KDE Desktop Problem

[Murphy]

Hi, my name is Dale and I in a huge dilemma and need someone's help right away. I am new to linux and I was wanting to run KDE desktop to try. I saw a forum msg that said grab KDE - all which I did. I made the mistake of setting it as the default desktop and when I go to boot it gives me a low resolution error. I tried everything listed (reconfigure video, run in low res once, etc) to correct the problem but nothing works. I need to remove it at the boot or switch back to gnome at the boot.

I run a boot publishing business and I recently switched to Linux Mint and haven't been able to back up my import files. Can't loose anything.

Can I just reinstall Mint Linux over itself to correct the problem as a worst case? Any help would be greatly appreciated. This is a huge change for me since I have always as a career worked in the Windows World.

Thank you,

~Dale

[mick55]

Can I just reinstall Mint Linux over itself to correct the problem as a worst case?

Yes. It may be the simplest way of solving your dilemma

[Murphy]

Thanks for the response. It will not erase my data will it?

~Dale

[mick55]

Thanks for the response. It will not erase my data will it?

~Dale

If you install it over the existing install, it will most certainly erase your data.

Boot to the Mint Cd and copy your data to somewhere safe before you reinstall.

However, just because you installed KDE, it does not mean you have to run KDE.

At the login screen, select sessions, and login to a Gnome session.

You can then remove KDE completely if you want to.

[Murphy]

I set things up to auto login. Sigh

If I back up the home directory will that get things like my Thunderbird profile because most of my business is run via email.

[mick55]

No problem.

Start gnome from the command line

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sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

[Murphy]

I am running from a LIVE CD. Can I do that this way?

[mick55]

Yes if you chroot to your installed system.

Can you boot your installed system to a command prompt?

[Murphy]

I don't know how. I am a Windows person and this linux is new. I can get the grub boot menu to come up that shows the different versions of upgrades done (weird) which I can hit to terminal mode. I don't know how to do anything in terminal mode.

[mick55]

I don't know how to do anything in terminal mode.

I gave you the command above to enter in the terminal.

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sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

Follow the instructions and you will be able to boot a gnome desktop.

[mick55]

If you are unable to boot this way for whatever reason, the alternate method would be
to chroot into your installed system. Here are instructions, and yes they are
mostly in the terminal, since you don't have a desktop.

Boot the Mint CD.

Your hard drive should show up on the desktop as hda1 or sdb2 etc depending on your hardware.

Double click on it to mount it. Then right-click, actions -> change to read-write mode.
It'll open a dialog box; click yes.

Now, open a root terminal [sudo su]

Enter: chroot /mnt/hda1 or whatever the icon for your harddrive says on the desktop.

You can now use the commands I gave you.

Code: Select all

/etc/init.d/gdm start

I am not currently on a Mint system so my GUI commands are from memory.
My CLI commands are accurate.

[Murphy]

Thank you for all your help. I wasn't able to get into the grub boot menu. During boot lost power which required me to manually run fsc which I did. Once I rebooted the system it brought me to the KDE desktop login but when I logged in it kept bringing up terminal. I found the option to choose how I wanted to boot and now all is well in the world.

I don't know if I should just remove KDE all or not? I would like to try it out and I only have a 30 gig HD. Also I would like to find some good reading material that will get me up to speed quickly as I would like to add Linux to my resume someday.

Cheers,

¬Dale

[mick55]

I don't know if I should just remove KDE all or not? I would like to try it out and I only have a 30 gig HD.

There is a KDE version of Mint 8.

Perhaps you should just try it out as a live CD and see if you like it.

As far as removing KDE, if you feel comfortable doing so, then go ahead and remove it.

Otherwise, leave well enough alone.

mick