nxserver issue

**mbgb14** · 05-12-2006, 04:52 PM

Code:

mbrown@BROWN1:~$ su
Password:
root@BROWN1:/home/mbrown# nxserver --start
NX> 100 NXSERVER - Version 1.4.0-44 OS (GPL)
mv: cannot stat `/var/lib/nxserver/home/.ssh/authorized_keys2.disabled': No such file or directory
NX> 122 Service started
NX> 999 Bye
root@BROWN1:/home/mbrown# nxserver --status
NX> 100 NXSERVER - Version 1.4.0-44 OS (GPL)
NX> 110 NX Server is stopped
NX> 999 Bye
root@BROWN1:/home/mbrown#

What the heck? It worked on the livecd! Now I install and boom. It just don't work.

**Harry Kuhman** · 05-12-2006, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by mbgb14

What the heck? It worked on the livecd! Now I install and boom. It just don't work.

Happens all the time. If you didn't expect this then you didn't do your homework. See answer #2.

**mbgb14** · 05-12-2006, 05:59 PM

That's the second time you've sent me to that -- sigh. Basically you're totally saying that Knoppix isn't meant to be installed and that I'm stupid for doing so eh ?? :P hehe ...

**Harry Kuhman** · 05-12-2006, 06:22 PM

Originally Posted by mbgb14

That's the second time you've sent me to that -- sigh. Basically you're totally saying that Knoppix isn't meant to be installed and that I'm stupid for doing so eh ?? :P hehe ...

Then it must have been the second time you asked it.

No, you used the term stupid, I try to avoid flaming others that way (you are free to decide if it fits though). The above link will take you to the wiki and a section where warnings are posted about the known problems of trying to install Knoppix. In general the advice seems to be that it is not a wise thing for inexperienced Linux users to try to do, as it is not designed for hard disk install and installing it causes some well known problems, the most common be network problems (in fact the network failing to work is the oldest problem posted in the HDD Install forum and has been a problem for as long as I have been following these forums or using Knoppix). There are people who post that they get Knoppix installs to work, and sections in the wiki that lead you in that direction. You are free to believe them if you wish, but your own experience seems to support the position that problems that should not be there persist.

**mbgb14** · 05-12-2006, 06:25 PM

Well it shouldn't be there. I mean, if it was optional, I'd like it to be fixed, yes. But that's not something that happens overnight.
No worries. I'll just put my desktop distro back on.

**pau1knopp** · 05-12-2006, 07:49 PM

I always start my nxserver from the Knoppix menu or using

sudo /usr/bin/nxsetup-knoppix

as user knoppix.

If it broke when you did a hard drive install (I just prefer to run from Live CD for such reasons) you could try removing and reinstalling.

apt-get remove nxserver
reboot
apt-get install nxserver

Hope this helps

~pau1

**mbgb14** · 05-12-2006, 07:51 PM

Sweet. Do people really run their desktops from a livecd all the time? Like, I mean -- you really run it as a desktop without installing it. Just.. Off the CD? O_o

**Harry Kuhman** · 05-12-2006, 08:30 PM

Originally Posted by mbgb14

Sweet. Do people really run their desktops from a livecd all the time? Like, I mean -- you really run it as a desktop without installing it. Just.. Off the CD? O_o

Knoppix is a Live CD. As a live CD it has many great uses. It lets people get experience with Linux before they insatll anything. It is a great way to carry around a copy of Linux and run it sowmwhere without installing anything. And for me it is an important tool in my data recovery disc folder.

But it is not intended as an installed system. There are many better choices for installing to a hard disk. These range from true distros intended for hard disk (such as Debian, the distro that Knoppix is based on) to Live CD's that are better suited to use as a installed system (Katonix is often mentioned at this point in the conversation, although there are plenty of others). But Klaus has made some choices in building Knoppix that are extremely good choices as far as the live CD is concerned, but not good choices if someone insists on "installing" it. Things break when you try to install it, and the whole house of cards frequently collapses if you later try to install anything additional or update anything with the apg-get system.

Warnings are posted to that effect. If you choose to ignore them or to rush ahead without bothering to read the documentation, you can expect the results that you have.

To answer your question, yes, I frequently run Knoppix from disc (the only way that I run it). I also have several Debian installed systems. Now that I have answered your question, let me ask one: Why would anyone want to fight with a Knoppix hard disk install and all of the extra stuff that Knoppix includes that they will likely never use when they could more easily install Debiian Etch and have a smaller and more stable system, and install exactly the applications that they want with apt-get, choosing both from the applications that are included with Knoppix and the many more applications that are not in Knoppix but are included in the apt-get depository?

**mbgb14** · 05-12-2006, 09:11 PM

I hear so much about how its better for people to "have a base system and apt-get the applications they need" -- well. Often I find I don't know what I want until it's too late and I'm looking for it. Like, when I looked at the Knoppix DVD for the first time I was astonished. "Wow how in the name of ____ did they get all this ____ in here?!"

So yeah.

**Harry Kuhman** · 05-12-2006, 11:37 PM

Originally Posted by mbgb14

I hear so much about how its better for people to "have a base system and apt-get the applications they need" -- well.

Yea, well. That's certainly true of Debian. Apt-get is well known to break things in Knoppix. So I don't know where it is that you hear this, but you are not getting good advice.

Originally Posted by mbgb14

Often I find I don't know what I want until it's too late and I'm looking for it. Like, when I looked at the Knoppix DVD for the first time I was astonished. "Wow how in the name of ____ did they get all this ____ in here?!"

Another good thing about live CDs and DVD, they give you a chance to try a lot of packages before choosing to install one to your Linux system (but they don't give you the package to install). At one time, for example, Knoppix had at least four different spread sheet applications on the Live CD. I don't know how many it has now, but the Live DVD might have even more. There is no one program that is right for everyone and this gives you a great chance to try several. Or even just a way to have copies of applications that can open documents that are in formats that you normally don't use and can't open with your normal choice of software. But there is hardly any good reason to keep that many spreed sheet programs on your system, as well as that many or more word processors, several Power Point like presentation programs, and a dozen or more text editors. So it really doesn't make a lot of sense to install Knoppix and all of it's included applications when you can install a base line Debian system and then apt0get the applications that you want (even if you could install Knoppix cleanly).

As for how they got it all on there: two things help a lot: Compression (the CD would take about 2 gigs if not compressed) and by picking and choosing carefully from different distros that generally are not intended to be mixed and may otherwise have problems wroking together). When you apt-get update you do things that break this delicate balancing act. And while the CD is full, the 4.0.2 DVD had plenty more space available on it (I don't know the status of the 5.0 DVD, or if it can even be downloaded and burnt on a Win98 system).