I configured my kernel as shown here. That was based on the information found here and here. Check out the resources section at the bottom.
Because my kernel is good-to-go, I should just need to make the following changes to my make.conf file before installing xorg-server.
nano /etc/portage/make.conf
These are the changes I made.
INPUT_DEVICES="evdev"
VIDEO_CARDS="nouveau"
Make sure you have the following USE flag.
echo "x11-base/xorg-server" >> /etc/portage/package.use
Before installing xorg-server.
emerge --ask xorg-server
Now refresh your environment.
env-update source /etc/profile
I choose to reboot here.
Starting X
Xorg “should” work out-of-the-box so there “should” be no need to manually create and edit configuration file in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ directory. Here goes…
startx
The Necessary Troubleshooting
Obviously that didn’t work because that would be too easy!! The output showed xauth complaining about a few things, namely stuff like.
hostname Unknown host xauth: file /root/.serverauth.4170 does not exist
Then Xorg tries to start but fails with this.
/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc: line 59: twm: command not found /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc: line 60: xclock: command not found /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc: line 61: xterm: command not found /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc: line 63: exec: xterm: not found /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc: line 62: xterm: command not found xinit: connection to X server lost waiting for X server to shut down Server terminated successfully (0). Closing log file.
The Fix
Funnily enough, it was the hostname Unknown host message that bothered me the most as this indicates a general networking issue. Turned out I hadn’t associated my hostname with the localhost. This was easily solved by editing /etc/hosts and amending the below line. This removed that particular error but did not get Xorg working.
127.0.0.1 localhost storm
Now I have a fairly good idea what might be up here but if all this is new to you and your Xorg is failing with similar messages, there a few clues in errors.
One thing to bear in mind is that users of X must be part of the video group. I thought this might explain the xauth warnings. However this can be easily checked with.
storm ~ # groups andy root bin daemon sys adm disk wheel floppy tape video
Lastly, as per the docs, I believe twm and xterm should be installed. This certainly fits with the last few errors.
emerge --ask twm xterm xclock
This will pull in a few extra packages but hopefully Xorg should work now. Although not strictly necessary, I install xclock here too.
Nice!
Resources
Gentoo Wiki – Xorg/Configuration
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Xorg/Configuration
Gentoo Wiki – X server
http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/X_server
Gentoo Wiki – X without Display Manager
http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/X_without_Display_Manager
Linux Reviews – Screenshot grabbing
http://linuxreviews.org/quicktips/screenshots
======================================
Gentoo Wiki Archives – Dell_2407WFP_LCD
http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/Dell_2407WFP_LCD
Gentoo Wiki – xorg.conf
http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Xorg.conf
Gentoo – X.Org/xsession
http://gentoo-en.vfose.ru/wiki/X.Org/xsession
Gentoo Wiki – Fontconfig
http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Fontconfig
Gentoo Wiki Archives – HOWTO_Xorg_and_Fonts
http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/HOWTO_Xorg_and_Fonts#Emerging_the_Necessary_Packages
Gentoo.org – rxvt-unicode
http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Rxvt-unicode
ArchLinux – Multihead
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Multihead
ArchLinux – Nouveau
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Nouveau#Configuration
ArchLinux – Xorg
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xorg
ArchLinux – X resources
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/X_resources#rxvt-unicode_.28urxvt.29_resources
ArchLinux – rxvt-unicode
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Urxvt#Creating_.7E.2F.Xresources
pod.tst.eu – RXVT-UNICODE/URXVT FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
http://pod.tst.eu/http://cvs.schmorp.de/rxvt-unicode/doc/rxvt.7.pod#How_does_rxvt_unicode_determine_the_
How-To Geek – How to Quickly Resize, Convert & Modify Images from the Linux Terminal
http://www.howtogeek.com/109369/how-to-quickly-resize-convert-modify-images-from-the-linux-terminal
geom.uiuc.edu – Manipulating Images
http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/events/courses/1996/cmwh/Stills/manipulating.html
Redhat.com – Doing more with…more: Dual-head display
http://www.redhat.com/magazine/014dec05/features/multihead
Gentoo – X.Org/Dual Monitors
http://gentoo-en.vfose.ru/wiki/X.Org/Dual_Monitors
ArchLinux – Configuring keyboard layouts in X
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Configuring_keyboard_layouts_in_X
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