Hello. I burned a CD with the 5.2 netinstall iso, and installed it onto a laptop (Acer Aspire 3680). Note that I'm *totally* new to laptops.
The install went fine. But, when I boot it, it errors at the user login. A screen comes up, stating that X11 cannot start, and that it's probably the mouse.
A bit of investigating revealed that there is no Synaptics module installed. It will boot into runlevel=3.
I tried the 'upgrade' option of the netinstall disk; it saw that 5.2 is installed, and quit. |:(
The X wiki suggested that I try adding this to /etc/X11/xorg.conf: Section "ServerFlags" Option "AllowMouseOpenFail" "1" EndSection
Using "cat xorg.conf", I see Section "InputDevice" , which refers to the Synaptics module.
Being new-ish to linux, I can't figure out the text-based editor (vi) to modify the file. I have "System Rescue CD" and "Ultimate Boot CD", but (apparently) they don't mount the installed system.
I have some Fedora install disks (if they'd be of any help) - but not a rescue CD. It seems like CentOS doesn't have a rescue CD - would Fedora's help?
I need to modify xorg.conf, or figure out how to install the Synaptics module. How can I do that?
----- Original Message ----
From: Michael Klinosky mpk2@enter.net
The X wiki suggested that I try adding this to /etc/X11/xorg.conf: Section "ServerFlags" Option "AllowMouseOpenFail" "1" EndSection
Using "cat xorg.conf", I see Section "InputDevice" , which refers to the Synaptics module.
Being new-ish to linux, I can't figure out the text-based editor (vi) to modify the file. I have "System Rescue CD" and "Ultimate Boot CD", but (apparently) they don't mount the installed system.
vi is not too difficult. from the commandline prompt, type ; vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
then press the small letter "i" to allow u to insert text. use the arrow keys to navigate to an empty line and add the text u need.
then press ESC. next type;
:wq and hit enter.
from the commandline use cat to see if the changes u made hv been recorded and then try to reboot.
Ok, I modified xorg.conf, but it didn't help (still getting that error, and X refuses to start).
I could re-install, but I don't like that notion (I definitely don't want all the packages in the default setup, so I have to go thru every group and sub-group to de-select most - that was a big hassle with a 'keypad mouse').
So, is there another way? Would it work if I merely put the synaptics.so on a usb stick and copied it?
On Sun, Mar 1, 2009 at 11:41 AM, Michael Klinosky mpk2@enter.net wrote:
Ok, I modified xorg.conf, but it didn't help (still getting that error, and X refuses to start).
I could re-install, but I don't like that notion (I definitely don't want all the packages in the default setup, so I have to go thru every group and sub-group to de-select most - that was a big hassle with a 'keypad mouse').
So, is there another way? Would it work if I merely put the synaptics.so on a usb stick and copied it?
Another thing you might do is try the CentOS LiveCD on your laptop, to see if this distro will run properly on it. Laptops are frequently more difficult to install CentOS on.
On Sat, 2009-02-28 at 22:23 -0500, Michael Klinosky wrote: ...
I have some Fedora install disks (if they'd be of any help) - but not a rescue CD. It seems like CentOS doesn't have a rescue CD - would Fedora's help?
The CentOS install disk IS the rescue CD - try install CD #1 (or the DVD install images). Unfortunately if you only downloaded the netinstall image you may not have the correct media at hand.
Live CD as suggested elsewhere could also be useful for rescue. May also want to try a USB mouse. The synaptics RPM is available from RPMforge. See
http://wiki.centos.org/AdditionalResources/Repositories/
May also want to have a look at
http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/Laptops
Laptops do tend to be problematic. Sorry you're having problems, but welcome to CentOS.
Phil
On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 10:23 PM, Michael Klinosky mpk2@enter.net wrote:
Hello. I burned a CD with the 5.2 netinstall iso, and installed it onto a laptop (Acer Aspire 3680). Note that I'm *totally* new to laptops.
The install went fine. But, when I boot it, it errors at the user login. A screen comes up, stating that X11 cannot start, and that it's probably the mouse.
It sounds like you have at least the video drivers functioning, if not the mouse...
A bit of investigating revealed that there is no Synaptics module installed. It will boot into runlevel=3.
Have you verified if the synaptics package itself is installed:
rpm -q synaptics
If not, is this laptop connected to the Internet? If so, you can do:
yum -y install synaptics
This will install the synaptics package, though doesn't install the module.
Once this is done, you can look at the xorg.conf file itself. If you're not familiar with vi, there's another editor called "nano" that may be easier the first few times (after that, it pays to learn vi).
The main things you need to verify are the following sections in the xorg.conf:
Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "Layout0" Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0 Screen 1 "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0" InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard" InputDevice "Synaptics" "CorePointer" EndSection
Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Synaptics" Driver "synaptics" Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice" Option "Protocol" "auto-dev" Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes" EndSection
The X wiki suggested that I try adding this to /etc/X11/xorg.conf: Section "ServerFlags" Option "AllowMouseOpenFail" "1" EndSection
Using "cat xorg.conf", I see Section "InputDevice" , which refers to the Synaptics module.
