Re: The Thrill of Debian Gnu/Linux
John McBride wrote:
> Mike Werner wrote:
> >
> > John McBride wrote:
> > <stuff snipped>
> > > Actually, I strongly prefer startx, but don't see how to disable gdm
> > > without breaking helix-gnome -- it seems to require gdm. You can't
> > > simply edit /etc/inittab like you can on RedHat. apt-get remove gdm
> > > pulls helix-gnome off the system. I'll review those files.
> >
> > Actually, what gets removed is task-helix-gnome, which is just a meta-package
> > that has a Depends line containing the Helix-Gnome stuff. That can actually
> > be safely removed. An alternative is to do (as root):
> > update-rc.d -f gdm remove
> >
> > What this does is remove the symlinks in the /etc/rc.x directories, while
> > leaving the gdm start script in the /etc/init.d directory. Also, the gdm
> > package stays installed. It just doesn't get used unless you explicitly
> > call it yourself.
>
> After running this command (update-rc.d -f gdm remove), rebooting, and
> typing "startx", I get a grey stipple screen with no window manager.
> There's probably more to it, or my install has gone bad in some other
> way.
I'm not positive, but I don't think these are related. I've *never* run
any of the *dm group. On my desktop, I had no troubles at all getting
Helix Gnome to run with sawfish as the window manager. But on my laptop,
I had similar troubles. But on the laptop I kept getting fvwm (without
Gnome) instead of sawfish / Gnome. I finally got things running by
purging every window manager but sawfish. However, I must also say that
my laptop has a very broken install on it due to me screwing up during the
upgrade from slink to woody.
As for why you're not getting a window manager, I'm really not too sure.
Do you have a $HOME/.xsession file? Here's what mine looks like:
----- begin .xsession -----
#!/bin/sh
exec gnome-session
----- end .xsession -----
and that's what it took to get Gnome running. Once there, you *should*
be able to configure Gnome as to what window manager to use. I'm still
very new to Gnome, so am not positive that there's not something else
needed. But that's all I had to do here. Perhaps someone else that's
more familiar with Gnome than I can add something here.
> This kind of proves my point -- to get something installed properly
> under Debian, you need to know a slew of configuration and config file
> details.
Granted, there are some things that are a bear to get configured.
However, I've found that the result is a system that runs *exactly*
the way I want. Nor, unlike Micro$oft systems, does it ever need
to be reconfigured due to a "spontaneous" change.
In fairness to Debian, I've had troubles along the same lines with
other distros. I started with Slackware a few years ago. In the interim
I've tried RedHat (absolutely hated it - lousy package management, way
too much emphasis on eye candy and not enough on functionality), briefly
tried SuSE, Caldera (wouldn't even install on my laptop), even looked
briefly at FreeBSD (couldn't even figure out the installer - might try
again some day when I have more time and patience). But I keep coming
back to Debian. Sure, it has its quirks. But in my opinion those quirks
are *far* outweighed by the overall quality of the distro.
--
Mike Werner KA8YSD | "Where do you want to go today?"
| "As far from Redmond as possible!"
'91 GS500E |
Morgantown WV | Only dead fish go with the flow.
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