Re: no window manager, no x-terminal, after installing task-gnome
>>>>> "Eric" == Eric Hanchrow <offby1@blarg.net> writes:
Eric> Just tried another install today, with boot-floppies built from
Eric> CVS sources that I updated about noon today, PST. I installed the
Eric> task-x-window-system package, and typed `startx' when dselect was
Eric> finished. I saw the standard X stippled background ... and nothing
Eric> else. No xterm. It took me a few minutes to realize that I was
Eric> running twm (I clicked the left mouse-button, and lo, the twm menu
Eric> came up) but alas: there's no way for me to start processes! Since
Eric> there's no xterm, I can't type at a command line, and the twm menu has
Eric> no way to start a process.
I've had the similar experiences.
I would like it if it would require `xserver-vga16' and `xf86setup'
to be installed, then run `XF86Setup' (anXious didn't work; I tried
it... XF86Setup is the best one).
After the server is configured, there's "one" more problem... There
is no ~/.xsession. Perhaps there should be one in the "/etc/skel"
directory? I copied the "/etc/gdm/Sessions/Gnome" script to
"~/.xsession". It provides the best configuration of them all...
Maybe those scripts could be pulled out of `gdm' and provided in a
base or common type package. `startx' could be modified to use the
same set of files that `gdm' uses, &c.
`sawmill' was the only window manager I had installed. IIRC, it
started the first time, but did not the second time I used `startx'.
I had to go through the Gnome control panel, add a fake window
manager (I used "true"), select it, push [Try], wait for it to fail,
then let if fall back on `sawmill', which it thought (? It probably
didn't really look to see for itself.) was already running. Now
`sawmill' is started, it offers to save the session, then next time I
startx the window manager is there. I am not the one who will debug
this; at least not anytime soon.
Katchina Tech sells laptops and desktops with Debian installed on
them. (I met them while they were in Portland for the supercomputing
convention.) They have a nice looking `gdm' setup, &c. Perhaps we
can package up something like what they do? It would be nice if
after an install I could start reading docs in an X browser...
without needing a week of reading just to find out that I need an
.xsession to get `startx' to work, &c. The window manager not
starting the second time you `startx' thing is the sort of problem
that will lose us a lot of new users. It's very frustrating when
thingsg don't work right.
Eric> `xinit' doesn't have this problem: it starts X and xterm, and I can
Eric> start twm by hand and continue to issue shell commands.
I never tried that. Hmmm.
Eric> As before, where does the responsibility lie? I assume that this
Eric> should be raised as a bug against some package or other, but I don't
Eric> know which.
Not sure either. You'll have to dig for it, I guess. Folks on the
`debian-x' list might know more about this than I do.
Fixg it for us, Eric!
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