I recently installed FreeBSD 5.2 and I configured X properly. I am able to start X up, but am not able to load any of the window managers. I used startx "MANAGER" command to start up kde as well as the other managers (gnome , afterstep etc. ) but no luck . I get the following error messages:

Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0

Xauth: (argv):1 bad display name "" "remove" command
Xauth: (argv):1 bad display name "" "remove" command

X Works fine... but i want a real GUI

Anyhelp would be greatly appreciated.... thanks.

~Manini

create a file in your home directory, called .xinitrc - with "exec gnome-session" in it. Or "exec afterstep" for afterstep, etc.

Also, if you plan on using xdm (enable it in /etc/ttys if you want to) you will need a file named ".xsession" with the same lines as above... this file must be set as executable (chmod +x .xsession) because it is run by xdm.

Well.... it turned out that my copy of 5.2 is actually corrupt. I told the installer to install everything, when I was installing it, but it didn't install any of the managers.... so I tried to go and install them, but it gave me an error and said the file has an error and must be aborted... or somethin like that. I did manage to get FVWM to work though. Anyways.... time to install slackware 9.1. My freebsd days are done for now

Dude, don't give up for something stupid like that. Try getting the packages through FTP... or get a fresh copy of the iso... it probably is a bad burn. It has happened to me and it completely recoverable. Trust me BSD is just as good as -- if not better than -- Linux. Just think of it as bad luck. Don't blame it on the OS.

well... I'm not quittin cause of that... It's just I've been wantin to try slackware for a while. I'm gonna get BSD 4.9 after i'm done experimenting with that and then maybe come back to 5.2. The prob is, i'm too noobish to be usin FreeBSD lol. I got a lot of to do. Prolly too noobish for slackeware as well.... maybe i should go back to redhat lol

Read up and come back. ;-) I run 4.9-STABLE myself because there is nothing I need from 5.2 at this moment. I am sure it is also pretty solid but I am waiting till 5.3 or maybe 5.4 before I upgrade this system. 4.9 is a really good version so don't worry about using it. It is good to be a newbie and face it on many different systems. You learn different ways to face the same problem each time. The next time you face it as a newbie on a system you will have all sorts of new methods to try and investigate.

I was just saying, don't give up on the whole FreeBSD project because of a bad CD. ;-)

Hey I got a question... Lets say I was to install 4.9. Is tehre any way to get my WUSB11 v. 2.6 (Linksys wireless usb adapter) up and running? I really want to have an internet connection. i tried making a driver on red hat but failed a million times If there is a way to do it, and is guaranted... I swear I'll switch from Windows to Linux lol. It would be great if I c ould get it to work wit freebsd 4.9. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

I really don't know if it is supported under FreeBSD. I gave the hardware list a cursory look and saw a bunch of linksys usb stuff but not that specific hardware. If you ever get around to trying FreeBSD it should be pretty easy to find out. If it isn't detected automatically at boot then you can add a few devices to your kernel. But the GENERIC kernel really does have almost everything in it. Did you see the device when you booted?

I don't think so..... and netscape was screwed from the corrupt installation... so I couldnt really tell...

You can tell if the GENERIC kernel that is in place after a fresh FreeBSD install, handles your device by hitting scroll lock at the login: prompt and scrolling back through the lines the system outputs as it boots.

Or do an ifconfig from a shell prompt and see if you've been assigned an IP in accordance with your router's specification, or DHCP provider if you're on cable.

Whatever you do, don't resort to Red Hat :P