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Trouble with LightDM


raymac46

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As some of you may recall I have an old Toshiba netbook (64 bit Atom) which I use to experiment with Arch Linux. I installed LightDM as my login screen.

After I installed the LXQt desktop as an alternative to Xfce, I began to have some issues with LightDM resolution. The native resolution on this netbook is 1024X600, and I think I was getting 800X600 because when I booted up I had black bars on the sides of the screen (pillarboxing.)

After I logged in, sometimes the resolution corrected, sometimes not.

I did some research and one common remedy was to set up a script in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf to get it right. I tried this (it uses xrandr) but I didn't get the parameters right and after a reboot I got a blank screen and couldn't do anything.

I had to rescue the system with a USB stick of Arch and set the lightdm.conf file back to the way it was before.

Then I found a simpler - brute force and ignorance - way to solve the problem, by DEFINING the native graphics in GRUB and passing them on to the kernel. This is OK because I'll never have any other monitor hooked up to this crummy little netbook. Now I get a full screen all the time both in the Display Manager and also in the running system.

I still don't know why this happened. I use LightDM on my other laptop that runs Debian GNOME and I never encountered any problems with resolution. I don't know if it is a bug in LightDM, or in X, or in Xfce or just the creaky old Intel Graphics 3150 in the netbook. It sure took me down the rabbit hole for a while.

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Was everything fine before you added LXQt? I like using LightDM, and I have it in Arch with Xfce and LXDE installed; but, I haven't seen any issues with LightDM. (Yet!)

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I have decided to remove the LXQt desktop on the netbook as it has other instabilities I don't like. For instance, Abiword has a lot of flickering and jumpiness in the display - something I never see with Xfce. Xfce has been rock stable with Arch.

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It may be the antiquated hardware I'm running Arch on. I tried LXQt on a newer Thinkpad and I haven't had any issues so far.

<Edit> I just fired up LXQt on the Thinkpad in Debian and it seems to be far more stable. I tried Abiword and I am not getting any of that flickery stuff. This is on a far better computer in every way.

Edited by raymac46
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securitybreach

Meh, why use a login manager when ~/.xinitrc and startx works just fine? I never really seen the need to have a purty login screen... I think of it like customizing the bootloader.. why when you only see it for a split second once in a while?

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No I prefer to use a display manager - but that's up to you. I find it makes it easy to switch DEs if I want to.

Edited by raymac46
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securitybreach

No I prefer to use a display manager - but that's up to you. I find it makes it easy to switch DEs if I want to.

 

All I would have to do is edit ~/.xinitrc. Comment one out and uncomment the other. Here is mine for instance:

#!/bin/sh
#
# ~/.xinitrc
#
## Executed by startx (run your window manager from here)

#Monitor settingss
redshift &
xrandr --output DP-2 --scale 0.7x0.7

#Services
xautolock -time 10 -locker /home/comhack/.scripts/screenlock &
urxvtd -q -o -f &
udiskie &
xrdb -q &
nitrogen --restore &
mpd &

#Disable CapsLock
setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocaps &

#Modmap
if [ -f $HOME/.Xmodmap ]; then
/usr/bin/xmodmap $HOME/.Xmodmap
fi

#Environments
exec i3
#exec dwm
#exec cinnamon-session

 

So basically I would just put a # in from of exec i3 and remove the # in front of exec cinnamon-session to switch from i3 to Cinnamon. Then type startx

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securitybreach, doing all that, just to be able to log into a different DE or WM session, seems like a hassle to me. I mean, compared to simply choosing a different session type from the login screen.

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securitybreach

securitybreach, doing all that, just to be able to log into a different DE or WM session, seems like a hassle to me. I mean, compared to simply choosing a different session type from the login screen.

 

I can do it as fast as it takes you to click a different one in LightDM. If you know vim, you can hop around and edit a document very fast.

