Trying to remove Gnome desktop and only have XFCE

Issues related to applications and software problems
Post Reply
bareman
Posts: 4
Joined: 2014/08/30 06:15:34

Trying to remove Gnome desktop and only have XFCE

Post by bareman » 2014/09/14 00:57:15

I've just started to try out CentOS 6.5 on my IBM X345 server (dual 2.8GHz 32bit Xeon Processors, 4GB ram) and want to use XFCE as my desktop and remove Gnome.

I've tried 3 times to remove all of gnome but each time I end up with the system not loading the desktop but stopping when the bar at the bottom of the screen turns all white.

I have watched the dependencies as I have removed gnome packages but nothing stands out in the lists of dependents to remove.

I now need help to firstly restore the gnome packages I have removed and then filter out those I don't have to keep.

Since 2008 I have been running various combinations of archlinux and ubuntu on my range of systems.

mick

Tried to reload the destop groups and killed it completely, now I'm reinstalling from scratch. :cry:

glennzo
Posts: 54
Joined: 2005/03/06 19:44:55

Re: Trying to remove Gnome desktop and only have XFCE

Post by glennzo » 2014/09/14 07:22:18

Yeah, removing the Gnome desktop from any Linux OS is never a good thing. There are way too many dependencies and the end result is just what you experienced. You'll be far better off by deselecting the Gnome desktop and choosing an alternative desktop during the install process.
Powered by Fedora and CentOS

scottro
Forum Moderator
Posts: 2556
Joined: 2007/09/03 21:18:09
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: Trying to remove Gnome desktop and only have XFCE

Post by scottro » 2014/09/14 18:02:46

Depending upon how much work you feel like doing, you can do a minimal installation, add X afterwards (without a desktop) and then install xfce from EPEL.
New users should check the FAQ and Read Me First pages

jsalpha2
Posts: 9
Joined: 2014/09/14 20:33:06

Re: Trying to remove Gnome desktop and only have XFCE

Post by jsalpha2 » 2014/09/14 20:52:07

Depending upon how much work you feel like doing, you can do a minimal installation, add X afterwards (without a desktop) and then install xfce from EPEL.
New user here. I tried doing this today using Google to find the exact steps to take, but could never reach a desktop. startxfce4 not found, init 6 caused reboot? Most of the instructions were from version 6.8 or older, but they should have been the same. Maybe a link to the current step by step instructions? I finally gave up and am downloading the Everything ISO. I hope there is an option to select the Xfce Desktop there. On the regular DVD I can only chose Gnome or KDE or a Creative Workstation option.

PS not to complain but, the answer to the
CentOS is distribution of what sort of operating system?
Server, Enterprise, Community,Red Hat, and Great were all my first guesses. So you can see I will need a little extra help.

Thanks in advance.

jsalpha2
Posts: 9
Joined: 2014/09/14 20:33:06

Re: Trying to remove Gnome desktop and only have XFCE

Post by jsalpha2 » 2014/09/14 22:27:33

What I've tried so far
Booted from Everything ISO
Still could not find an option to install Xfce
Installed minimal again
Reboot -select Centos
login:
Password:
sudo su
password
root prompt-then

# yum groupinstall -y 'X Window System'
# yum install wget
# wget http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/e ... rpm<h1>rpm -ivh epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm</h1> (not sure what the <h1> tags do)
or
# wget http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/e ... noarch.rpm (maybe I should try to change 6-8 to 7-0)
# rpm -ivh epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm
# yum groupinstall "Xfce" "X Window System" "Fonts"<h1>reboot</h1>
# yum install xorg-x11-fonts-Type1 xorg-x11-fonts-misc
Run the below given command
init 6

# /sbin/telinit 5
# $ startxfce4
code language="js"]# /sbin/telinit 5[/code]

Code: Select all

startxfce4
Logout & login again by selecting "xfce-session" as session from login screen. (never get to the real login screen)
Not giving up yet.

bareman
Posts: 4
Joined: 2014/08/30 06:15:34

Re: Trying to remove Gnome desktop and only have XFCE

Post by bareman » 2014/09/15 00:42:09

jsalpha2 wrote:What I've tried so far
Booted from Everything ISO
Still could not find an option to install Xfce
at the "what to install" screen, add the appropriate EPEL repo and select customise now. Select xfce from the list. When you get to the logon dialog enter password BUT BEFORE CLICKING OK, go to the bottom line of the screen and click on the gnome entry and you get a choice of gnome or xfce.
Installed minimal again
Reboot -select Centos
login:
Password:
sudo su
password
root prompt-then

