Hi i just installed libranet's version of debian. The install went fine. But what i was wondering, is it supposed to just stop at the black login password screen? or is it supposed to boot into a gui like gnome or kde? Either case, mine just goes to the login password screen. And since i'm completely new to linux commands, i have no clue as to how to start kde or gnome frome the command line.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

you would have to edit your inittab file to start in runlevel 5 instead of 3... runlevel 5 starts you out in the GUI... runlevel 3 is usually the default setting after an install..

There are 2 ways to do this.
1:
First logon as root. Then edit you /etc/inittab file. First back it up. Type cp /etc/inittab /etc/inittab.old Then you have to edit the file. Type vi /etc/inittab to open the file in the vi editor. Look for the line that says :id:*:initdefault: The asterisk being some number usually 3. Go to that line with the arrow keys. Then press i to enter insert mode. Change the 3(or whatever it is) to a 5. Whatever you do don't make it 6!!!. Then press escape. Then hold down shift and press the : key. Then at the colon prompt that appears in the lower left of the file type wq. To save the file and exit the editor. Then type reboot at the command prompt. And you should boot to whatever the default gui is for that version of linux.

2:
After you logon type startx. You'll get your gui. Navigate to that file mentioned above. And do the above edits, you can right click the file and open in whatever text editors show up. Then save it and reboot. You can also look for a windows manager prog that will let you change you default gui. In kde 2.1 and higher it is in the kde control panel, called window-man. Don't know what it is for gnome look around for it.

Hope that helped.