3.1 Sarge installed,but no GUI

[martinfromdublin]

Hi all,

I just installed Debian 3.1 Sarge from a DVD that came with Linux magazine. The installer was the one I've seen before on Ubuntu and Kubuntu, with a few differences but when the system boots, all I get is a text login, no KDE/Gnome. I tried the 'startx' command both as user and root but get the response 'command not found'.

Anyone an ideas?

Martin,

Dublin, Ireland

[SiborgZ]

Has startx ben installed on your distro. You could try
>> whereis startx
to locate the actual binary if it's available

If it's not here, then you probably haven't installed an X server on your machine

try apt-get install x-window-system

If you want to use startx, edit the $HOME/.xinitrc file with path to your chosen window manager

Howerver, I you want to use a boot loader, you can specify either gdm, kdm or xdm by
editing /etc/X11/default-display-manager

[junkman4547]

Martin.....if Sarge boots up and give you a command prompt, then it is likely that nothing is wrong. I suspect that you did not select any desktop environment during installation. To select it, you must highlight that option and press <space> bar. If you merely highlight it and press <enter>, then you did not select it. If this is the case then you must install the desktop environment of you choice.

[martinfromdublin]

Hi Junkman4547,

Okay, I re-installed and selected as you said (but the installer should prompt you to press the spacebar) and now have a GUI, only it's Gnome and not KDE, the screen res is at 800 x 600, not 1024 x 728. How do I change all of this? I want to have KDE as I never use Gnome, once I'm in KDE I might be able to address the other issues myself. Can you help?

Thanks,

Martin

EDIT: I accessed KDE, but I can't change the screen res any higher than 800 X 600. When this happened to me in Fedora, all I ahd to do was re-select my monitor, how do i do this in Debian?

[jens]

Installing KDE(as root):

apt-get install KDE

For a better resolution:
*install your video driver if available (what's your video card?).
*Try a tool from your menu
*edit /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 manually

[junkman4547]

Do as Jens suggested to get KDE....

As for your resolution, try this code

#dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

this should call up a dialog where you can select your video card and most importantly, your monitor vertical and horizontal frequencies. Check your owner manual for these infos....or visit the manufacturer site. If these frequencies are high enough, you will have higher resolutions.

[bidi]

When I did my net-install, it installed both KDE and Gnome, so I suspect that KDE is already installed, just not your default window manager. In the login screen, there should be some menus, one of them is where you choose your desktop. Try that first, if it's not there, then use apt-get.

[martinfromdublin]

Hi guys,

I found the option for KDE, so now that's resolved. I'm not too sure abount changing the horizontal & vertical, I heard you can damage the monitor if you get it wrong. Is there anyway I can download a set of drivers for specific monitors? l could then select my monitor from a list and this should correct the screen res safely.

Thanks,

Martin

[St. Joe]

I'm not too sure abount changing the horizontal & vertical, I heard you can damage the monitor if you get it wrong.

Those settings are included in your manufacturer specs. Either look at the monitor handbook or the pdf manual that is included on most monitor CD's. Or you could just research it online. Google your monitor name and series and you should get some results.

[jens]

I'm not too sure abount changing the horizontal & vertical, I heard you can damage the monitor if you get it wrong.

Those settings are included in your manufacturer specs. Either look at the monitor handbook or the pdf manual that is included on most monitor CD's. Or you could just research it online. Google your monitor name and series and you should get some results.

If you're lucky this might also be listed on the back of your monitor...