TIFU & tigervnc

General system Newbie
1

So you may have seen my previous post. I had tigervnc working. That was short lived.

I was messing with my system and managed to do something that messed it up in terms of graphics. On boot it would hang trying to launch the GUI but I could still singleboot or C-A-F2 into a login prompt. Great.

I eventually tried uninstalling tigervnc and tada! Everything works. Super. So I’ll just go ahead and reinstall it again…nope. Right back to where I was.

Any system repair tips? I have some data I want preserved (Gigs worth) so I don’t want to do a clean wipe and reinstall if I can avoid it.

Obviously I can keep things as is and not have VNC installed. If I have to live with that I can, but it’s not my preferred solution.

Thanks again!

2

What is TIFU and C-A-F2?

For what you need a GUI on a Server? That would be the first Question.

And if you need really a GUI on a Server than you would be better advised to install proxmox first. Then you would have a Machine with a “real” Monitor connected to it (the VM thinks it is).

3

I’m guessing “Think I F*cked Up” and “Ctrl-Alt-F2”

1 Like
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ah ok :sweat_smile:

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Edited to mask the swear word. Apparently I offended someone - I was literally just trying to define the acronym, sorry for any offense.

Today I F**** Up. :slight_smile: https://www.cyberdefinitions.com/definitions/TIFU.html
And yes, ctl-alt-f2. I was trying to type with a :cat: on my lap a the time, made it challenging.

Another odd thing that happened without my intending this is my MAC address on my wlan0 changed. That messed up my static DHCP settings on my router, but it was an easy fix. Quite surprising though.

I’ve moved my data over to a separate disk, so I’m toying with just doing a whole system rewrite from scratch. I’d rather not though, since that’s work and stuff. :slight_smile:

1 Like
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Like said, give a look at https://www.proxmox.com/

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I am familiar with proxmox but haven’t administered it - my experience is limited to being around people who administered it, using guest OS machines, etc.

The primary purpose of the machine is a plex server. I have that set up and working. The GUI component is mostly for my own learning experience. I haven’t worked with Arch or derivatives and wanted to “kick the tires”. I can work with just the CLI fine, the GUI is simply a nice to have.

As of today I have my machine connected to a monitor so if I desperately need to do gui tasks I can just go to the console. This is definitely a “nice to have” rather than a “need”.

EDIT: Forgot to say…not sure what proxmox would by me here. It’s inside the guest OS that I’d be interested in the GUI anyway, not as a general administration thing. I expect more often than not most of my administration will be over ssh.

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Basically, you want to remote into a server right?

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You misunderstood me. With Proxmox you can install your plex server. And beside that a secound Vm with KDE/Gnome/What_ever wich you can play with.

You can play around, mess things up. And if everything is destroyed, you can roll a snapshot back :smile:

10

True. Something to ponder. :slight_smile:

I’m sure the answer is “negligible”, but what kind of performance penalty do you get for running proxmox bare metal and the guest OS underneath?

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Right, but I did something in my attempt to clean up that messed up the system in some way. Now installing tigervnc causes the system to “hang” on boot, although the CLI is still available via Ctl-Alt-F2. X refuses to load and errors out.

I wish I knew what exactly I have done - I’m sure I accidentally deleted some file that is significant to setting up the remote GUI.

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I used tigerVNC once but I had issues with it. GUI getting stuck and all. I’ve been using AnyDesk with unattended access.

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And reinstalling isnt a option?

Doing it right in the first place, would avoid many problems like that.

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Reinstalling is an option now that I’ve moved my data to a separate drive. (Yesterday’s project.)

And I totally agree about the do it right first mantra, that’s part of why I was reaching out for advice from others more familiar with the OS.

15

Can you do what you need to do in a cli? ssh in?

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Ok. Than i suggest to make you familiar with Proxmox :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Install that on the Laptop. Then create a VM for Plex, and a VM for your education machine. In Proxmox you can very easy create Snapshots and roll back if you have destroyed anything.

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Yeah, I think I’m going to take your advice here and give that a try. Proxmox has been on my “like to learn” list anyway, so this is a great excuse.

Thanks everyone. :slight_smile:

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Mostly yes, I have ssh set up already and will be doing most tasks via ssh. The machine is attached to a monitor now so if I have a GUI based task I can always go to the console.

I’m going to take the advice of someone here and go ahead and install a hypervisor and do this all as VMs.

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