Still no graphic desktop

Thu Jun 17 09:08:19 PDT 2004

That probably was what I needed, plus I needed the exact specs on my 
video card and display (800x600). But someplace in there I mangled the 
config file, I think. After deleting and re-installing the system (for 
my 5th time) everything worked fine. I now have Gnome up and running. 
I'll probable switch to KDE because of it's office software.

Next step is configuiring WiFi Internet access. I access the Internet 
from all over the country through a WiFi modem. I have several pcmcia 
WiFi cards. Most are B cards, with one being a G card. But configuring 
this will wait for a later day...

Thanks.

Lloyd Hayes

Email: wyoming_antelope at yahoo.com
URL: http://TalkingStaff.bravehost.com 
E-FAX Number: (208) 248-6590
Web Journal: http://lloyd_hayes.bravejournal.com/

Mike wrote:

>Lloyd,
>  I've been following this thread for a few days now, and I kept
>hoping someone would give you some useful advice, but I haven't
>seen any.  I really dislike posting to email groups, but if you find
>this advice useful, feel free to forward it on to -questions, just
>please anonymize my name/email address from the post.
>
>Log in as root (configuring X11 (xwindows) requires root permissions)
>At the prompt, type in:
>
>xf86cfg
>
>This will run a program that will try to autodetect the video card
>in your computer.  Assuming it is successful (if it is not, this
>process will be significantly harder and more annoying) it will bring
>up a grahpical configuration program.  You should see a picture of a
>computer connected to a mouse, keyboard, video card, and the video card
>connected to a monitor.
>
>At this point, hopefully the mouse will work.  If not, you can navigate
>the mouse cursor with the number pad keys for directions.  This keyboard
>interface requires a bit of playing around with to understand, and
>hopefully you will not need to use it (your mouse will just work).
>
>Once you are able to control the graphical interface, you will be able
>to go to the "monitors" tab to "configure monitors".  This procedure
>is kind of tricky - there is a lot of buttons and weird controls - you
>can ignore all these and just use the pulldown on top and select a
>video mode that your monitor supports (likely 1024x768...).  It will
>ask you if you want to add this "mode line" or something along those
>lines - say yes.
>
>Now use the "quit" button in the graphical program.  It will ask you
>if you want to save /usr/X11R6/lib/X86Config file.  Click Ok, it will
>ask you about a keyboard file, say Ok as well.
>
>You should be back to a command line prompt.  Now type in
>
>xf86cfg -textmode -xf86config /usr/X11R6/lib/XF86Config
>
>this will run the same program, except in a "text" mode and use the
>file that it created the first time through as the starting
>configuration.  Everything should already be set up correctly except
>for the "Configure Screen" section.  Go there, edit "screen 0", pick
>a color depth (depending on how new/old your computer is, it could
>be as high as 24 bit, but to be on the safe side you can pick 8 or 16
>bit for now and you can always re-reun xf86cfg with the same arguments
>to change it later).  Then the next screen will have checkboxes - check
>only one for the resolution you want.  To be on the safe side, I would
>say pick the 1024x768 , but here again you can experiment.
>
>After clicking "finish" you will be back to the main menu.  Select
>'write XF86Config and quit' and agree to everything it asks of you.
>Now you should be ready to start xwindows.  This is very similar to
>typing "win" at the C:> prompt back in the days of windows 3.0, type:
>
>startx
>
>at the prompt, and xwindows should come up with a graphical display
>and a working mouse.
>
>You can always kill xwindows by pressing alt+ctrl+backspace to be
>returned to the command line again.  I do not know if you have done
>this before or not, but if you have kde installed and want to use it
>as your window manager/environment, you should also type
>
>echo startkde > ~/.xinitrc
>
>what this will do is create a file called .xinitrc in your "home" directory
>that has the line "startkde" in it (~ means home directory).  When you
>type "startx" this file will be read and the commands in it will be
>executed.
>
>Hope this helps.
>  - Mike
>
>On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 22:14:06 -0600, Lloyd Hayes wrote
>  
>
>>>How are you trying to start X Windows? If you're just expecting it 
>>>      
>>>
>>to start, you're going to end up disappointed.
>>
>>Oops...
>>I was expecting the graphical desktop to start automatically. 
>>However I also tried startx, and I played with xdm. Whatever I was 
>>doing kept coming up with errors about no screen.
>>
>>Lloyd Hayes
>>
>>Email: wyoming_antelope at yahoo.com
>>URL: http://TalkingStaff.bravehost.com 
>>E-FAX Number: (208) 248-6590
>>Web Journal: http://lloyd_hayes.bravejournal.com/
>>
>>Matt Navarre wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Lloyd Hayes wrote:
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>I have been told that the reason that I don't have a graphic desktop 
>>>>yet is because my XFree86 Server is not configured right. I finally 
>>>>downloaded the exact specs on my old laptop from Gateway and plugged 
>>>>them into the configure file. No help.
>>>>I tried each of the 4 configure methods from the menu. No good, nor 
>>>>does the graphics menu work any more.
>>>>I have attempted to switch from KDE to Gnome, to Windowmaker. Again, 
>>>>no good.
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>How are you trying to start X Windows? If you're just expecting it to 
>>>start, you're going to end up disappointed.
>>>
>>>To start X you need to either type startx at the command prompt or 
>>>edit /etc/ttys to start xdm (or kdm or gdm) on the console.
>>>
>>>here's the handbook page on configuring xdm to start after boot:
>>>http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x-xdm.html
>>>
>>>Generally the step in section 5.6.2 is all you need to do, the rest is 
>>>advanced options that you needn't be concerned with at this point. 
>>>This info applies to kdm and gdm (KDE Display Manager and Gnome 
>>>Display Manager, respectively)
>>>
>>>To get your desired desktop to start you need to put the command to 
>>>start it in $HOME/.xinitrc(for startx) or $HOME/.xsession(for xdm). To 
>>>get KDE started (assuming it's installed) just type
>>>'echo startkde >> .xinitrc' at the prompt. Assuming you're at the text 
>>>console type 'startx'. KDE should start.
>>>
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>I have tried several other things such as the one below:
>>>>
>>>># cd /usr/ports/x11/XFree86-4
>>>># make install clean
>>>>
>>>>It then suggests that I 'make reinstall' or 'make deinstall'. I tried 
>>>>reinstall first with it then suggesting that I 'make reinstall' again 
>>>>or 'make deinstall'.
>>>>
>>>># make deinstall
>>>>
>>>># cd /usr/ports/x11/XFree86-4
>>>># make install clean
>>>>
>>>>While this seemed to install ok, it was still no help. I'm still 
>>>>stuck with line item commands.
>>>>
>>>>When executing afterwards: XFree86 -configure  I get: Fatal Server Error
>>>>xf86EnableIO: Failed to open /dev/io for extended I/O
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>Hmm, are you doing this as root? You need to be. Another alternative, 
>>>if you have the specs for your monitor and video card, is 
>>>/usr/X11R6/bin/xf86config. It'll ask you questions about your setup 
>>>and generate a config file based on what you tell it. Try that, and if 
>>>you still have problems post your config file and relevant log 
>>>messages to the list, and we'll try to help.
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>Log says the same thing.
>>>>
>>>>Any ideas?
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
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>>    
>>
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