cant log in at all

[David Curtis]

On Wed, 2008-06-25 at 15:09 +0200, Donny George wrote:
> hello
> 
> i am working on an ubuntu 8.04 with gnome desktop and as part of
> running a software called COMSOL i had to install the XFree86. the
> command i used was 
> sh Xinstall.sh 
> 
> and i had many tar.gz files installed once i put in the command
> mentioned earlier, like Xman.tar.gz, Xdoc.tar.gz, Xlib.tar.gz etc
> 
> and once i restarted i dont even get the log in screen. but i do get
> the text mode. 
> 
> is there any way to return to the previous settings like we do in
> windows. 
> 
> or is there at all any way to return to my previous desktop. 
> 
> i tried some links and did the command
> 
> apt-get remove x-window-system-core
> 
> it returned an error 
> 
> Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
> 
> can anyone someone tell me how to get to my desktop please
> 
> thnx for all the help
> 
> donny
> 

If I get this straight, you've installed XFree86 from a tarball over
Xorg for the purposes of running COMSOL. You've lost GDM (graphical
login) but can login to a console.

At the console prompt type in 'startx' and see what happens.  I can't
help you with XFree86 as I have not used it proper since the xorg fork.

Are you aware that xorg is a fork of XFree86 4.4 RC2 and is what ships
with all ubuntu flavors? I.E. they're pretty much the same thing.

Are you sure you need to install XFree86 to run COMSOL?

Installing XFree86 on top of xorg (to me) is problematic as they may or
may not share the same files. 

I would suggest the best way to go would be to install ubuntu CLI only
(command line interface) and then proceed to install XFree86 on top of
that thereby rolling out your own GUI.

Dave