# yum groupinstall -y 'X Window System'
# yum install wget
# wget http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/e ... rpm<h1>rpm -ivh epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm</h1> (not sure what the <h1> tags do)
<h1></h1> is the html tag to set the text sytle to Heading 1, remove it or cut n paste a bit tighter.
or
# wget http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/e ... noarch.rpm (maybe I should try to change 6-8 to 7-0)
# rpm -ivh epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm
# yum groupinstall "Xfce" "X Window System" "Fonts"<h1>reboot</h1>
# yum install xorg-x11-fonts-Type1 xorg-x11-fonts-misc
Run the below given command
init 6
init 6 sets the system to runlevel 6 (SHUTDOWN).
# /sbin/telinit 5
# $ startxfce4
code language="js"]# /sbin/telinit 5[/code]

Code: Select all

startxfce4
Logout & login again by selecting "xfce-session" as session from login screen. (never get to the real login screen)
Not giving up yet.
To get a real commandline session press CTL plus ALT and function key 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8.

mik
Last edited by bareman on 2014/09/15 03:36:11, edited 1 time in total.

bareman
Posts: 4
Joined: 2014/08/30 06:15:34

Re: Trying to remove Gnome desktop and only have XFCE

Post by bareman » 2014/09/15 01:08:35

glennzo wrote:Yeah, removing the Gnome desktop from any Linux OS is never a good thing. There are way too many dependencies and the end result is just what you experienced. You'll be far better off by deselecting the Gnome desktop and choosing an alternative desktop during the install process.
Since the beginning, RPM based systems have been plagued by incomplete dependency lists resulting in the type of situation I am in. I choose a package to remove, carefully scan the subsequent actions list, find nothing that suggests a problem, proceed with removal and find that several packages I need have been broken due to unspecified dependencies.

Oh the joys of Linux

mik

jsalpha2
Posts: 9
Joined: 2014/09/14 20:33:06

Re: Trying to remove Gnome desktop and only have XFCE

Post by jsalpha2 » 2014/09/15 12:49:22

at the "what to install" screen, add the appropriate EPEL repo and select customise now. Select xfce from the list. When you get to the logon dialog enter password BUT BEFORE CLICKING OK, go to the bottom line of the screen and click on the gnome entry and you get a choice of gnome or xfce.
Thanks, How do I "add the appropriate EPEL repo" I don't see a way to do that.

I can't even find the "what to install" screen. At the installation Source Screen I added http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/be ... noarch.rpm
then it re-verified the media. There was no customize now option.

bareman
Posts: 4
Joined: 2014/08/30 06:15:34

Re: Trying to remove Gnome desktop and only have XFCE

Post by bareman » 2014/09/16 00:36:17

jsalpha2 wrote:
at the "what to install" screen, add the appropriate EPEL repo and select customise now. Select xfce from the list. When you get to the logon dialog enter password BUT BEFORE CLICKING OK, go to the bottom line of the screen and click on the gnome entry and you get a choice of gnome or xfce.
Thanks, How do I "add the appropriate EPEL repo" I don't see a way to do that.

I can't even find the "what to install" screen. At the installation Source Screen I added http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/be ... noarch.rpm
then it re-verified the media. There was no customize now option.
In my case it was as simple as entering:-
http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/i386
I have a server with dual 32 bit XEON processors so I'm stuck at ver 6.5.

a bit of a search sugests you want this one based on the url you list:-
http://mirror.overthewire.com.au/pub/ep ... noarch.rpm

the 6.5 installer has two radio buttons on the bottom line at the left - [*]customise later [ ]customise now
if my memory serves (its not very different if I'm wrong.

none of this defeats Gnome's jealous protection of its "prefered desktop" status. I've got more digging to do yet.

hope this helps

mik

jsalpha2
Posts: 9
Joined: 2014/09/14 20:33:06

Re: Trying to remove Gnome desktop and only have XFCE

Post by jsalpha2 » 2014/09/16 02:45:07

Thanks for the help, will try again.

Post Reply