Linux - where is my gui?

[b4u]

Hi,

I'm in the process of learning some linux, and ruining some instances on my way to learn it

So, I have installed VMWare Workstation on my PC, to mess with different OSes.

I installed SuSE 9.1 Personal, and during installation, all I got was a corrupted graphics, hard to read.

suse_corruption.jpg

Still I managed to install the beast, and the gui was looking ok. Don't know if the corruption has anything to do with VMWare itself, and if installing the VMWare Tools would fix it ... that was my next step.

To install VMWare Tools software, I had to go to a workspace, or a text prompt if I understood correctly. I pressed Ctrl+Alt+Space, then released only the Space key and pressed F2 ... and it all looked fine.

I then followed instructions on installing the software, and after restart it was ok.

Then I went to Yast2 to see the settings, I mainly saw the settings and changed from dynamic IP to fixed IP (from DHCP search to 192.68.0.2).

After restart, I have a screen similar to Windows with startup progress bar, and F2 for Details ... it didn't move from there, so after a while I pressed F2 ... only to find the following stuff:

suse_no_gui.jpg

So my linux started up on text mode ... how can I make it startup with the gui instead?

What's that stuff about moving from gui to text, with Ctrl+Alt+Space and F2? What do I get if I press F3? Another instance?


Thank you! I'm a n00b linuxer, I know ...

 

[n0cmonkey]

I don't know what a ctrl+alt+space does, never heard of it.

Login, check to make sure X is running, if not: startx. If it is, try switching to the virtual terminal that X usually runs on.

 

[cerebusPu]

Ive had this same problem before with vmware. the problem is with running suse on vmware. i never fixed it. deleted my linux virtual machine after that. let me know if you figure it out.

 

[Nithin]

try debian maybe that will work.

 

[uOpt]

Suse messes a lot with system-near code.

First try to do "startx" at the command prompt.

If that doesn't work, try some other Linux.

 

[TonyRic]

Suse and VMWare have alot of problems installing in graphical mode. In fact the suse section of the FAQ on VMWares website specifies to use the text mode installer.

 

[Klixxer]

SuSE is a great distro for a beginner and something that is on the move in the corporate world so not a bad choice at all.

Your computer is trying to boot to graphical login but fails because a module called smbfs is missing so it aborts the startup process.

Have you reconfigured your kernel?

I would recompile my kernel but as a beginner you probably don't want to do that, download the latest kernel package from SuSE and install that.

startx will probably work but it still leaves you in root newb mode if you haven't configured and logged in as a restricted user (very few newbs even know why not being admin at all times is a good idea), besides, you probably want a solution rather than a workaround.




At any point you can type telinit 5 to test the configuration, that way you will not have to reboot if it fails, yet again.

 

[uOpt]

Originally posted by: Klixxer
Your computer is trying to boot to graphical login but fails because a module called smbfs is missing so it aborts the startup process.

Uh, no, it comes up anyway, this is not a failed startup (which would result in an invitation to single user mode).

So what happens when you (original poster) type `startx` manually?

 

[b4u]

Thanks for the answers so far ...

Well, login in with a self made user (testlab), and then running "startx", brings a black screen for a few seconds, and then suse_no_gui_2.jpg.

Loging as root user brings same results ... time for a re-install?

 

[n0cmonkey]

Try reconfiguring X.

 

[uOpt]

Originally posted by: b4u
Thanks for the answers so far ...

Well, login in with a self made user (testlab), and then running "startx", brings a black screen for a few seconds, and then suse_no_gui_2.jpg.

Loging as root user brings same results ... time for a re-install?

Well, the error message is right there: "no driver available".

X11 is misconfigured to have a driver which doesn't match the (virtual) card.

Edit the xorg.conf (or XF86Config) file to manually insert the right driver name into the "Device" section. You should find that info in the vmware documentation.

Reinstalling will lead to the same error. It is possible that some Suse change screwed this up, so trying something else might work, but probably not.

 

[b4u]

Where can I find the xorg.conf file?

 

[drag]

The xorg.conf is located /etc/X11/xorg.conf

 

[Zelmo3]

Except SuSE 9.1 uses /etc/X11/XF86Config
It will pull from /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 first if one exists, but by defualt it creates the file under the previous name.

 

[silverpig]

FYI: <ctrl><alt><bksp> kills your x-server (no gui)
<ctrl><alt><F1> changes to the 1st terminal (usually running the gui) and <F2> will bring you to the second login terminal (usually command line), same with F3 and F4

It looks like you have the framebuffer working, so try to just log in and then type:

startx

to see if that gets you a gui.

 

[NewBlackDak]

I believe you have to install vmware tools to get a gui with linux in vmware. There is a driver for the emulated display adapter. Since fb is working though xdirectfb might work for you.