Fresh F12 installation but no GUI.

gerryatric · #1 16th February 2010, 04:55 PM

I am a newbie who would be very grateful for some help.

I recently bought an F12 DVD (from a UK supplier) which I took to be a “full distribution”. But looking back on the web site it was not described as such.

After booting I selected the Replace Existing Linux System option and it listed the installation of 204 packages - much smaller than the 933 packages when I installed F9.

The kernel is now FEDORA (2.6.31.5-127.fc12.i686.PAE)

My problem is that I am now faced with a very intimidating terminal. I am sure the installation did not offer a graphical interface. I have tried to get Gnome running by following the Installation Guide :-

1) 7.4.2 Booting into a Graphical Environment
I type in - gedit /etc/inittab
and I get back - -bash: gedit: command not found

2) 15.3 Switching to a Graphical Login
I type - yum group install “GNOME Desktop Environment”
Response - Error: Cannot retrieve repository metadata (repomd.xml) for repository: fedora. Please verify its path and try again.

3) Again under 15.3 - bullet point 3)
Type - /etc/inittab
Response - -bash: /etc/inittab: permission denied

I have now run out of ideas. I’m sure it is not supposed to be difficult but I don’t understand the implications of the command line responses. Can anybody please give me a few pointers on what to try next.

I really don’t want to be condemned to a win dependency.

Gerry.

***glennzo*** · #2 16th February 2010, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerryatric

I am a newbie who would be very grateful for some help.

I recently bought an F12 DVD (from a UK supplier) which I took to be a “full distribution”. But looking back on the web site it was not described as such.

After booting I selected the Replace Existing Linux System option and it listed the installation of 204 packages - much smaller than the 933 packages when I installed F9.

The kernel is now FEDORA (2.6.31.5-127.fc12.i686.PAE)

My problem is that I am now faced with a very intimidating terminal. I am sure the installation did not offer a graphical interface. I have tried to get Gnome running by following the Installation Guide :-

1) 7.4.2 Booting into a Graphical Environment
I type in - gedit /etc/inittab
and I get back - -bash: gedit: command not found

You need root access to run many of the commands in Linux. Also, gedit isn't going to work without a GUI. Try

Code:

nano /etc/inittab

If that fails and if there is a root account for this installation and you know the password, do the following:

Code:

su -
<password>
nano /etc/inittab

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerryatric

2) 15.3 Switching to a Graphical Login
I type - yum group install “GNOME Desktop Environment”
Response - Error: Cannot retrieve repository metadata (repomd.xml) for repository: fedora. Please verify its path and try again.

Your Internet connection is working, right? If not, yum will fail every time. If the Internet connection is working, and again if there is root access (you'll need it for yum) try

Code:

su -
<password>
yum groupinstall 'Gnome Desktop Environment'

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerryatric

3) Again under 15.3 - bullet point 3)
Type - /etc/inittab
Response - -bash: /etc/inittab: permission denied

Again, root access needed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerryatric

I have now run out of ideas. I’m sure it is not supposed to be difficult but I don’t understand the implications of the command line responses. Can anybody please give me a few pointers on what to try next.

I really don’t want to be condemned to a win dependency.

Gerry.

You're not condemned to a Windows dependency. Probably the best thing for you to do would be to get yourself a copy of the real Fedora 12 installation DVD and install from that. It will take less time in the long run. It appears that fiddling with this disk that you have will be, in the end, the long way around to get a full Fedora install.

gerryatric · #3 17th February 2010, 10:36 AM

Glennzo - thanks for your sugestions. I'm sorry I seem to have missed out a most important piece of information in my first post - in all I did previously I had logged in as root. The prompt I had was:
[root@localhost ~]#

I tried the nano /etc/inittab line and got the response:-
-bash: nano: command not found.

I have tried the other two lines again with exactly the same result.

So, I need a 'real' Fedora 12 installation DVD. I understand I need to buy this from a third party not Fedora. The disc I bought from linuxiso.co.uk seemed genuine. How do I trust one supplier any more than another?

Gerry.

***glennzo*** · #4 17th February 2010, 10:43 AM

You don't need to buy Fedora at all. You download the DVD ISO file (3-4 GB), burn a disc and install from that. Of course, this is assuming that you have the bandwidth to download a file that large in a reasonable amount of time and that there are no restrictions on your bandwidth usage. The Fedora Project has worldwide links for downloading Fedora, as well as other procurement options, http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora

Here's another editor suggestion, although it may be tough to use if you've never used it, vi. For example, with root access

Code:

vi /etc/inittab

gerryatric · #5 17th February 2010, 05:31 PM

Glennzo - Thanks.

I was aware of the download option but a broadband speed of 1Mb/s gives me a download time of about 7 hours ! - hence I bought the disc.

But, - I think I may have stumbled across the cause.

I decided to repeat the installation to check I hadn't missed something. Once anaconda started I happened to catch sight of a brief message right at the bottom of the screen. A photograph revealed the text - "You do not have enough RAM to use the graphical installer. Starting text mode."

Now I have 250 MB onboard and I read a wiki titled Documentation Beats Hardware Overview - Processor and Memory Requirements for x86 Architectures. This gives 192 MB minimum for a graphical interface and a recommendation of 250 MB.

Could this be the answer? I'm quite happy to stick in some more RAM. The machine needs it anyway and I feel I perhaps haven't given the disc a proper chance. I'd value your opinion.

Gerry.

**AdamW** · #6 18th February 2010, 12:55 AM

gerryatric: yeah, that would explain most of your symptoms. I think the Wiki page you read is outdated, sorry you found that one. I believe we cut it off at 256MB in F12. The text installer doesn't let you choose what packages to install, does not install X by default and generally goes with a fairly minimal package set, so that all joins up.

Just bumping your RAM to 256MB or higher should do the job. I'd recommend 512MB, really, as a minimum for a decent desktop experience these days. Shouldn't cost too much.

gerryatric · #7 18th February 2010, 09:15 PM

Thanks AdamW, chips are on their way. I will report when I have a result.

Regards, Gerry.

gerryatric · #8 22nd February 2010, 02:28 PM

Success! I upped the RAM to 512M and the full installation just went like a dream.

I'm so pleased to have my trusty old machine back.

So, thank you both for your advice and patience.

I will now endeavour to get up to speed with my new O/S.

Regards, Gerry.

**AdamW** · #9 2nd March 2010, 07:13 PM

great, glad it worked! sorry for the inconvenience.