This is my first post here as I am somewhat new to the world of linux. My first attempt at linux was debian woody on pearpc. I was able to install and configure x server to run kde. Unfortunatelly it ran very slow and was somewhat limited to what I could do but I did enjoy it.
I finally got an old computer running and have installed sarge. Installed X server and got gnome running. I have installed kde but haven't been able to start kde. When I type startkde I recieve this:

xsetroot: unable to open display
xset: unable to open display
xsetroot: unable to open display
startkde: starting up...
startkde: running kpersonalizer...
kwin: cannot connect to x server
kpersonalizer: cannot connect to x server

Gnome runs I believe as default when I startx. I haven't decided which display I like best but would like to explore both. How could I go about this? Is there a way to set up x to give me this option?Any help would be greatly appreciated,thanks in advance.

If you insist on starting X from the command line, you need to create a .xinitrc file into your home directory. It's the file that "startx" command will check to see which DE (gnome or kde) it should start. You can make the contents of .xinitrc to look like this:

#exec gnome-session
exec startkde

This will tell "startx" to start kde. If you want to start gnome instead, just move the # character to the beginning of the other line.

However, you might want to install a GUI display manager like gdm or kdm that lets you to choose from a menu which DE (gnome or kde) you want to start. If you have trouble starting the display manager automatically, you can install the "rcconf" package that lets you enable/disable the services started at boot time.

Thanks Dead Parrot installed gdm and I am off to the races. Thanks again for your help I do appreciate it. 1109 posts eh, wow I have a lot of learning to do.Thanks again and I am sure we'll talk again.