okay I tried to copy the config file;

cp /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /etc/X11 bak.XF86Config-4

But it said that "but last arguement bak.XF86Config-4 is not a valid directory"

oops???

cp /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /etc/X11/bak.XF86Config-4

There is a slash in between X11 and bak.XF86Config-4

If you have yellowish lines try running (after backing up above of course )
dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86
again. Is your video card listed? If not you might try choosing the vesa driver. It's generic and has so far always worked well for me.

Sounds good I'll try that.
By the way... My linux box is different that the one I am surfing with. Just thought you ought to know in case you did'nt already.

wolfy: not enough info; slow down your going at the speed of light. take a break. know ? did u try to jazz up ur screen before playing with program first? that is what,why i suggest slowing down. i,ll be honest with u i,m a very new newbie with linux but have taken time to try to learn as much as possible even programming which is greek to me (no offence)(just a pun).
all this info i give is from info i,ve gathered on hardcopy. which i In turn learn from!

oh well,
tried reconfigure with vesa instead (but my video manuf. was listed) exited root logged in as user started X everying looked better starting out but..........

Fatal server error:
Caught signal 11. Server aborting

Hmmmm what happened there? It was looking good BUT.....

Any Idea's?????????

There will be something above the error you listed above that will tell you what might be misconfigured. Generate the error again and post. It will also be logged in
/var/log/XFree86.0.log

Two things,

1st) How do I open/copy/paste the log file to show you?

2nd) I just Installed a better video card, the other was 1mb embedded the one I installed is a 2mb Matrox Mystique, and It may have solved the vesa server problem because Xwindows loaded at startup, no I am trying to see exactly what resolution it's at (but the color looks better... alot better)

I will reply back shortly

Now that is really crazy.

It appears that xwindows is at 800x600.
But it fights me when I try to get out by ctrl-alt-backspace.
I have to do it several times before it will go back to the (default) terminal screen.
Do I need to run reconfigure again now that I changed video cards?

And It seems there is two types of desktop displays

one looks like windows with three Icons at the left hand corner and some icons down in the tool tray.

the other is different with a tool bar at the top no icons in the top left and apparently a totally different feel.

I don't know how it changed but I like the other one better because it looks more like
[Windows.....yuck] and I'm more familiar with that type of interface.

SO did I go to far to fast? or is there hope?

You could either

1) post only the last part of it
or
2) if you have a floppy drive.
mount /dev/fd0
cp /var/log/XFree86.0.log /mnt/floppy
or wherever you distro mounts the floppy drive to
Then you can just put it on you windows machine.

You can open it with
vim /var/log/XFree86.0.log

I'll be back tomorrow. Time for bed

It sounds to me like you logged in to the KDE desktop the first time, but the Gnome desktop the second time. By default Gnome puts a menu bar on top as well as the task bar at the bottom.

You see, unlike Windows, there are a large number of different desktop environments available to you, with different ways of controlling windows, menus, taskbars, etc. Gnome and KDE are the two most common and usually get installed with the OS. There should be an option to choose which one to boot into (and maybe some others as well) on the graphic login screen. KDE starts out looking more similar to Windows, but both are highly configurable, and with a little work you can get either one to look and act like you want. You should take a little time to play with both of them before deciding which one you like best.

Wolfy, I just want to say well done. You're doing pretty good. It's easy to get stressed out about things but, if you think about it, you've actually accomplished a fair bit through the course of this thread. Give thyself a pat on the back.

Linux is very different from Windows, which I'm sure you've realised. The thing to keep in mind is that, although Windows will give a GUI within minutes of putting the disk in the drive, it keeps the user at arms length in order to do so.

When you take back the control you didn't have in Windows and move to Linux you also have to learn how to use that control and apply it to make the system work for you.

This is where the learning curve comes in, you must read a lot (which clearly you have been doing as you have already learned a lot about Xconfig. Not to mention how to install Debian). Learn to read about more than you think you need to know and you'll be a guru in no time.

And, of course, we're always here to give you a push up that learning curve when you need it. So, yeah, keep up the good work.

On either KDE or GNOME, open the menu and choose logout and see if that works. If you like the way your display looks (from a video card perspective), then don't reconfigure. If you don't like it then change it.

To change desktops, if you boot to a gdm login screen there is a menu at the top to change back to KDE. If it boots to console and then you type startx then put in your ~/.xsession file
startkde
If you don't already have that file create it.

I would very much like to show all of you my log, but unfortuneatly I can not mount the floppy with the purpose of copying the log file.

I tried:mount /dev/fd0 then I pressed [enter]
The floppy drive light came on so I thought everything was good
then I typed: cp /var/log/XFree86.0.log /mnt/floppy
put the floppy in the drive of a windows box and........ NO FILE THERE

I repeated the above steps and it said the file already exists do you want to replace it? UHHHH?

************* I'm still getting fatal error: caught signal 11. sever aborting**************

***** But's even whats stranger is that if I reboot the system, it will load Xwindows fine.*****

SO I guess one thing at a time as per "penguin4" intuitive suggestions.

Where would somebody like to start? "I'm open"

It's kinda weird I have to learn how to access a floppy all over again.
!!!!!! Oh by the way I tried to copy the file in xwindows but it said I don't have permission!!!!!!!!

Problems solved:

1.) New video card allows High resolution and color Xwindows screen looks great

***NEW PROBLEM***

I can't seem to swith to KDE Desktop style.
at the log in prompt I have choose to use KDE, I selected it to be default, but it kicked me back to a login prompt.

The only desktop I can get to load is GNOME.

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLPPPPP Please.

wolfy; one more time. trying to hard to do too many at once. as a newbie
time is in your corner and not the hi sp tech stuff, thats the experts seasoned in linux. look back at how many times you have posted and still
with problems. slow down.