On Mon, Jul 01, 2002 at 04:28:11PM -0500, Kent West wrote:
> Venkatesh, PC wrote:
> >
> >1. I'd like a console login prompt, and then start X on my own with startx
>
> Several ways to do this. First is to determine which session manager is
> starting, KDM, WDM, XDM, GDM.
>
> Look in /etc/init.d, and you'll see a script for one or more of these
> session managers. In /etc/rc2.d (the default run level unless you've
> changed it) you'll see a symbolic link to this/these script(s). They'll
> look something like S99wdm or S99gdm ("S" means use this script to
> "S"tart something; 99 means start it after doing S98 scripts which are
> started after doing S97 scripts, etc). Generally the wdm/etc script is
> one of the last scripts to run.
>
> You can either uninstall xdm/gdm/wdm/kdm, or disable the script, or
> modify the script to exit before doing anything.
>
> If you know you're not going to want the session manager more or less
> permanently, you can just "apt-get remove --purge xdm" (or kdm, etc).
> Later, if you want it back, just "apt-get install xdm".
>
> Alternatively, you can rename the symlink (ie S99xdm ==> NoStartS99xd)
> or delete/move the symlink.
>
> Or you can modify the script by adding a line that simply says "exit 0"
> just after the initial comments and before any other code.
>
> You can also run "dpkg-reconfigure xdm" to reconfigure xdm, but I'm not
> sure what options that provides; whether it just allows you to choose
> another session manager of if it will allow you to turn it off altogether.
>
> There are probably a couple of other methods as well, but these should
> suffice.
>
I always install 'rcconf' on my machines, right after ssh and vim. It
just gives a list of daemons, and you can choose whether or not they are
started in the 'normal runlevels' (2-5?). One of those nifty little
tools that everyone should know about.
Of course, if you really don't want xdm, just purge it like Kent said.
>
>
> >3. Netscape does not appear to get installed; on a previous install, I had
> >to manually install it via dpkg and dselect. What are some reason(s)
> >netscape might not automatically install?
>
> Because it's not totally Free. Most folks find that Mozilla is better
> anyway; it's free of the commercial fluff, and IS Netscape, or I should
> say, Netscape IS Mozilla. It's not automatically installed because not
> everyone wants Mozilla, and it's a fairly hefty install (something like
> 13 MB I believe).
>
>
>
> >4. Of course,it took me a while to figure out the "correct" netscape
> >package
> >to install from the huge list in /var/lib/dpkg/available. But since that
> >list appears to follow no particular organizational scheme, it was a
> >problem. Is the debian.org/packages the best place to get "short"
> >descriptions, collated in various ways?
>
> I'm not entirely sure what you mean. You can use dselect (or aptitude,
> or gnome-apt, etc) to search/look for packages/descriptions. You can
> also do an "apt-cache search foo" to find info on foo.
If/when you upgrade to woody or sid, have a look at aptitude. I (and a
lot of others, judging by this list) find it to be much easier, and much
more useful than dselect.
-rob
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