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switching2Devuan

Member

Registered: 2022-05-12

Posts: 27  

No terminals after installation of Excalibur

After having had problems setting the system language and locale on an installation of Excalibur (devuan_excalibur_6.0.0_amd64_desktop-live.iso) on an older spare laptop via a live.iso (see this thread, I decided to start from scratch again and chose the most current netinstall.iso (expert install) as I had done with Chimaera 3.5 years ago on the laptop that I use for daily work.
(Used version: devuan_excalibur_6.1.0_amd64_netinstall.iso)

The install itself went smoothly and I was able to boot the machine from the grub menu (had to use the "nomodeset" option though). Language and locale selection work as selected (contrary to the install from live.iso).

But I noticed that there is not a single terminal available when using CTRL-ALT-F(1-6). Only a black screen with a rapidly blinking cursor.
Even worse:
When logging into the installed DE (LXDE) and then trying to get to a terminal with CTRL-ALT-F(1-6), pressing CTRL-ALT-F7 will not return me to my desktop-session but kick me back out to the login-prompt (lightdm).

Has anyone experienced this before?
Or does anyone know what the problem is and how to solve it?

If more specific information is necessary, I will be happy to provide it.

Thanks for any input.

rbit

Member

Registered: 2018-06-12

Posts: 100  

Re: No terminals after installation of Excalibur

What does your file /etc/inittab contain?
Which init system are you using?

switching2Devuan

Member

Registered: 2022-05-12

Posts: 27  

Re: No terminals after installation of Excalibur

I use runit (as on my working machine).

This is the content of inittab:

# /etc/inittab: init(8) configuration.
# $Id: inittab,v 1.91 2002/01/25 13:35:21 miquels Exp $

# The default runlevel.
id:2:initdefault:

# Boot-time system configuration/initialization script.
# This is run first except when booting in emergency (-b) mode.
si::sysinit:/etc/init.d/rcS

# What to do in single-user mode.
~~:S:wait:/sbin/sulogin --force

# /etc/init.d executes the S and K scripts upon change
# of runlevel.
#
# Runlevel 0 is halt.
# Runlevel 1 is single-user.
# Runlevels 2-5 are multi-user.
# Runlevel 6 is reboot.

l0:0:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 0
l1:1:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 1
l2:2:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 2
l3:3:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 3
l4:4:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 4
l5:5:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 5
l6:6:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 6
# Normally not reached, but fallthrough in case of emergency.
z6:6:respawn:/sbin/sulogin --force

# What to do when CTRL-ALT-DEL is pressed.
ca:12345:ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t1 -a -r now

# Action on special keypress (ALT-UpArrow).
#kb::kbrequest:/bin/echo "Keyboard Request--edit /etc/inittab to let this work."

# What to do when the power fails/returns.
pf::powerwait:/etc/init.d/powerfail start
pn::powerfailnow:/etc/init.d/powerfail now
po::powerokwait:/etc/init.d/powerfail stop

# /sbin/getty invocations for the runlevels.
#
# The "id" field MUST be the same as the last
# characters of the device (after "tty").
#
# Format:
#  <id>:<runlevels>:<action>:<process>
#
# Note that on most Debian systems tty7 is used by the X Window System,
# so if you want to add more getty's go ahead but skip tty7 if you run X.
#
1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty --noclear 38400 tty1
2:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty2
3:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty3
4:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty4
5:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty5
6:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty6

# Example how to put a getty on a serial line (for a terminal)
#
#T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 9600 vt100
#T1:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS1 9600 vt100
#
# or on a USB serial line
#U0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyUSB0 9600 vt100

# Example how to put a getty on a modem line.
#
#T3:23:respawn:/sbin/mgetty -x0 -s 57600 ttyS3

# Example for systemd-nspawn
# Only /dev/console exists inside nspawn, so we need a getty on that.
# Also make sure to comment out the gettys on tty* above.
#C0:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty -8 --noclear --keep-baud console 115200,38400,9600

The booting of the most recent Excalibur installation has some hiccups on this machine.
The booting process ended with a blank screen and nothing else happening. Had to pull the plug to end it. After the third try, it finally booted to the lightdm greeter although I hadn't changed a thing.
This had already happened yesterday, too.

