Re: GUI

[Kent West <westk@acu.edu>]

Carl Fink wrote:

>On Sun, Jan 01, 2006 at 06:17:20PM -0600, branko wrote:
>  
>
>>Hi.Please help.I want to use Linux but in GUI.I have a DVD of Debian Sarge.I 
>>have tried to install it and evrything went fine except at the end all I got 
>>was a prompt.I have tried evry command I could think of to get GUI but could 
>>not.What do I have to do to get graphical interface and what printer does 
>>Debian support.I would be gratefull.By the way I am new to Linux.I run SUSE 
>>9.3 right now but would like to support non comercial version.Thank you.
>>    
>>
>
>I strongly suggest using a different distribution, for instance Ubuntu or
>Knoppix.  Debian isn't exactly HARD to use, but it isn't intended to be u
>sed by beginners, really, unless they're planning to spend a lot of time
>learning before it's really useful.
>  
>
I disagree; he's already familiar with SUSE, so he's not exactly a
beginner. Also, Debian is somewhat more difficult to set up than other
distros, but the advantages, in my opinion, make pure Debian worth more
than the Debian-based distros. But that's just my opinion.

Branko; as someone else has already implied, you need to install the X
Windowing System; "aptitude install x-window-system" will get the
basics. Most likely you'll want to use KDE and/or Gnome (although there
are dozens of alternatives); "aptitude install kde gnome" will install
both, including gdm and kdm, which are the GUIfied login managers;
you'll be asked if you want to use gdm or kdm; take your pick. Then from
within the login manager, you can choose whatever environment (Gnome,
KDE, Icewm, etc) you have installed on your box (except for a few that
don't place nice with the login managers).

Chances are, even after installing X and a login manager, the login
manager won't start automatically; you'll either need to reboot (yech!)
or start the login manager manually, with a command like "sudo
/etc/init.d/gdm start" or "sudo /etc/init.d/kdm start".

-- 
Kent