Hi there --

I completed the installation of Debian 4.0 on an HP B2600 hppa workstation via the NetInstall CD. During the installation I selected the Desktop Environment package for installation. The process
appeared to complete successfully, and I rebooted the system.

The problem is that X does not start up. I want to go through the motions of configuring X so that a desktop environment can be used. Is there a tool that I can use to accomplish this, or do I need to manually configure the XFree86 files? If I need to do the latter, does anyone have a suggested configuration? Thanks.

Debian 4.0 (Etch) uses Xorg.

Try # aptitude dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

if that doesn't come up:

# aptitude install xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg xorg gnome gdm

xserver-xorg-core is part of xserver-xorg
xserver-xorg is part of xorg

so just installing xorg will suffice, as for gdm, IMO, you need it like you need a hole in the head, more config, more hassles, KISS it!

Keeping it simple is the reason for installing Xorg in three separate pieces.

gdm is usefull if you want to try several WM, it's cleaner than playing with several xinitrc

If you want "clean" try

# update-alternatives --config x-window-manager

If you're using a wm (fluxbox, blackbox, icewm, etc) then

debian menu > Programs > WindowManagers

Xorg -configure