Today I needed to do a clean install. I downloaded and installed the distro as usual choosing similar installer options as I did in the past (however I didn’t install CUPS this time because idk what’s up with that vulnerabilities).

After a reboot and fixing some systemd-boot freeze issues in BIOS, the system started and the GDM login prompt appeared without any issues. But there was no usual gear icon in the corner that lets you choose between Wayland, X11 and GNOME Classic modes.

I tried to log in but I got my usual Wayland issue (2/3 of the screen is black and 1/3 is artifacting). So I needed to switch to X11 to figure out if I can do anything about the issue this time.

I rebooted to fix the display issue and entered CLI mode (ctrl + alt + f2). I checked for xorg packages and they were indeed installed. However doing startx gave an error about XAuthority not being configured and launched an empty session with 3 or 4 xterm windows.

For those thinking of the 61st /usr/lib rule, I do not have an NVidia GPU so that’s not the issue.

So, all of that made me think that new releases of EndeavourOS come with the stupid X11-less version of GNOME. Can I add the support myself via CLI or do I have to install an X11-only DE and use that to compile a version of GNOME with mandatory X11?

EDIT: everyone said that I should change the hardware but I figured out a fix myself. It turned out it was actually a distro issue.

  • eldavi
    21·
    2 months ago

    i hit the easy button on my latest setup with a linux laptop from a linux manufacturer complete with its thier own OS with its own paid maintainers and reading your post reminded of the efforts like this that i don’t do anymore because of that easy button.

    it’s been 5-ish years for me so bare with me while i try to catch up while we troubleshoot this together:

    i’m unfamiliar with endeaverOS; is it a redhat or debian variant; which release/version?

    what’s the nvidia gpu model and are you planning on sticking with wayland and gnome?

        • GolfNovemberUniformOP
          41·
          2 months ago

          I highly doubt that but, in case you’re telling the truth, let me explain.

          EndeavourOS is popular and based on Arch Linux which is another popular rolling release distro. Rolling releases don’t have actual releases btw. They just update ISOs once in a while and call it releases.

          What was a red flag for me in your message was the part about NVidia. I literally said my GPU is not NVidia and you asked what NVidia GPU I had. That sounded very much like trolling.

          Also I think I saw you reply to one of my joke comments so I thought this could be your own one.

          • eldavi
            3·
            2 months ago

            thanks for explaining and i think i can understand your perspective.

            if i understand you correctly: the lemmyverse has likewise made me weary and i had the realization that my paranoia of trolls where at an all time high because of the election.

            i read through your post quickly the first time about because of that paranoia and made many assumptions based on my own experiences. as i said earlier; i haven’t touched this area of my knowledge in several years and all of the questions always seemed to involve the word nvidia in the past and i assumed this was one of them.

            i’m geniune in my effort to reach out and i think can prove it by trying to help: we need more information. Do you have access to the system’s logs that would contain the package installation details?

            • GolfNovemberUniformOP
              1·
              2 months ago

              Ok, mister/miss, thank you for such an advanced explanation and absence of fight creation.

              Do you have access to the system’s logs that would contain the package installation details?

              I have access to the system via CLI but idk where I can find the logs. After all I don’t even know how to use curl or grep. I’m not a very advanced user.

              • eldavi
                1·
                2 months ago

                i’m going to assume that endeaveros is using systemd so you’ll need journalctl and sudo at a minimum.

                do you have access to both? as in can you run both commands?

                • GolfNovemberUniformOP
                  1·
                  2 months ago

                  I can run all commands. I just can’t start the GUI. I’d also assume that commands like btop (TTY tools that require full color or image support) won’t work.

                  Also I can’t access anything after a GUI login attempt without a reboot so if the logs aren’t saved, I can’t access them.

                  • eldavi
                    1·
                    2 months ago

                    in your shoes: i would run journalctl -f to watch the logs scroll by on screen in one virtual terminal (whatever the systemd equivalent is nowadays; it was alt+ctrl+f1 through f7 back i the sysv-init days) and try to log in again on the base xserver virtual terminal and try to watch for errors/failures/warnings messages from that those scrolling logs.

                    journalctl is a unifiied logging system that comes with systemd so your logs are likely to persist there and it has built in tools to help you narrow it down if you see anything in the logs.