GUI and Xorg not Working

[stantheman]

Hello!

First off, I apologize if this is in the wrong section. I wasn't sure whether to post this in hardware or software because of my specific problem.

I am trying to setup Arch Linux ARM on my Raspberry Pi through a multiboot software that was flashed onto a USB drive. The multiboot software is called PINN, and the version of alarm is Arch2 (Arch Linux port for ARM7 devices RPi2/3/4/z2). My Raspberry Pi is RPi3 (model B rev1.2).

I was successful at getting firmware, system updates, graphics drivers, kernel, keys, and etc onto my device. However, I can't seem to get any GUIs to work. After many failed attempts of trying different GUIs (LXDE, LightDM, XFCE, etc.), I started to realize that Xorg was failing before it even started. No logs of Xorg even exist. I was able to see some logs from LightDM, while troubleshooting, and noticed that Xorg kept showing up. It showed Xorg dumped core and some segmentation faults.

The specific error message after trying "startx" was:
(EE)
(EE) Backtrace:
xinit: giving up
xinit: server error

Additionally I tried using Wayland (weston) and I was having similar issues. Is it impossible to get a GUI on this version? Is my hardware incompatible? Any help would be VERY appreciated!

[robg]

Along with most other users who connect their RPI to a monitor to run X/Wayland/Kodi/... I very rarely experienced issues with my graphical setup. The bottom line is: Following the [url=https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv8/broadcom/raspberry-pi-3]official installation procedure[/url] (and, in the aarch64 case, installing the linux-rpi kernel) will near-guarantee working graphics. As you used the PINN installer, your two best options appear to be the following:

1. Understand what PINN installed and how it differs from the official ALARM install; add or remove packages/configurations as necessary. You [i]may[/i] receive support on this forum if you keep your questions detailed and on point.
2. Ask your question on the PINN forums; the people there may genuinely be better positioned to help you.

[stantheman]

I appreciate your response! I will look into posting in the PINN forum after troubleshooting a couple of other things. If you say that it generally works, then I have hope! Do you have any recommendations as to what graphics driver and GUI I should use? I believe "xf86-video-fbdev" is generally the correct graphics driver and LightDM seems to be solid.

I'm extremely new to all of this so if you know what firmware I need too, that would be amazing. Upon using -Syu, I was given the option of keeping raspberrypi-firmware or replacing it with alarm/raspberrypi-utils. It has been a bit of a learning curve, but it's a very intriguing process.

[robg]

I use a RPI4B, and the default configuration applied when installing the [code]linux-rpi[/code] kernel works. I would imagine that this applies to the RPI3 as well. In addition to installing the aforementioned kernel, this means:

1. [i]not[/i] installing any graphics drivers such as [code]xf86-video-fbdev[/code]; this is outdated information that is unfortunately still widely shared;
2. instead enabling [url=https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Kernel_mode_setting]KMS[/url] by verifying that the line [code]dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d[/code] is present in your [url=https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/config_txt.html]config.txt[/url].

[stantheman]

This was incredibly useful information! I am starting fresh and making sure I follow all of the correct steps. I got deep into troubleshooting and didn't realize I made so many changes with the original config/drivers.

I also just realized that I'm using the 32 bit version as this is the one that's available as a preloaded OS on the PINN software. Lastly, would you recommend Xorg/X11 or Wayland for my setup? Are both of these okay to use? And which display manager is best for performance? I've been looking at LXDE, LightDM, XFCE, etc.

[robg]

Glad the information is proving helpful!

As for a comparison between X and Wayland, see here:make_clickable_callback(MAGIC_URL_FULL, ' ', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayland_(protocol', '', ' class="postlink"'))#Differences_between_Wayland_and_X

It's fair to say that at this point, Wayland is the way forward for the Linux desktop (even Raspberry Pi OS has switched to it:make_clickable_callback(MAGIC_URL_FULL, ' ', 'https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/bookworm-the-new-version-of-raspberry-pi-os/', '', ' class="postlink"')) So in short, any lightweight Wayland compositor or window manager will do (sway, wayfire, ...) Personally, I still use X, and I am most happy with LxQT (which inevitably will also switch to Wayland in the near future.)

[stantheman]

Okay great! I am still getting some errors with xorg. I have been trying to run LXDE the last couple of hours and no luck. I keep getting that same (EE) error from my original post when running startx. I have "exec startlxde" in my xsession and xinitrc files as well as "dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d" in my boot config. I checked "ls -l /var/log" and there isn't even a Xorg.0.log path. All very weird to me. I guess I will try Wayland and LxQT soon.

Since my version is armv7l (not even armv7h), do you think it's outdated? Or maybe the packages are meant for another version? Running a 32 bit OS is probably causing trouble? I'm having no luck in the community for the multiboot software (PINN - GitHub) either.

[cyberjunkie1970]

I've been using 64-bit for a few years now, but when I used 32-bit I never had any issues. Have you tried installing Arch Linux ARM by the instructions on the website? make_clickable_callback(MAGIC_URL_FULL, ' ', 'https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv8/broadcom/raspberry-pi-3', '', ' class="postlink"')

I've never used PINN before, and I also never heard of it until now. Since it's a third party installer, it's hard to be completely sure of what is going on in the background when it does its install. If you try the install using the official instructions and it doesn't work, we'll all have the same frame of reference to be able to help you better.

[stantheman]

It's relieving to hear that the 32 vs 64 bit difference shouldn't cause an issue here. I will definitely be trying out arch linux on a future setup, however, I really wanted to try it out on this multi-boot software I currently have. It's been a lot of "fun" debugging/troubleshooting, but it would be nice to see some results soon.

It's interesting to me that Xorg doesn't work for me (or something is preventing it from starting), since a lot of people have little-to-no problems with it. I am making some progress though, seeing that my main user didn't have all necessary permissions nor added to the proper groups. However, still the dreaded (EE) errors.

Additionally, I was able to retrieve some error log after running "sudo journalctl -b | grep Xorg," which showed "alarmpi systemd-coredump[124]: Process 123 (Xorg) of user 1001 terminated abnormally with signal 11/SEGV, processing..." and then dumped core. Doesn't sound too promising!