Im very sorry for this very newbie question but im lost.

I Just installed Debian on one of my spare computers to experiment with but i cant seem to get the gui start. I checked google and a few other sites and they all tell me to simply type startx . I tried typing startx but it gives me a unknown command error. Maybe the gui has to be configured first ? if so how would that be done.

Thank you all for your patients with this stupid question but your help is greatly apreciated.

Nicarlo

did you install X and a WM?

i dont believe so.. how would i go by installing it ?


thanks for your quick responce.

Not 100% sure but maybe you need the Xorg- X11 packages....Note that I work with FC.

Not much but we never know dude

Mart.

apt-get install xorg fluxbox(or gnome, xfce, kde, whatever WM you want)

Oh and if you want to boot into a graphical interface, then apt-get install gdm(kdm, or xdm will work too)

does that package come with debian or it is seperate ?

here is a big help page for Debian
http://www.togaware.com/linux/survivor/

Does what pkg come with debian?

that site is not really a big help.... anyyone else have any suggestions?

what are you talking about? I told you what to do!!!

Originally posted by bosewicht
apt-get install xorg fluxbox(or gnome, xfce, kde, whatever WM you want)

Oh and if you want to boot into a graphical interface, then apt-get install gdm(kdm, or xdm will work too)

How difficult is that?

Why didn't you install a distro that is more newbie friendly

sorry for asking over and over the same questions. i tired apt-get install gnone, xorg and etc.. but none worked. The last one you gave me apt-get install gdm seems to be working at the moment. Thanks alot for your help.

I know i should probably be sticking to a more user friendly distro but the whole purpose im doing this is to learn new ways and by doing that i need the help of great people like you.

After installing apt-get install gdm everything seemed to work well until i tried to execute the startx command once more. This time it actualy responds to its command but im getting a whole bunch of errors and the gui is not starting. im getting line2: /usr/bin/X11/X no such file or directory... any suggestions what to do from here ?

apt-get install gnome
check the spelling.

or you can try
type in apt-get install xorg
which should pull the xorg or xfree packages as well.

If you just install xorg or xserver-xfree86 you will still not have a desktop. You must install gnome, kde, whatever.

You want to learn, but part of the learning process is figuring things out. Installing and configuring X is easy. there are instructions on this site in the tutorials and all over the web how to do it.

I tried all the apt-get install and none work.. they all give me the same error either couldnt find package or Package gnome has no installation candidate.

I agree with you .. i should try to figure it out.. its not like i didnt try anything.. ive been reading for a few hours now on this stuff and nothing is a good read.

Anyway hope you can help me out once again.

try adding these lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list:

# Debian experimental
deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/project/experimental main
# GNOME 2.10 pending packages
deb http://pkg-gnome.alioth.debian.org/debian experimental main

so you need to su or sudo to edit that file. add the above lines to it. then try the apt-get install gnome.

It's stupid if debian doesn't include gnome in it's main repo

its doesnt seem to like this line

deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/project/experimental main

i ran the update with the other one and it downloaded two new files but im still getting errors. Anymore suggestions ?

Yeah, i typed it in wrong, try this

# Debian experimental
deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/project experimental main