Mint won't install GNOME

[edosan]

Hello everyone,


I am running Mint 17 Qiana x86_64
and I have issues in installing GNOME.


When I try to install it via synaptic a windows pops up and states:

___________________
Could not mark all packages for installation or upgrade

the following packages have unresolvable dependencies. Make sure that all required repositories are added and enabled in the preferences

(long list of packages follows)
___________________


Now, I have also tried to install it via terminal using

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell gnome-shell-extensions.

Then GNOME appears as an option at login but if I choose it all I get is a black screen with the mouse cursor and nothing changes if I try again with synaptic.


What shall I do?
Thank you for your help.

(Mate, KDE, xfce installed and working just fine!)

[kyphi]

Take a look in your Software Manager under gnome-shell and you will see the number of packages that come with it. What conflicts this might create with whatever else you already have installed I cannot predict.

A better option would be to install an operating system that uses gnome-shell by default.

Try VirtualBox to install other operating systems and their desktop environments. Much safer.

[jtarin]

Most followers of Mint are refusers of the Gnome Shell. When Ubuntu decided to go the way of the Shell...we decided to go the way of Mint.Install Ubuntu if you want the Shell.

[edosan]

Take a look in your Software Manager under gnome-shell and you will see the number of packages that come with it. What conflicts this might create with whatever else you already have installed I cannot predict.

A better option would be to install an operating system that uses gnome-shell by default.

Try VirtualBox to install other operating systems and their desktop environments. Much safer.

Hi. Thank you for your help.

I've tried to look in the software manager. it gives me the list of a bunch of packages I have already installed... While the list of unresolved dependencies the synaptic manager gives me is way, waaaay longer!

[edosan]

Most followers of Mint are refusers of the Gnome Shell. When Ubuntu decided to go the way of the Shell...we decided to go the way of Mint. Install Ubuntu if you want the Shell.

Thank you but I don't want to reinstall anything. I just want to use a couple of tools available for the gnome shell.

[jtarin]

Most followers of Mint are refusers of the Gnome Shell. When Ubuntu decided to go the way of the Shell...we decided to go the way of Mint. Install Ubuntu if you want the Shell.

Thank you but I don't want to reinstall anything. I just want to use a couple of tools available for the gnome shell.

What are those couple of tools?

[edosan]

Most followers of Mint are refusers of the Gnome Shell. When Ubuntu decided to go the way of the Shell...we decided to go the way of Mint. Install Ubuntu if you want the Shell.

Thank you but I don't want to reinstall anything. I just want to use a couple of tools available for the gnome shell.

What are those couple of tools?

Iooking for a tiling window manager such as xmonad and/or bluetile, but these two seem only to work in gnome (xmonad works also as a standalone GUI but I wanted to keep the gnome menus etc... I use MATE now)

[jtarin]

I'm not familiar with MATE, but here's a link for configuring xmonad with the various derivatives of GNOME and Ubuntu.
https://wiki.haskell.org/Xmonad/Using_xmonad_in_Gnome

[edosan]

I'm not familiar with MATE, but here's a link for configuring xmonad with the various derivatives of GNOME and Ubuntu.
https://wiki.haskell.org/Xmonad/Using_xmonad_in_Gnome

Thanks man but I'd like to keep Mint


Does this output help?

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sudo apt-get install gnome
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 gnome : Depends: gnome-core (= 1:3.8+4ubuntu3) but it is not going to be installed
         Depends: gedit (>= 3.4) but 2.30.5+qiana is to be installed
         Depends: gedit-plugins (>= 3.4) but 2.30.1 is to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

[jtarin]

I'm not familiar with MATE, but here's a link for configuring xmonad with the various derivatives of GNOME and Ubuntu.
https://wiki.haskell.org/Xmonad/Using_xmonad_in_Gnome

Thanks man but I'd like to keep Mint


Does this output help?

Doesn't help me...but this link might provide you with some insight as to your expectations.
http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1829

[Monsta]

Mint repos have gedit and gedit-plugins 2.30.x, and these repos have higher priority (700) than the upstream repos (500), so these packages won't be upgraded to 3.x automatically.

Try forcing the newer versions manually:

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apt install gedit/trusty gedit-plugins/trusty

[edosan]

Mint repos have gedit and gedit-plugins 2.30.x, and these repos have higher priority (700) than the upstream repos (500), so these packages won't be upgraded to 3.x automatically.

Try forcing the newer versions manually:

Code: Select all

apt install gedit/trusty gedit-plugins/trusty

Hey Monsta! thank you very much! That did something, but did not solve the problem.

