HI i m new to freebsd.. seems quite same as linux ( first impression )
My qns are

can we start the x server by default

Is there a command that we can use to choose our gui like switchdesk in linux

thats it for now

cd ports/xdm && make depends && make install && make clean

in the ttys (/etc/ttys) file for terminal 8 change the default xdm start to the location of your kdm (kde) or gdm (gnome) wrapper (I heard kdm is better if using 5.1) then change off to on.

If you have a startup script in the .xsession file you will have a gui start up. Go the the FreeBSD manual and check out chapter 5, there is another file you have to edit to set it up so it recognizes you have different gui managers.

www.freebsd.org

I tried that tty8 stuff. but i conked it up trying to use ksm .. now i can neither get inot kde nor the shell ! how do i go back and edit the tty8 ------ line
is there any option that can be passed to the kernel like linux to change the runlevel ?

Login in as root and ee /etc/ttys

Then edit that line so that it says "off".

Start over.

Do this: (as root.)
# XFree86 -configure

# XFree86 -xf86config XF86Config.new

If you are running 5.1, then copy XF86Config.new to
cp XF86Config.new /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config

Now you should be able to start x.
# startx

alt-cntrl-del to get out of x.

If you have KDE installed then your kdm wrapper should be here:
/usr/local/bin/kdm

So your /etc/ttys file should have this path instead of the xdm path. Also change off to on.

Now ee ~/.xinitrc

add this line:
exec startkde

or better make this file:
~./xsession

and add the same line.

Now you need to edit a few more files, which is easiest to explain on this page:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO...ok/x11-wm.html

Scroll down to where you have to edit the Xsession file in the xdm directory.

If by chance you dont have KDE installed, then you can go to the ports:
/usr/ports/x11/KDE3

make install clean

to install KDE before doing the above. You can go here:
/var/db/pkg to see a list of what ports are installed on your machine. You should see kde-3.1.2 if you are current. I am using 5.1 so if you are using 4.8 there is a chance that the paths are different for some of the above files and binaries. Hope this helps.

You should:
# chmod +x ~/.xsession
so that your .xsession is executable.

i am not able to login as anyone. i get the kdm screen and when i try to login it just restarts the x server to get back the login screen.
I want to get into shell prompt and edit the file...
Can i access linux partitons from BSD or viceversa ? if so how ?
i dont want to recompile my linux kernel..

Dont you see a list of options to boot into, prior to loading x? You can boot into "single user mode" (which is option 4, I think.)