The previous installation with the live.iso didn't give me this behavior. Although I had a problem with language settings and locale there, it would at least boot in a dependable way every single time.
Not so here.

(I can't deny that I get slowly but  increasingly frustrated with the current stable release.
This and some other things lead me to think that Devuan 6 is not (yet) as flawless as Chimaera was.)

Last edited by switching2Devuan (Yesterday 10:14:44)

rbit

Member

Registered: 2018-06-12

Posts: 100  

Re: No terminals after installation of Excalibur

I use runit (as on my working machine).

It seems that on devuan, to get tty2-6, runit requires a little bit of manual setup.

ln -s /etc/sv/getty-tty[2-6] /etc/service/

Note that tty1 *should* be working by default, though, as well as switching back to the gui on tty7. So you may have another issue going on also.

switching2Devuan

Member

Registered: 2022-05-12

Posts: 27  

Re: No terminals after installation of Excalibur

It seems that on devuan, to get tty2-6, runit requires a little bit of manual setup.

Maybe on Excalibur.
Runit (and OpenRc) worked on Chimaera out of the box and without a single issue.

Note that tty1 *should* be working by default

There are only some startup messages visible, the last two being...

...
Starting Light Display Manager: lightdm.
Starting network connection manager: NetworkManager.

So still not a single usable terminal.

...*as well as switching back to the gui on tty7.

Rather no.
It  takes me back to a GUI but that will be the login prompt of the greeter.
The previous login into my DE is being reset.
But thinking about it, that could have already happened when trying to switch to a terminal.

I will get back after having tried out your suggestion for setting up that symbolic link.

Edit:

ln -s /etc/sv/getty-tty[2-6] /etc/service/

...didn't change anything, except for I don't even get to the greeter anymore. (Although that has been the case before quite a few times.)

I am willing to try other approaches just for the benefit of improving future versions of Excalibur.
Unless someone would like me to try other settings/changes (in case I ever get to the DE again),  I would do a reinstall of Excalibur, maybe with different settings (e.g. a different init system).

(If all fails, I will go for Daedalus.)

Last edited by switching2Devuan (Yesterday 21:00:19)

rbit

Member

Registered: 2018-06-12

Posts: 100  

Re: No terminals after installation of Excalibur

There are only some startup messages visible, the last two being...

...
Starting Light Display Manager: lightdm.
Starting network connection manager: NetworkManager.

I've seen something similar to this.  I think it's an issue with services still being started after the initial login prompt appears.  You should be able to hit <Enter> and have a new login prompt appear below that text.

switching2Devuan

Member

Registered: 2022-05-12

Posts: 27  

Re: No terminals after installation of Excalibur

For several tries, I didn't even see that login prompt.
Now I do and pressing <Enter> drops me to a login prompt.
What could I try to enter now?

Btw... I noticed that after having logged in and being at the prompt, there is the following message showing up (had to type it here by hand on my working machine):

[583.821905] perf: interrupt took too long (2503 > 2500), lowering kernel.perf_event_max_sample_rate 79750

I then have to press <Enter> to get to clean prompt again.

This message will eventuall repeat but will have different numbers.
No clue about that and I have never experienced this before.

I also tried to switch from runit to openrc (another thing that worked flawlessly under Chimaera) and after a bunch of messages from rc-update, the last message read:

Error: udev is the name of a real and virtual service.

Such stuff is way beyond me and if I were not here to contribute to Devuan within the limits of my capabilities, I would have already either tried a reinstall or switched to a different version.

(Have also tested MX Linux a few weeks back which worked very well on this machine. But I'd like to see Devuan 6 do just as well.)

Last edited by switching2Devuan (Yesterday 22:57:59)