Stuck installing Fluxbox... :-(

[MuD]

http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/docbo...98.html#AEN100

Running Fluxbox

It's all nice and good if you have it installed, but what use is it if you can't run it?

There are two generally different ways to start X11 (and thus Fluxbox). The traditional way is using the command startx. The other way is using a graphical login manager (also called "display manager"). The most common display manager is xdm which is part of the XFree86 distribution. The display manager provided by Gnome is called gdm, the one from KDE is kdm.

If X11 is started the former way (via startx), the file that is important is called .xinitrc and resides in your home directory. In the case of starting via a display manager, the file is .xsession which resides at the same location.

X11 is started through startx, but I can't for the life of me find .xinitrc... Does anybody know where I can find this elusive file?

[dylunio]

It should be in your home directory, try

cd ~/
ls -A|grep .xinitrc

to see if it is there.

dylunio

[MuD]

When I do that, it doesn't list anything... I'm just staring at a blank screen. Looks like the file isn't there. Should I just create a .txt file in ~/ and name it xinitrc?

[Dapper Dan]

Hmmm. Wonder what the problem could be. I installed everything when I installed 10.1, and just logged out and back into Fluxbox in about thirty seconds which is where I'm coming to you from now. I didn't have to do anything to make it a choice in KDM, and it works perfectly. Are you running KDM? Did you install it from the installation CD(s)?

[MuD]

No, I didn't install KDM... I don't know how to. Maybe I should do that?

Unfortunately I didn't install Fluxbox when installing Slackware either (I forgot), so I had to download Fluxbox seperately and compile it. I don't want to install Slackware all over again just for Fluxbox...

[Dapper Dan]

Don't think you'll have to install all over again. So after booting, you get a prompt? And then you type startx? Try this:

Instead of typing startx, sign in as root and type:

kdm

Does it come up? If so, check under "sessions" and see if Fluxbox is there.

[MuD]

Thanks, that worked!

But now I have another minor problem. When I login, I cannot choose my regular user account, KDM says that user account not in /etc/shells... I don't like being logged in as root all the time...and since this is my first look at Fluxbox, how do I add (or login to) my regular user account?

[Dapper Dan]

First, look in the KDM user manager and see how your user profile is stored. It will be /bin/something_or_other. Whatever it is, also make sure it is listed in /etc/shells the same way. Just add it in. I always store mine under /bin/bash because I know /bin/bash is already in /etc/shells.

If you can't find it, you can always re-create your regular user profile and then make it /bin/bash at that time.

[MuD]

I had to go back into KDE, start KUser and there edit my regular user account to set /bin/bash as login shell (it didn't have one specified before). That did the trick. Thanks again for helping me out.

/me goes to explore Fluxbox...