Automate KDM at startup

[regday]

As a total newbie to Linux I tried the Knoppix CD and was sufficiently impressed to trash an old Win2000 system and do an install to harddisk. I installed Knoppix via the knoppix-installer but it threw up some error message right near the end and black-screened almost immediately so I couldn't read them, or for that matter do anything about it. I repeated the installation but the same happened again so I rebooted minus the CD just in case and to my surprise up came a commandline interface. I logged in as root and ran KDM. Everything seemed ok apart from the login buttons being in what appeared to be some foreign script but hitting enter got me into the KDE environment and I've been able to successfully setup my major apps. However, I would really like to automatically start the KDM login.

I've been reading a lot of Linux material, much at this stage reading like a foreign language, and think the /etc/init.d/xdm script is the key(and I guess login as root to edit it?), but don't know how to modify this to run KDM, can someone please help(I'll happily post my current file if necessary). Feel free to tell me I've got it hopelessly wrong as long as you can offer a solution!

Reg

[Markus]

You could check /etc/inittab to see if runlevel 5 (graphical) is the default, should have a line like:
# The default runlevel.
id:5:initdefault:
Also check /etc/rc5.d to see if KDM is started, you don't need XDM, you should have a line like:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 28 19:58 S99kdm -> ../init.d/kdm
If not, do: update-rc.d kdm defaults
BTW, you can remove XDM with: update-rc.d -f xdm remove

That said, you should boot the CD with the testcd cheatcode to see if it's ok, the installer could have left you with an incomplete install. Try installing from Ctrl-Alt-F1 instead of doing it from a GUI.

[regday]

You could check /etc/inittab to see if runlevel 5 (graphical) is the default, should have a line like:
# The default runlevel.
id:5:initdefault:

Checked and this is OK

Also check /etc/rc5.d to see if KDM is started, you don't need XDM, you should have a line like:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 28 19:58 S99kdm -> ../init.d/kdm
If not, do: update-rc.d kdm defaults
BTW, you can remove XDM with: update-rc.d -f xdm remove

I'm using the KDE interface as being new to Linux I'm not yet comfortable with the shell/commandline. Using Konqueror in my /etc/rc5.d I have two files and s99.kdm has a link attribute of ./init.d/kdm, and I'm assuming that this is the same thing?

I've just tried changing the line
HEED_DEFAULT_DISPLAY_MANAGER=true
to false as commented in the s99.kdm file but with no joy.

That said, you should boot the CD with the testcd cheatcode to see if it's ok, the installer could have left you with an incomplete install. Try installing from Ctrl-Alt-F1 instead of doing it from a GUI.

I did do the instal from the commandline and not a GUI, and running the testcd option gave a clean bill of health, but thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks for taking the time to respond, and all other suggestions welcomed.

Reg

[Markus]

I'm using the KDE interface as being new to Linux I'm not yet comfortable with the shell/commandline. Using Konqueror in my /etc/rc5.d I have two files and s99.kdm has a link attribute of ./init.d/kdm, and I'm assuming that this is the same thing?

What do you mean with two files? Mine looks like this:
markus@fujibox:~$ ll /etc/rc5.d
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 Apr 28 19:58 S10sysklogd -> ../init.d/sysklogd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Apr 28 19:58 S11klogd -> ../init.d/klogd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 28 19:58 S14ppp -> ../init.d/ppp
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 May 31 22:08 S18quotarpc -> ../init.d/quotarpc
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Apr 28 19:58 S20acpid -> ../init.d/acpid
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 Apr 28 19:58 S20alsa -> ../init.d/alsa
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 17 Apr 28 19:58 S20makedev -> ../init.d/makedev
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 Aug 3 11:49 S20pppstatus -> ../init.d/pppstatus
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 May 1 15:17 S20xfs -> ../init.d/xfs
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 May 16 19:45 S20xprint -> ../init.d/xprint
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Sep 12 18:20 S21aumix -> ../init.d/aumix
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 May 21 20:24 S35whereami -> ../init.d/whereami
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 Apr 28 19:58 S89cron -> ../init.d/cron
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 28 19:58 S99kdm -> ../init.d/kdm
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 Apr 28 19:58 S99rmnologin -> ../init.d/rmnologin

[shah]

Do a reinstall from gui (kde).

[regday]

I'm using the KDE interface as being new to Linux I'm not yet comfortable with the shell/commandline. Using Konqueror in my /etc/rc5.d I have two files and s99.kdm has a link attribute of ./init.d/kdm, and I'm assuming that this is the same thing?

What do you mean with two files? Mine looks like this:
markus@fujibox:~$ ll /etc/rc5.d
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 Apr 28 19:58 S10sysklogd -> ../init.d/sysklogd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Apr 28 19:58 S11klogd -> ../init.d/klogd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 28 19:58 S14ppp -> ../init.d/ppp
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 May 31 22:08 S18quotarpc -> ../init.d/quotarpc
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Apr 28 19:58 S20acpid -> ../init.d/acpid
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 Apr 28 19:58 S20alsa -> ../init.d/alsa
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 17 Apr 28 19:58 S20makedev -> ../init.d/makedev
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 Aug 3 11:49 S20pppstatus -> ../init.d/pppstatus
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 May 1 15:17 S20xfs -> ../init.d/xfs
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 May 16 19:45 S20xprint -> ../init.d/xprint
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Sep 12 18:20 S21aumix -> ../init.d/aumix
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 May 21 20:24 S35whereami -> ../init.d/whereami
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 Apr 28 19:58 S89cron -> ../init.d/cron
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 28 19:58 S99kdm -> ../init.d/kdm
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 Apr 28 19:58 S99rmnologin -> ../init.d/rmnologin

I used the terminal prog and got :-
rday@Linux1:~$ ll /etc/rc5.d
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 2004-09-24 11:57 S20cupsys -> ../init.d/cupsys
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 2004-09-24 11:57 S99kdm -> ../init.d/kdm

Reg

[regday]

Do a reinstall from gui (kde).

How would I do that?

Reg

[shah]

Boot from cdrom, when presented with boot prompt, hit <enter> if you prefer kernel 2.4.26 or use cheatcodes which I would suggest:
knoppix26 alsa <enter>

Knoppix will load to kde.
Once in kde, open konsole by clicking "tv" icon at the bottom and type this command:
su <enter>
knoppix-installer <enter>

Follow instruction, you don't need to create any partition because you already has that. I would suggest you choose debian like hdd installation, it less problematic to me. Also choose to install lilo to mbr.

[regday]

Boot from cdrom, when presented with boot prompt, hit <enter> if you prefer kernel 2.4.26 or use cheatcodes which I would suggest:
knoppix26 alsa <enter>

Knoppix will load to kde.
Once in kde, open konsole by clicking "tv" icon at the bottom and type this command:
su <enter>
knoppix-installer <enter>

Follow instruction, you don't need to create any partition because you already has that. I would suggest you choose debian like hdd installation, it less problematic to me. Also choose to install lilo to mbr.

If/When I decide to do a total reinstall I'll give your approach a try - thanks.

Reg

[Markus]

Sorry to say, but a reinstall might be in order. What type of install did you choose: Knoppix, Beginner, Debian?
Does anything happen when you boot with your current install and do: sudo init 5
You could also try Ctrl-Alt-F7 (or F5)?
BTW, how much RAM do you have, and partition size of install?
If would be nice to know what error messages you got, can you find anything in /var/log?