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securitybreach, doing all that, just to be able to log into a different DE or WM session, seems like a hassle to me. I mean, compared to simply choosing a different session type from the login screen.

 

I can do it as fast as it takes you to click a different one in LightDM. If you know vim, you can hop around and edit a document very fast.

 

Really? It takes me two clicks with LightDM. No need to open and edit a document.

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securitybreach

Well I can boot and be in i3 in 6 seconds. (I can type username/password and startx in a couple of seconds)

 

comhack@Cerberus ~ % systemd-analyze
Startup finished in 2.296s (kernel) + 886ms (userspace) = 3.183s

 

comhack@Cerberus ~ % systemd-analyze blame
17.083s updatedb.service
7.119s logrotate.service
4.642s man-db.service
1.232s pgl.service
289ms monitorix.service
241ms systemd-modules-load.service
228ms alsa-restore.service
228ms lm_sensors.service
226ms systemd-logind.service
223ms catalyst-hook.service
220ms dev-sda1.device
217ms network.service
216ms cpupower.service
216ms urxvtd@comhack.service
210ms systemd-user-sessions.service
132ms systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\x2duuid-c30db2b6\x2d90d1\x2d41f1\x2d9d75\x2d6659c0fde970.service
127ms systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\x2duuid-3067b591\x2d934e\x2d4c73\x2da4a7\x2de5d9da6c267a.service
114ms systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\x2duuid-cb0d6b0f\x2d1c2a\x2d46c8\x2d99eb\x2dbbe4e1bcb1b5.service
95ms systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\x2duuid-3fc84665\x2d73ed\x2d46ed\x2da4c6\x2d31d4ce2bc1b7.service
64ms backup2.mount
45ms systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\x2duuid-7609a908\x2db7a1\x2d4242\x2dab4c\x2d3ee3cc538afb.service
44ms MEDIA.mount
43ms udisks2.service
36ms systemd-udevd.service
34ms Various.mount
32ms colord.service
26ms user@1000.service
25ms systemd-udev-trigger.service
24ms systemd-journald.service
22ms polkit.service
18ms backup.mount
18ms shadow.service
17ms systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service
17ms systemd-vconsole-setup.service
17ms kmod-static-nodes.service
16ms systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\x2duuid-86a184ad\x2d40b3\x2d46c3\x2db405\x2de7e06fb57ad6.service
16ms systemd-remount-fs.service
15ms systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service
14ms dev-hugepages.mount

 

I get your point but it takes seconds to edit a file and type startx afterwards.

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So basically I would just put a # in from of exec i3 and remove the # in front of exec cinnamon-session to switch from i3 to Cinnamon. Then type startx

 

For a guy that keeps on hammering away at how minimalist his set up is typing "startx" all the time seems rather long winded :whistling: I do not use a log in manager and need startx to fire up me Window Maker but I use "x" as an alias. Seems much quicker to me than typing out "startx" but what do I know I'm only a retired old duffer. :harhar:

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securitybreach

So basically I would just put a # in from of exec i3 and remove the # in front of exec cinnamon-session to switch from i3 to Cinnamon. Then type startx

 

For a guy that keeps on hammering away at how minimalist his set up is typing "startx" all the time seems rather long winded :whistling: I do not use a log in manager and need startx to fire up me Window Maker but I use "x" as an alias. Seems much quicker to me than typing out "startx" but what do I know I'm only a retired old duffer. :harhar:

 

All the time? You mean like once a week or so when I get a kernel update? My machines do not power off ever B)

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Dang. This isn't the first I've read that makes me think that LXQt isn't yet where I'd like it to be. I'm gonna wait for it to mature a bit.

 

I would agree with this Saturnian. I'm really liking LXQt, and it's getting to that place fairly quickly, but it isn't there yet. It's perfectly usable "as is", but with unexpected hiccups on occasion. It's a fairly young desktop environment that was designed from scratch, so the polish isn't quite there yet for everyday users like us. Close, but not quite...

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