Re: ok, why won't x work
On Tue, 27 Jul 1999, Lee Elliott wrote:
> Where do I type the startx commands? I get the b&w bg & the X pointer
> but couldn't start a shell and had to three finger out (Yes even an Ami
> needs three fingers). As I said in another reply to this, I'm
> currently relying on xdm to give me a login and shell.
X is really two parts the X server and clients.
the file /etc/X11/XF86Config is the server configuration file.
As a test typing just
$ X
starts only the X server(to get out the right way
press ctrl-alt-backspace, not ctrl-alt-del) it doesnt start any clients
like xterm or a window manager. If you get the gray bg the X server is
configured correctly. If you wanted to after that you could goto to a vc
and type
$ xterm -display 0:0
(with out X running)startx starts both the X server and clients defined
usually in /etc/X11/xinit/ if one of those clients(the window manager) is
configured wrong(to the point were it exits) the X server will also exit.
On most systems
$ startx /usr/X11R6/bin/xterm
will get X running w/ an xterm. When the xterm exits X will exit.
$ startx /path.to/wmaker
will run WindowMaker.
The files in /etc/X11/xinit/ are respnsible for starting the clients after
X starts. The default is probobly generic. putting something like this in
it would work just as well(you dont have to use twm though):
#!/bin/sh
#sample xinit file
xsetroot -solid blue&
xterm&
exec /usr/X11R6/bin/twm
also those files are the system defaults making a ~/.xinitrc and a
~/.Xclients overrides them.
xdm does not use these files it uses files in /etc/X11/xdm/
the file /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers starts X
the file /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession starts the clients
If you like using xdm running init 5 and not xdm itself is the better way
to run it, setting 5 as the default runlevel starts xdm when your computer
starts.
I hope that explains how X gets running and why xdm would work but not
startx.
Justin
------------------------------------
ph33r the penguin
Reply to: