I have a working basic system that I created from the "testing" level.

I am now trying to get Gnome up and running. I have done the following.

apt-get install x-window-system-core

apt-get install gnome

There was some setup questions which I did not fully understand. I left the default for all questions.

When my system starts now it tries to start x but is unable to. My system locks up.

What should I do to get Gnome up and running?

How do these things relate to each other: Gnome, gdm, x ?

try then reboot
if it still doesn't work, then probably something is wrong with your video card or monitor config
you can reconfigure it with

gdm is ok.

I made a reply to this thread, and later it wasn't there. Weird and annoying. I'll try and reconstruct it...

I agree that it's a good idea to do "apt-get install x-window-system" instead of just x-window-system-core. Read about the x-window-system metapackage: "apt-cache show x-window-system"

It would be a good idea to learn more about those questions. For the time being, the default answers should be safe, but keep in mind down the road if your system has some annoying behavior (or it's just not behaving as you would expect it to) that it could be related to those defaults.

What does the system do when it "locks up"? Does the screen just stay black, or does it come back to the console? Either the X server or Gnome are having trouble when starting. Usually, if the X server fails it will bring you back to the console. If Gnome has a problem it might not (you're getting a very non-expert opinion here), so may the problem may lie with Gnome.

* How are you starting X? Automatically, or do you type in startx?
* What happens if you hit Ctl+Alt+Backspace? (should kill and restart the X server)
* What happens if you hit Ctl+Alt+F1? This should bring you to console tty1, where you can log in and reconfigure things.

You'll be able to tell from your system logs whether the problem is with the X server. If it is, then you'll just need to give it the correct information for your hardware, which is not so hard. But one step at a time.

By the way, I don't think installing gdm will help, but it shouldn't hurt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_server
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME_Display_Manager
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_display_manager

"X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the screen and interacting with a mouse and keyboard. X does not mandate the user interface — individual client programs handle this. As such, the visual styling of X-based environments varies greatly; different programs may present radically different interfaces."

"The GNOME project provides two things: The GNOME desktop environment, an intuitive and attractive desktop for end-users, users, and the GNOME development platform, an extensive framework for building applications that integrate into the rest of the desktop."

"GDM (the GNOME Display Manager) provides an alternate display manager for the X Window System."

"In the X Window System, an X display manager runs as a program, allowing the starting of a session on an X server from the same or another computer."


Note that you don't have to use GDM with Gnome. I'm not saying it's bad of course, just that XDM (the default) and KDM are also valid choices.


Edit: Oh yeah, an important comment I forgot. Although it's probably not what you want to hear, I recommend you start over and install stable instead of testing. There are a lot less snages waiting on you when using stable, and it seems you need to get a little better oriented before you start using the experimental versions (testing and unstable).

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I now have a working Gnome system.

I ran dpkg-reconfigure <x package names> on several x package names, and change several default options. In particular settings related to my mouse and video card.

I still do not understand all the x packages (xserver*, x-window*, xfree* ) and how they relate to each other and work. The package gdm fits into this how I do not know.

X server is a general term. The specific X server you are using is called XFree86:
your X server = XFree86

x-window-system is the name of the Debian package used to install XFree86. They are just different aspects of the same thing.

It is necessary for XFree86 (your X server) to work in order for Gnome to work. XFree86 works for Gnome, doing a lot of very basic tasks that Gnome relies on it for.

Gnome is a desktop environment. That means it is a graphical user interface (GUI) to the system, which uses a windows manager to, well, manage windows, and "provides icons, toolbars, applications, applets, and abilities like drag and drop. As a whole, the particularities of design and function of a desktop environment endow it with a distinctive look and feel."

KDE is another popular desktop environment for Linux.


GDM is a display manager. A display manager's job is to start an X session, which is just a GUI session on an X server. Let's say your computer has Gnome, KDE, XCFE and Fluxbox installed. (These are all alternative kinds of graphical user interfaces.) The computer doesn't know which one you'd like to use. The display manager (GDM in this case) allows you to select which one you'd like to use, and asks you for your username and password. That's all that you're likely to notice a display manager doing (although they do more). For now I guess just think of it as the program that gets you logged in and started using Gnome.

Read the Wikipedia links I provided and you'll start to understand better.

Thanks for the information.