Now the Synaptic Package Manager doesn't pop up with an error window anymore, but it highlights the package with a red exclamation mark, telling me the package is broken and that it needs to be fixed. (this happens either with the "gnome" and "gnome-core" packages)

Is there something I can do about it?

Thanks a lot

[Monsta]

Code: Select all

apt install -f

[edosan]

Code: Select all

apt install -f

Sorry man, I had already tried this one it doesn't change anything...

[Monsta]

Well, without knowing what messages it shows, I can't find out what's wrong...

[jtarin]

As Monsta says....you need to post the output of that command.
In the meantime try .....In Synaptic's menu under "File"...."Fix broken packages".

[edosan]

Well, without knowing what messages it shows, I can't find out what's wrong...

Sorry for the misunderstanding

Code: Select all

 ~ $ sudo apt install -f
[sudo] password for edosan: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 77 not upgraded.

In the meantime try .....In Synaptic's menu under "File"...."Fix broken packages".

Done. It says "successfully fixed dependency problems" at the bottom of the window, but then, when I try to install GNOME... nothing changes. (correctly lists the dependecies before asking to confirm, but when you do, red exclamation mark)

Thanks

[Monsta]

Looks like there are no broken dependencies until you try to install Gnome.
Try installing Gnome using apt instead of Synaptic, it will give you more info.

[MtnDewManiac]

Iooking for a tiling window manager such as xmonad and/or bluetile, but these two seem only to work in gnome (xmonad works also as a standalone GUI but I wanted to keep the gnome menus etc... I use MATE now)

I've seen discussions where Xfce users added Quicktile, X-tile, et cetera (or just patched Xfwm) to add tiling features to that DE. How attached to MATE are you (I'm guessing "not very," since you tried to install GNOME just to add a tiling WM)? There's an Xfce version of Mint. Or you could try adding the Xfce metapackage (along with Xfce's goodies package and whatever else from Synaptic Package Manager that catches your eye when type "xf" (sans quotation marks) into its search box), but I haven't tried setting up a multi-DE system under Mint and, therefore, cannot guarantee that there won't be some kind of conflict (I'm not saying that there will be, just that I don't know).

I would guess that the above would be easier than trying to add GNOME to Mint, since Mint was built upon Ubuntu with part (much?) of the process undoubtedly being ripping out things that Mint users do not want - such as GNOME . Or, as has already been suggested, you could just install the Ubuntu distro. I wouldn't recommend doing so... the practice of installing Ubuntu has been known to cause users to hunt down and install a better distro. And then you'll just end up right back here (and that strikes me as somewhat amusing - but, overall, a circular waste of time).

BtW, there are other tiling window managers available via Synaptic (and, probably, even more via PPAs). IDK if one or more of them would suit your purposes.

Regards,
MDM

[Hoser Rob]

Iooking for a tiling window manager such as xmonad and/or bluetile, but these two seem only to work in gnome (xmonad works also as a standalone GUI but I wanted to keep the gnome menus etc... I use MATE now)

I've seen discussions where Xfce users added Quicktile, X-tile, et cetera (or just patched Xfwm) to add tiling features to that DE. How attached to MATE are you (I'm guessing "not very," since you tried to install GNOME just to add a tiling WM)? There's an Xfce version of Mint. Or you could try adding the Xfce metapackage (along with Xfce's goodies package and whatever else from Synaptic Package Manager that catches your eye when type "xf" (sans quotation marks) into its search box), but I haven't tried setting up a multi-DE system under Mint and, therefore, cannot guarantee that there won't be some kind of conflict (I'm not saying that there will be, just that I don't know).

I would guess that the above would be easier than trying to add GNOME to Mint, since Mint was built upon Ubuntu with part (much?) of the process undoubtedly being ripping out things that Mint users do not want - such as GNOME . Or, as has already been suggested, you could just install the Ubuntu distro. I wouldn't recommend doing so... the practice of installing Ubuntu has been known to cause users to hunt down and install a better distro. And then you'll just end up right back here (and that strikes me as somewhat amusing - but, overall, a circular waste of time).

BtW, there are other tiling window managers available via Synaptic (and, probably, even more via PPAs). IDK if one or more of them would suit your purposes.

Regards,
MDM

That's the first sensible thing I've seen.

If you want to use a window manager that uses less resources (which doesn't have to be a strictly tiling WM BTW) installing the gnome DE is the wrong way to do it.

You may want to try openbox, which will install straight from the repos, no problem. It's reliable and also very well documented, which is the first thing you want to look at with a DE component.

I haven't read it but I'm pretty sure there's decent stuff online about how to run Mate with openbox as a WM.

Or do what I did on my netbook running mint 17 mate. Just install lxde from the repos. It's a full DE based on openbox. I haven't used mate since. LXDE is pretty basic but it's fast.