F9 install : can't get X to work -- Fixed, maybe

[Beartooth Sciurivore]

On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:19:18 +0000, I Beartooth Sciurivore wrote:

>> On Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:27:19 -0700, Craig White wrote:
>>> edit the grub boot (press 'e') and then edit the 'kernel' line by
>>> adding '3' at the end to boot in runlevel 3
>> 
>> 	Aha! no init. Worked fine; many thanks! I added the 3 in /etc/
>> grub.conf, to make sure I don't forget.
>> 
>>> I would probably recommend that you simply run 'system-config-display
>>> --reconfig'
>> 
[...]
>> 	I think that means my next move is to shut everything down, pull
>> #1 (which should now boot to init 3) out from behind the KVM switch,
>> plug it directly into the peripherals, boot it up, and run
>> system-config- display --reconfig again on it (a command for which I
>> thank you; I didn't know anything like it existed).
> 
> 	We progress, we progress -- albeit inchwise. I did the above; it
> brought up a tiny-looking version of what I normally see when I click on
> Display in the Main Menu.
> 
> 	But that display thinks the resolution should be 800x600 -- and
> seems not to see the mouse. Using the tab and the arrows  I got to the
> Hardware tab. That gives HP w2207 as the monitor; it's actually w2207h.
> 
> 	But trying to change it is an exercise in frustration. If I
> could, I'd probably change to generic LCD 1680x1050, or perhaps
> 1280x1024, or something between, judging by experience with my other
> machines.
	[...]
> 	If I could get to that Display-display normally, with full use
> even of just the mouse (or tab & arrows to go up and down visible
> lists), I think I could putter with it enough to get something usable;
> I've been doing so with various Fedora releases, machines, and monitors
> for years now.
> 	If I boot #2 in its present headless state, it will be on the
> router; maybe I can finagle an scp yet.
	[...]

	I'm not quite sure exactly what all I did, but it's working now; 
I'll be a lot more confident if it continues to after logging out and 
back in, and rebooting.

	Anyway, once I had it booting to init 3, I just kept trying 
things. The likely biggest was a trick I've used before to get around 
things like denyhosts on a machine where I have only a CLI.

	I booted #2 without any peripherals, ssh'd into it, did an su - , 
and then did an scp back to #1. 

	I also did a system-config-display (without the --reconfig) on 
#1, which gave me an interface much like the other, but more amenable to 
typing into.

	Backed out of that, logged out and back in. Now at last I got 
something much closed to my accustomed interface. I'm logged into it as 
user, running a gnome terminal, a couple of browsers, this newsreader, 
and more.

	It's currently running what the machine (but not the monitor) 
thinks is 1440x900 -- and forever jerking the display around when I get 
near an edge. It's done that before, on another machine, horizontally; 
this time is much worse -- bigger moves, and worst of all they're 
vertical. (I keep my main panel across the bottom of the screen.) I've 
told it to revert to 1280x1024, to take effect as soon as I log out and 
back in.

	I got into the display modifier by way of the main menu; but 
haven't logged out and back in yet, because of course I did a yum update 
as soon as I had a gnome-terminal. That has now gotten well beyond this 
stage : 

		=====		=====		=====
	[...]
(504/504): openoffice.org-writer-2.4.1-17.3.fc9.i386.rpm | 2.8 MB     
00:18     
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Finished Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
  Updating  : libxml2                      ##################### 
[  1/992] 
	[....]
		=====		=====		=====

	It's now on something like 296 of 992; when it finishes, I'll log 
out and back in, shut down, put it back behind the KVM switch, and fire 
it up once more.

	Stay tuned.

-- 
Beartooth Staffwright, Not Quite Clueless Power User
Remember I know little (precious little!) of where up is.