WindowMaker isn't working

[Ludootje]

I have Mandrake8.0, and WindowMaker is included on my cd's, so i wanted to try it out, but unfortunately - or how do I wright that :confused: - i can't load it.. So I uninstalled it, and re-installed, but it still isn't working. I suppose there was still a problem with WM when they put it on the cd's, and now my question is the following: if I upgrade to 8.1 - which I will certainly do, but I've gotta find a mirror for the three ISO's first (please send an email at itsme@ludootje.f2s.com if you know a mirror with ISO's) - then will it still be broken?

Ludo

[ 09 October 2001: Message edited by: Ludootje ]

[uriah.k]

Did it install okay? Please include any error messages and also what you did to try to get it to load.

[cabu1966]

Did you run wmaker.inst after installing it? You have to do this for each username who will use it in order for windowmaker to run for that user.

[ 08 October 2001: Message edited by: cabu1966 ]

[Ludootje]

Originally posted by uriah.k:
<STRONG>Did it install okay? Please include any error messages and also what you did to try to get it to load.</STRONG>

I've installed with rpm, and i didn't had an error..
when i choosed it: it counts down: X seconds remaining before blabla and it counts until 0, cause it can't load it..

Ludo

[Ludootje]

Originally posted by cabu1966:
<STRONG>Did you run wmaker.inst after installing it? You have to do this for each username who will use it in order for windowmaker to run for that user.

[ 08 October 2001: Message edited by: cabu1966 ]</STRONG>

nope, i didn't knew i had to do that.. for blackbox/kde/gnome/icewm i didn't had to do that.. wher is that file?

Ludo

[cabu1966]

You should be able to just type it at the command line:
wmaker.inst

[Ludootje]

Originally posted by cabu1966:
<STRONG>You should be able to just type it at the command line:
wmaker.inst</STRONG>

done.. going to try wm now.. tnx

Ludo

[Ludootje]

nope, still not working :(

[cabu1966]

OK....then as uriah asked ... tell us what is the error message you are getting.

[ 08 October 2001: Message edited by: cabu1966 ]

[Ludootje]

Please click here (http://www.ludootje.f2s.com/wmerrors.html) to see those error msgs

Ludo

[Joeri Sebrechts]

Those aren't the error messages windowmaker returns, just kdm's fancy way of telling you "i suck".

Let's see what windowmaker does when you run it, and only it.

Create a file called .xinitrc in your home dir that contains the path and filename of your windowmaker executable, which should be something like "/usr/X11R6/bin/wmaker", without the quotes ofcourse.
Go to a shell (via ctrl-alt-f2) and type "init 3" or "telinit 3" to get to just a shell and nothing but a shell, i.e. no X session running, not even kdm. (It might not be 3 in your case, I don't know mandrake that well) Then go to another virtual terminal (alt+f3), log in as the user you made the .xinitrc file as, and run X manually by typing "startx".

That will start X and try to run only windowmaker. If it doesn't work, that should leave a bunch of error messages on the screen which will probably be more useful. Try piping those messages if you want to get them somewhere. If X starts but doesn't actually display anything but the checkerboard screen, press ctrl+alt+backspace to kill it.

Afterwards, you should be able to restart your kdm by running "telinit 5", if it's anything like red hat.

[Ludootje]

Originally posted by Joeri Sebrechts:
<STRONG>Create a file called .xinitrc in your home dir that contains the path and filename of your windowmaker executable, which should be something like "/usr/X11R6/bin/wmaker", without the quotes ofcourse.</STRONG>
ok, that's done, it's that dir indeed
<STRONG>Go to a shell (via ctrl-alt-f2) and type "init 3" or "telinit 3" to get to just a shell and nothing but a shell, i.e. no X session running, not even kdm. (It might not be 3 in your case, I don't know mandrake that well)</STRONG>[/QUOTE]
none of those numbers does something.. i tried it with 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9, nothing worked :( :(
<STRONG>Then go to another virtual terminal (alt+f3), log in as the user you made the .xinitrc file as</STRONG>[/QUOTE]
what user? i just typed that thing in a editor which i saved in /home/ludo/.xinitrc (/home/ludo is my $home)

Ludo

[Joeri Sebrechts]

<STRONG>none of those numbers does something.. i tried it with 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9, nothing worked :( :(</STRONG>
Well, the point is getting rid of your kdm. So try to get rid of that running kdm however you can.
<STRONG>what user? i just typed that thing in a editor which i saved in /home/ludo/.xinitrc (/home/ludo is my $home)</STRONG>
Then you should log in as ludo. You need to be logged in as the user who's home dir contains the newly made .xinitrc file.

[ 10 October 2001: Message edited by: Joeri Sebrechts ]

[Ludootje]

how do i get rid of kdm? this is all so f*cking confusing :( :(
can't that stupid wm just run like every other DE

[Ludootje]

anyone an idea?

[Joeri Sebrechts]

Originally posted by Ludootje:
<STRONG>how do i get rid of kdm? this is all so f*cking confusing :( :(
can't that stupid wm just run like every other DE</STRONG>

Hey, don't blame it on windowmaker. It runs fine on my debian system, didn't even have to type that wmaker.inst (debian did that for me). Obviously something went wrong in the rpm packaging process.

