newbie to debian

**windowsatemyhomework** · 02-07-2006

I just got debian installed, and as far as I can tell I should have everything that I need (I chose the "desktop environment" option in the install process and saw gnome and kde packages in the log during install), but I can't figure out how to start kde or gnome. I prefer using KDE, but I'd like to get to know how to get into either one.

When I reboot it goes straight into the command prompt, and when I'm logged in as either my user or root, the commands "startx" and "startkde" don't do anything.

I keep finding online that I'm supposed to edit the .xinitrc file in my home directory with the line "startx", but there is no .xinitrc file there (though there is one called .bashrc). I have also been pointed to /usr/local/kde1/bin/startkde, but there is no folder named kde1 in /usr/local.

I thought that I would have the x window manager and kde installed, but it at least appears that they aren't. How do I go about installing them from bash in debian, or, if that's not the problem, how do I start up kde?

Thanks in advance for any help.

**junkman4547** · 02-07-2006

When you choose to install Desktop Environment, did you press <space> to select it first then press <enter> or did you just press <enter> ?
If you simply press <enter>, you did NOT select a DE.

**windowsatemyhomework** · 02-07-2006

Yes, I did press spacebar, and a star* appeared between the brackets next to Desktop Environment. Then I pressed Enter.

**junkman4547** · 02-07-2006

Then desktop environments are installed. I don't know why it boots straight into CLI. On my Sarge box it boots straight into GDM.
Try issue command.....GDM or KDM instead of startx ?

**windowsatemyhomework** · 02-07-2006

Neither of those worked, it said "bad command" for both. I did this more than once, so maybe I'm just mistaken and I didn't select desktop environment. With that in mind, I have two questions.

1. Where do X, KDE, Gnome, etc. reside in the directory structure? Browsing around, I haven't found hardly any mention of any of those three in the folder names, but I can be certain if I know where it should be.

2. If I don't have a desktop environment installed, how do I go about installing it from the bash command line? I will probably want to just install a single large package as this is for a desktop system and disc space is not an issue.

Thanks

**gruven** · 02-07-2006

To try it out to see if you have a display manager, you would look in /etc/init.d/. GDM, KDM, and XDM are all display managers, and you can start any of them with this:

Code:

/etc/init.d/gdm start
/etc/init.d/kdm start
/etc/init.d/xdm start

You would choose the one you want to use.

If you don't have those, then you would want to do this:

Code:

apt-get install xserver-xorg x11-common gnome

Or, instead of gnome, you pick the desktop you want to use (gnome, kde, etc...)

That should get you started, assuming you have an internet connection.

You will have to configure the X server after you install it, by typing

Code:

dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

or

Code:

xorgconfig

**windowsatemyhomework** · 02-07-2006

Thanks, I ended up installing it using apt-get, and I went through the configuration program, but I had to make some guesses, and now X won't start. The message I'm getting is "No Screens Found". I'm guessing this came from one of two things in xorgconfig: I chose the "medium" display option, so I chose my resolution but not vertical sync rate or horizontal refresh rate, or that since I didn't find a video card driver that specifically said "nVidia", I chose the one with the title "nv".

So I'll go back through xorgconfig and put in my monitor characteristics, but can anybody tell me how to download the latest nVidia drivers from the bash interface?

**farslayer** · 02-07-2006

Provided you are running Debian on an Intel 32 bit processor..

wget http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/L...-8178-pkg1.run

and if you post your xorg config file we may be able to help. teh nv driver should work fine with an nVidia card, only 3D hardware acelleration wouldn't be enabled.

so just installing the nVidia binary drivers aren't going to fix your no graphics issue.. you will neet to fix that problem first.

also the tail of the X11 log file would help to identify the issue..
tail -n 25 /var/log/XFree86.0.log

**gruven** · 02-07-2006

Yeah, we need to know the errors in the log file to be able to help you further. It is probably just a monitor setting, a mouse setting, or something small.

**IsaacKuo** · 02-07-2006

First--I am familiar with Debian, and usually this is caused by one of two problems:

1. Accidentally NOT selecting the Desktop Workstation packages (not the case--you pressed "space")

or

2. The X video driver is wrong or not working properly.

Note that Debian does NOT use Xorg. It uses XFree86, with the configuration file /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.

If you hear ANY advice refering to "xorg" or "Xorg.conf", ignore that advice. The person who is giving you this advice is not familiar with Debian. You'll do better by sticking with advice from those who are familiar with Debian.

Anyway, do you remember which video driver you selected during the install? When in doubt, select the "vesa" driver. This is a generic VGA driver. It lacks 3d accelerated graphics support, but it will work with just about anything.

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