Need help setting up xwindows/gnome/kde
 

Hey, I recently installed RedHat Linux on my windows machine as a dual boot. I am a complete Linux newb and am surprised I was able to get as far as I did unaided. The installation went smoothly, but when the time came to run x windows/gnome, it did not work. So, I located a newer version of xfree86 (4.4.0) and installed it successfully. I was rather pleased with myself, I had managed to install something on my linux box, however when I ran xwindows my heart dropped. I was left with some simplistic boxy user interface... I restarted my computer in hopes of somehow it magically going away (I suppose I was too spoiled with that working in windows time and time again, haha). Then it loaded a clean looking thing where I was able to select KDE, Gnome, Failsafe, and other things like that. Unfortunately, no matter which session I choose from that list, I still get the same boxy user interface....

As I said earlier I have no experience with linux, and I have no idea where to go from here...please help!

PS: Please explain in excruciating detail including all commands and whatnot, I have 0 linux experience. Thank you for your patience =)

could you elaborate more on "Boxy user interface". I don't understand where you are stuck.

Is it that you are stuck at the login screen, from where you can select the Session(KDE,GNOME).

Sounds like tvwm to me.

If that is the case, tvwm is the default wm started by ~/.xsession (iirc) when no other WM or DE can be found.

You've installed X, and seemingly the GDM login manager (as GDM, to the best of my knowledge, is the only one which contains session entries like "Failsafe GNOME" and the like, and can also be installed separately from GNOME, unlike KDM which is installed with KDE). It appears that all of the session entries are pointing to ~/.xsession, which (since this is not correct behaviour) suggests that the session entries are in fact "dummy" entries, and the only WM you actually have is tvwm.

You may not have installed any actual DE/WMs such as KDE, GNOME, XFce, WindowMaker, Blackbox, Fluxbox, IceWM, Openbox, or basically anything except tvwm, which I believe comes with X in order to give one something to run on top of X.

If this is the case, I would suggest that you install one or two of the above (do a small, light one like IceWM, or Fluxbox first, so that you have something to look at while you install one or more of the larger ones like KDE or GNOME).

Hope this helps.

Thanks so much for the reply, but after I posted the thread I did a little snooping about on....whatever this default gui is, I believe you called it tvwm. I discovered that I can start gnome from within tvwm(if that is indeed what I'm running), but the gnome gui acts funny. The gnome desktop shows up as a new window (entitled "Gnome Desktop", what else?), the windows retain the boxyness of tvwm, the only thing that looks sleek is the bar at the bottom of the screen. So...this may seem to indicate that gnome is installed? I know I selected to install Gnome and KDE during the installation process of Red Hat. I can only assume that gnome and KDE are actually installed, but that from installing xfree86 4.4.0 it made all of these entries point to this crappy default wm, might that be the case? If so how do I make them point to the actual wm's I want to use? Is there some file that I can edit or something?

Oh yes, and I almost forgot to elaborate on the "boxy user interface", as per request of LinuxLala.

I havent used the interface since last night, but here goes from memory:

There is a green background, I think, maybe blue. There is no bar at the bottom of the screen. Upon startup I get two boxes, one small one of the left with 4 buttons on it. The only one that I remember what is says is Logout or Shutdown or something. The second window that pops up is just like the shell/command promt, except it is windowed. The windows have a little square with a circle in it in the upper left hand corner that minimizes them into a bar, they also have a strange looking icon in the opposite side (the upper right hand corner) that, if held down, allows the user to resize the window.

Thats all I remember, hope that's sufficient.

That's tvwm all right. Seen it a couple of times when my X wasn't configured properly as well.

Now the problem is that I do know how to fix this, but I don't know where the relevant files are on whatever version of RedHat you are using.

The long and the short of it is that you should probably read Changing the default window manager in Linux and explore your system to find the relevant files and edit them as instructed.

Hope this helps.

Thanks a bunch! That looks helpful, however that will only change my default wm, right? So like, the other entries in the drop-down box are all still going to point to tvwm, right? How am I to make them point to the correct command to start their window manger or w/e? Anywho, ill try that stuff out in the meanwhile, but I hope to get the rest of them working later. ::logs off of windows and onto linux::

Okay, gnome works fine now (whoo) Thank you soooo much! /Big_Hug

Well, now that I have gnome set up...how do I make it so that if I choose KDE from the dropdown graphical login manager, it will load KDE, cuz it just loads gnome no matter what I choose now (which is much better than before, lol)

I didn't see where you reported what packages are installed on your RedHat system.

Not all distros install the kde desktop by default which may mean you need to find a way to opt into getting it installed.

I'm just taking a guess here, based on what I've seen in this thread.

do you know which display manager you are using? It sounds likely that it's gdm (gnome display manager). gdm should able set kde as default and/or (instead), there's an init file that can edit it for to use gdm, kdm, or xdm display manager, of those three, the one of your choice.

Hang in there! Linux is fun, and very customizable.

I googled for

redhat package howto

but, creativity suggests to also google for

redhat package help

linux rpm howto

linux/RH software install help/howto

(the more the merrier) increase liklihood of get something relevant.

--
Alan.

I just now saw wher you thingk that both gnome and kde are installed but that you installed a later version of xfree86

so, if indeed, kde is installed, then it's likely that the later ver of xfree has not been made aware that kde is on your sys and ready to go.

This would have to do with config. Sorry, cant help you any more than that right now.

--
Alan.

I appreciate the effort Alan...I think it may have something to do with the xsession file...editing that file enabled me to logon to gnome. It is a simple one line file now("exec gnome-session"), but I think I may have to make some sort of script or something to enable multiple WMs to be selected from the dropdown box(successfully!). They are listed in the box now, however, they all will load Gnome at this point. J/W. Perhaps I'll make a new thread, seeing as this is a new to semi-new problem.