/me confused

[redmoth]

Okay Debian released the Sarge, and thats great. I only seem to have a few problems with it. New install, Desktop/Workstation option, all should be pristine. Problems as follows....

1. I hate KDE, and if I at all can prevent that stuff from being on my box, the better. The installer should simply have a few more options as to what type of desktop system it is...there are people that dont want either KDE or Gnome...and I feel that you should have the option not to install them without having to go through all that crazy ncurses package selection stuff.

2. If I try to change the resolution, (either using gnome control panel tools, or manually editing the XF86Config-4 file) the only way that I could get it to change the resolution was to REBOOT!!...I should hardly ever have to reboot to do anything in linux....and even then only for the simplicity of restarting services all at once

3. You cannot kill the X server..........and perhaps this is my biggest gripe, and of course by NO MEANS do I even claim to know much about anything, but Ive used Linux for three years without windows, so I at least know a bit. (although I am a recent Slackware defector, I didnt spend those three years on Fedora or god-forbid mandriva/drake)

So.....all you debian gurus...what am I forgetting? Is there some type of Xresources stuff going on that severely limit the changes you can make on the fly in X? or maybe thats a whack suggestion, but I would appreciate any assistance.

also, is there a good way to start with a pretty minimal installation so that I can apt-get only the packages that I want? I mean, are there other people like me out there, and what are the methods that you have used to do the same?

Thanks!

[Demetrius]

Well, if you have a display manager running (which it sounds like you do) you need to restart X for any changes you make to the config file to take effect. Easiest way to do this is log out of X back to the display manager's login screen and hit CTRL+ALT+Backspace, which should restart X.

As far as changing resolutions, assuming your XF86Config(-4)/xorg.conf file is setup correctly all you should need to do to change resolutions is to press CTRL+ALT+KP_Plus/KP_Minus.

If you would rather login to CLI and start manually you should be able to remove the script that's starting XDM/GDM/KDM by cd'ing into /etc/rc2.d/ and renaming or removing its startup script.

[redmoth]

yeah, i should have said that too....

I tried all the usuall things like <ctrl>+<alt>+<backspace>/<kbd+>/<kbd-> and none of them simply did not work.

I have read that some users had similar problems when they were running the 5.10 release of Ubuntu, which I know is based on the unstable version of Debian, but I am not sure _exactly_ what the differences are with the X configuration. Its as if even dropping out to the X log in screen didnt have any effect.

sorry for the mix up, but thanks for the input

[DoctorDan]

whats kbd+??

3. You cannot kill the X server..........and perhaps this is my biggest gripe, and of course by NO MEANS do I even claim to know much about anything, but Ive used Linux for three years without windows, so I at least know a bit. (although I am a recent Slackware defector, I didnt spend those three years on Fedora or god-forbid mandriva/drake)

to kill x try ctrl-alt-del or ctrl-alt-backspace

1. I hate KDE, and if I at all can prevent that stuff from being on my box, the better. The installer should simply have a few more options as to what type of desktop system it is...there are people that dont want either KDE or Gnome...and I feel that you should have the option not to install them without having to go through all that crazy ncurses package selection stuff.

there tons of desktops... try 'apt-get install <package>' maybe add some repos to ur sources.list

2. If I try to change the resolution, (either using gnome control panel tools, or manually editing the XF86Config-4 file) the only way that I could get it to change the resolution was to REBOOT!!...I should hardly ever have to reboot to do anything in linux....and even then only for the simplicity of restarting services all at once

if you cant change resolution in XF86Config-4 you probably didnt do it right. remember to restart x after you change it.

also, is there a good way to start with a pretty minimal installation so that I can apt-get only the packages that I want? I mean, are there other people like me out there, and what are the methods that you have used to do the same?

maybe a netinstall of debian with no GUI? then just apt-get whatever


Hope I helped

-Dan

[Vergil83]

1. I hate KDE, and if I at all can prevent that stuff from being on my box, the better. The installer should simply have a few more options as to what type of desktop system it is...there are people that dont want either KDE or Gnome...and I feel that you should have the option not to install them without having to go through all that crazy ncurses package selection stuff.

I agree. Hopefully someday some debian developer will agree to. Sarge is an improvement upon the woody installer at least.

2. If I try to change the resolution, (either using gnome control panel tools, or manually editing the XF86Config-4 file) the only way that I could get it to change the resolution was to REBOOT!!...I should hardly ever have to reboot to do anything in linux....and even then only for the simplicity of restarting services all at once

3. You cannot kill the X server..........and perhaps this is my biggest gripe, and of course by NO MEANS do I even claim to know much about anything, but Ive used Linux for three years without windows, so I at least know a bit. (although I am a recent Slackware defector, I didnt spend those three years on Fedora or god-forbid mandriva/drake)

try

ctrl-alt-(F2-F6)

you should get a cl login. Login in and kill xserver and gdm (or kdm or xdm). That always works for me. When you are done editing your XF86Config-4 just

startx

also, is there a good way to start with a pretty minimal installation so that I can apt-get only the packages that I want? I mean, are there other people like me out there, and what are the methods that you have used to do the same?

when it asks you for what kind of install, choose manual package selection and then don't choose anything to install. It won't install anything (besides the already installed base)
http://www.debian.org/releases/stabl...stall-packages