardware, but he doesn't seem to have real apps. he has a collection of very old PCs as a hobby but it's only private and not 'production' use. he's experienced but just playing around and so I assumed he did not research if newer linux distros came out recently. (apart from slackware 10, 11, 12 he tried Debian Sarge,Knoppix, Minix and found slackware were best.)

since slackware has no live distro with WM, I tried Zenwalk which is based on slackware; it installed and worked. exactly at this time I got this "ARCH is best" info, abandonned Zenwalk and tried the ARCH core install. Then I searched and found nFlux because I thought it would save me time and work to get ARCH running with a WM.

> The Slackware version uses a older Xorg and is probably much more stable. I favor Slackware vs any other actually.

so should I try your nFlux Slackware distro instead?
- now that a lot works (except guest login)?
- now that I somehow start to love pacman?

Slackware has only 500 apps; Arch has 5k apps plus 23k apps with sources in its "Arch Linux AUR repository". only Debian and Gentoo have bigger number of source packages but nothing close to Arch. As a programmer, I value sources. The culture and the people behind the different distros is different. Slackware might work reliably but seems to get grey hair while Arch has not yet lost steam.

NB, I did nothing on my nFlux Arch install which was not documented in this thread. so I don't yet see why it should be abandonned?

so, when you boot up, you come to console login right?
and you login as guest, password guest
then do startx?

or are you saying that your autologgedin as root after bootup?

OH
make sure /etc/sudoers is the same as the one on the livecd nflux arch
as nflux-installer may have made a new one?
copy /etc/sudoers from livecd if unsure as it gives the guest account permissions,etc

> so, when you boot up, you come to console login right?

yes.

> and you login as guest, password guest
> then do startx?

get the keyboard error see above. post #213:
===
mktemp: failed to create file via template /tmp/serverauth.XXXXXXX permission denied

and when I hit ctrl C it continues and results in:

excerpt /var/log/Xorg.0.log

1941.310] (EE) Error compiling keymap (server-0)
[ 1941.310] (EE) XKB: Couldn't compile keymap
[ 1941.310] XKB: Failed to compile keymap
[ 1941.310] Keyboard initialization failed. This could be a missing or incorrect setup of xkeyboard-config.
[ 1941.310]
Fatal server error:
[ 1941.310] Failed to activate core devices.
===

and if as guest I do "sudo startx" it obviously doesn't like password "toor"

> or are you saying that your autologgedin as root after bootup?

no autologin. (you proposed I do run-level 3. nothing changed since then.)

this means, when boot ends I'm in console and can login as root and can do startx which starts desktop I'm using now (as root).

here's an excerpt from my /etc/sudoers

guest ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/sudo, /usr/bin/hag-exit-fluxbox, /sbin/shutdown -r now, /sbin/shutdown -h now, /usr/sbin/create-slxsave-xfs-gui, /usr/bin/killall, /usr/bin/Terminal, /sbin/liloconfig, /usr/sbin/grubconfig, /usr/bin/pcmanfm, /usr/bin/flux-update

guess on the nfluxos cd this file is in etc.lzm ?

someone must do the cooking tonight o/w I'd google now how to unpack these slax pakets under Arch... will be back in a moment.

and related question: I don't understand how I'd get a "decent" install on HDD if I only copied files from nflux live cd to HDD - if 'all' is compressed on cd!? UPDATE/Answer: live CD uses a compressed file system and when 'copied' to HD or USB it gets extracted/uncompressed. In the beginning was the verb, then it got semantically overloaded. homo verbī lupus est.

booted live CD and looked at its /etc/sudoers and it looks the same. /etc/sudoers on my HDD install has date 14-Jun-2010. so its original.