Being new-ish to linux, I can't figure out the text-based editor (vi) to modify the file. I have "System Rescue CD" and "Ultimate Boot CD", but (apparently) they don't mount the installed system.
I have some Fedora install disks (if they'd be of any help) - but not a rescue CD. It seems like CentOS doesn't have a rescue CD - would Fedora's help?
I need to modify xorg.conf, or figure out how to install the Synaptics module. How can I do that?
Kwan Lowe wrote:
Have you verified if the synaptics package itself is installed:
rpm -q synaptics
'not installed'. Is there more to this package than just the library (.so)?
If not, is this laptop connected to the Internet? If so, you can do:
yum -y install synaptics
This will install the synaptics package, though doesn't install the module.
hmmm ... I didn't think of that (along with a few other readers!)
Ok, it's installed ... reboot.
YES!!!! :) :) It at least boots properly! Thaaaaaank you!
Like I mentioned, I'm new-ish to linux. And, I use the gui exclusively. So, it never occured to me to install in runlevel=3. I figured that I'd have to get it to boot somehow, then use Applications > Add/Remove Software. Same with vi - it just occurred to me that I could have easily tried 'man vi'.
The main things you need to verify are the following sections in the xorg.conf:
Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "Layout0" Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0 Screen 1 "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
One difference from yours - Identifier "Default Layout" Does that matter? Also, I don't have Screen 1 - I guess because I didn't set up multiple screens.
Section "InputDevice"
Same as yours.
On Sun, 2009-03-01 at 12:59 -0500, Michael Klinosky wrote:
Kwan Lowe wrote:
Have you verified if the synaptics package itself is installed:
rpm -q synaptics
'not installed'. Is there more to this package than just the library (.so)?
If not, is this laptop connected to the Internet? If so, you can do:
yum -y install synaptics
This will install the synaptics package, though doesn't install the module.
hmmm ... I didn't think of that (along with a few other readers!)
Ok, it's installed ... reboot.
YES!!!! :) :) It at least boots properly! Thaaaaaank you!
Like I mentioned, I'm new-ish to linux. And, I use the gui exclusively. So, it never occured to me to install in runlevel=3. I figured that I'd have to get it to boot somehow, then use Applications > Add/Remove Software. Same with vi - it just occurred to me that I could have easily tried 'man vi'.
That's a heavy read if you're not familiar with regular expressions. I'll throw a couple of quick most frequently used commands for you at the end of this post.
The main things you need to verify are the following sections in the xorg.conf:
Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "Layout0" Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0 Screen 1 "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
One difference from yours - Identifier "Default Layout" Does that matter?
No.
Also, I don't have Screen 1 - I guess because I didn't set up multiple screens.
That's ok too.
Section "InputDevice"
Same as yours.
The basic thing to know about vi is that it has three modes. Input, replace and interactive. Default on startup is interactive. From here you can switch modes, move around in the file and search for things. The most common interactive stuff is moving the cursor around with the arrows. If you're more comfortable with them, regular letter keys can accomplish the same movements. I tend to use them as they do not depend on proper terminal definitions being available (hangover from the old days when I worked on lots of different systems and terminals).
Another common interactive function is searching for stuff. Without getting into regex, a slash followed by some text and a slash or <ENTER> finds the next occurence. Repeat as needed. Replace the slash with ? and it goes backwards (up the file).
Scrolling through the text file can be done with <PGUP>, <PGDN>, <HOME> and <END> keys. There's also standard keyboard letter equivalents.
Once positioned, you can enter input mode (which also includes replacement of text if desired). Hitting the <INSERT> key will insert characters at the current cursor position. Hitting it a second time replaces characters. Toggle by hitting as many times as needed. To exit either mode use the <ESC> key.
To insert a line before or after the current one, O or o (that's "oh", not zero) for "Open before" or "open after".
I'll leave it to your "man vi" excursion to notice the "i", "I", "a", "A" meanings and some of the equivalents to which I've alluded above.
Another useful function is the yank and pull functions. Keep an eye out for them. Marking lines with the letters, e.g. ma, mb, ... is also quite useful for setting a "bookmark". Used in conjunction with the t (copy) or m (move) commands, it can save a lot of time.
":w" writes the file (suggested for frequent saves), "ZZ" writes and quits, as does ":wq".
Notice that ":" puts you in "command mode". Lots of possibilities there, like changing the file name, splitting the screens, switch the active window, reading in another file, etc.
Read small sections, test what you read to reinforce your memory and you should get it quickly.
Happy sailing.
<snip sig stuff>
HTH
On Sun, 2009-03-01 at 16:17 -0500, William L. Maltby wrote:
<snip>
Sorry, I meant to change this before I sent it.
The basic thing to know about vi is that it has three modes. Input,
s/three/four/ s/Input/Command, input/
If you're not familiar with regex, the above may be meaningless to you.
<snip>
On Sun, 2009-03-01 at 16:17 -0500, William L. Maltby wrote:
<snip>
CRAP! Forget my other post too. Just replace interactive with command" and we should be good.
The basic thing to know about vi is that it has three modes. Input, replace and interactive. Default on startup is interactive. From here
<snip>
-
Kwan Lowe -
Lanny Marcus -
Linux Advocate -
Michael Klinosky -
Phil Schaffner -
William L. Maltby