How about this:
Go look for the kdm init script. I don't know where you should look for it since I only know debian-style init scripting, but
find /etc -name kdm
should get you somewhere.
Then, when you've found it run it with the "stop" argument. (Or if that doesn't work, look inside it and see what makes it stop).

If that doesn't do it, try "killall -9 kdm" to kill it off.

And if THAT doesn't work, rename the kdm binary. On my system it's in /usr/bin. Then reboot your system. Kdm should fail, and X should fail to launch that way. I hope.

One would think it were easier to get rid of kdm.

[ 12 October 2001: Message edited by: Joeri Sebrechts ]

[bwkaz]

To get rid of xdm, open up /etc/inittab.

Look for the line like id:5:initdefault

Change it to id:3:initdefault

Reboot.

No more xdm. Log in with whatever username and password you used to use in xdm, and then use "startx" to start X. But you can do some editing before "startx", if you have to.

[Ludootje]

ok, the line exists, i've found it with my rootfilemanager, but i have o login as root, so i can edit it, does anyone know if i can't start a root-editor?

Ludo

[Joeri Sebrechts]

Originally posted by Ludootje:
<STRONG>ok, the line exists, i've found it with my rootfilemanager, but i have o login as root, so i can edit it, does anyone know if i can't start a root-editor?

Ludo</STRONG>

The easy way out:
Copy the file into your homedir, open it in your favorite editor, edit it, and then become root in a shell by typing 'su -', and copy the edited file on top of the original.

The best way:
Learn a shell-based editor. If I might suggest one: joe. Joe is a lot easier to use than vi or emacs. Vi is usable if you know some basic tricks (i goes to editing mode, escape goes to command-mode, o in command mode creates a new line below the current one, 'd ' in command mode deletes the next character, ':wx' in command mode saves and exits, ':x!' in command mode exits without saving, even if you made changes), but I still suggest joe if you want easy-to-use. It might not come pre-installed on your system, but most likely a package will exist for it. One thing to watch out for with joe is that the default seems to be to make backup files whenever you edit a file, which might not be your preferred way of working. Edit the joerc file so it doesn't do that, if you want to.

Always remember: in a shell 'su -' makes you root.

[Ludootje]

Thanks a lot guys! :rolleyes:
Now, please explain more about those textbased editors, cause now, my mandrake is f*cked up.
X can't run, startx gives me errors, so now, when I run vim in my console mode - which is the only working thing anymore, I'm now on a windows computer - I don't understand anything of it.. and someone on IRC - thanks go to the author *****X who made *****X for terminals - to install 'jed', which I've done, and it's clear.. Though, I can't open my /etc/inittab.. :mad:

[ 13 October 2001: Message edited by: Ludootje ]

[Ludootje]

Originally posted by Joeri Sebrechts:
<STRONG>The easy way out:
Copy the file into your homedir, open it in your favorite editor, edit it, and then become root in a shell by typing 'su -', and copy the edited file on top of the original.</STRONG>
huh?

<STRONG>The best way:
Learn a shell-based editor. If I might suggest one: joe. Joe is a lot easier to use than vi or emacs. Vi is usable if you know some basic tricks (i goes to editing mode, escape goes to command-mode, o in command mode creates a new line below the current one, 'd ' in command mode deletes the next character, ':wx' in command mode saves and exits, ':x!' in command mode exits without saving, even if you made changes), but I still suggest joe if you want easy-to-use. It might not come pre-installed on your system, but most likely a package will exist for it. One thing to watch out for with joe is that the default seems to be to make backup files whenever you edit a file, which might not be your preferred way of working. Edit the joerc file so it doesn't do that, if you want to.

Always remember: in a shell 'su -' makes you root.</STRONG>
That su thing is known to me, though, if I want to install 'joe', finding a .rpm is no problem on rpmfind.net, but then I'll have to load a textbased browser first..

[Ludootje]

it's done.. i've installed 'jed' - a textbased editor - which i very clear, and i changed the 3 to 5 again.. everything works fine now (exept my wm)

Ludo

[Joeri Sebrechts]

Originally posted by Ludootje:
<STRONG>it's done.. i've installed 'jed' - a textbased editor - which i very clear, and i changed the 3 to 5 again.. everything works fine now (exept my wm)

Ludo</STRONG>

Well done.

Anyway, the point of going to 3, if you remember, was to run your X through the 'startx' script and try to run just windowmaker, and only windowmaker. Have you tried that yet? Or are you going to give up on windowmaker for the moment :)

[Ludootje]

Of course I've tried that, but X can't start, it asks me if I've run wmaker.inst, which I then do (although I already did it) and it asks me if i want to replace the existing menu, and then it continues, and when it's done i do 'startx' again, which gives me the same error.. I'll just give up windowmaker :( :( sawfish isn't running neither, and E neither.. I hope that my DE's will work when I upgrade to L-M8.1 (just finished downloading the second cd)

Ludo