Short version

- startx doesn't work with K8 2.6.8 kernel but will work with i386 kernel. No idea why

- I can't get fvwm to be the default wm, gnome keeps coming up no matter what I do

- how do I get rid of gnome and all the 75 other packages included with it easily?

- does it matter which display manager I'm using? (xdm, gdm, etc)


Detailed version
I have a semi-working sarge install running on my new AMD64 3500+. However there are a few issues I need help resolving (and I already googled myself...)


- For some reason, when the K8 2.6.8 kernel package that I got from Debian source does not like my display driver. I have an nVidia 6800GT (haven't installed nVidia drivers yet) and for now I'm using the "vesa" video driver because that's the only one that I've found that works (even "nv" didn't work). However, on the i386 kernel (that came with the installation) everything is fine. Why would Xfree86 have errors for one kernel and not the other?


- I wanted to try something besides gnome and KDE this time (been there done that) so I installed fvwm (and it's a pain in the ass, but my friend sent me his .fvwm2rc file so that should help out). I was getting annoyed with it last night and installed gnome temporarily, but now I can't get out of gnome. I wrote a .xinitrc file in my /home/login directory (no .xinitrc file existed at that point) and put in a single line

After I rebooted I STILL went to gnome! I even did apt-get remove gnome (which was successful) and I STILL get into gnome!!! How do I get to fvwm and not load up gnome? (I'm using xdm)



A couple related questions that aren't really errors but more like personal issues/questions:


- How can I get gnome and all it's junk/dependencies (that aren't being used elsewhere) completely off my system? Is there an easy way to do this? I looked at apt-get's man page and didn't see anything useful.



- In regards to display managers (xdm, gdm, kdm), which one is the "best" to have? I always thought that you should use kdm if you run KDE, gdm if you run Gnome, and xdm for everything else, but I think I'm way off on that one. Right now I'm (trying) to use xdm and fvwm as my window manager. Is there a good reason for me to switch to gdm or kdm?



Thanks for any help! It is greatly appreciated.

Added a short version because I realize that people take a look at a long post like this and say "pass", but without posting the details I have people who reply and just say "need more detail" so this is the best of both worlds.

I cannot help you with the kernel problem but concerning your GUI login problem I'd recommend that you install wdm -- it's a modified version of xdm and in wdm you can choose from a list which de/wm you want to start. Wdm is a bit ugly but you can modify its outlook in /etc/X11/wdm/wdm-config. (To get a nice blue background color, try "DisplayManager*wdmBg: solid:#474459".) Wdm will automatically detect all your installed desktop environments and window managers, and when you install or uninstall them wdm wiil update its list.

Of course, if you plan to use only one window manager (fvwm), it will be easier to just rename ~/.xinitrc into ~/.xsession because that's the file that xdm expects to read to know which de/wm it should start.

I see. Thanks for the tip. I will check out wdm.



I managed to fix my gnome/fvwm boot problem (somehow). I didn't change anything but this time when I rebooted it brought me straight into fvwm. Figures.




BTW: Does anyone know how to get the Debian menu seen in FVWM? I've been trying to find that out and I can't find the info on how to do that.

Don't know about the Debian menu thing but for starting a certain display manager after startup you have the /etc/X11/default-display-manager file which you may modify so it will point to the DM you want to.