Long time Mandrake user, just switched to Debian 3.0. So far, I really like it, but I'm having an aggravating problem.

I installed it on an old machine in my basement, as part of a "sanctuary" of sorts. The machine is a P166, 64MB RAM. My goal, is to have this machine as mostly console-only, with enough X involved, to be able to view images via the web browser as needed. (If I could get the version of "links" with graphics support to compile, I wouldn't even need X, but that's another story! ;-) )

It already serves most of this purpose, as everything in console mode works great, using naim and centericq for IM, and lynx and links for basic web browsing. However, I'm having a problem getting X going. Keep in mind that this machine also has no mouse.

When I first installed X, the dang thing didn't bother asking me if I wanted X to run at boot, and just went ahead and made it that way, which was totally useless, with no mouse, and it wouldn't let me escape to console with ctrl+alt+bckspc. Luckily, I do have sshd enabled on the machine, and was able to ssh into it and make it so that X doesn't run at boot. OK, anyway, I installed the most lightweight window managers for X that I could think of. First was blackbox and xfce. Neither of these want to run, saying they can't connect to X server/display/etc., yet, they will run if I opt to let X run at startup, and both are worthless, as they don't seem to let you use the keyboard for much at all. Out of curiosity, I installed kde, and it doesn't run either, saying it cannot connect to X server. lwm, twm, ratpoison, etc., all say the same thing.

However, I ran across something interesting. If I type "xf86config", X runs with the twm window manager, and even lets me use the numpad for the mouse curser! But, oddly enough, that is the ONLY way I can get it to run; If I simply type "twm", it says it cannot connect to the X server.

Additionaly, typing "X -configure", says that it cannot detect my mouse. Duh!

Can anyone tell me what's going on with this crazy thing?

Create an .xinitrc file in your home directory, insert 'twm' (or name of program starting any window manager inside), without ', save the file and run 'startx'. Does it work?

Tried that, and it didn't do anything.

After much fooling around, I am now able to use either KDE or Gnome. Still can't get twm, lwm, ratpoison, and other smaller ones to work.

No biggie though; I've found that KDE doesn't run all that bad with all the pretties shut off, and I found the option to use the numpad for the mouse cursor.

By the way, why does KDE in Debian 3.0 look and act like KDE3, but still displays that it's 2.2?

Are you sure you have all those small ones installed? If they're compiled from source make sure you have path to their executables in your environmental variable PATH.

Yes, they're installed for sure. I got them with apt-get.They just give the error "unable to open display "" ". I think that it's just a matter of setting the $DISPLAY environment variable, but I cannot find out how to do that, even after much searching around with Google. I've found sites that say use "setenv", but that doesn't work in Debian.

Could you tell how do you start those windowm managers? What do you do to start them?

I just type the name. twm, lwm, ratpoison, etc. And they all give that error. I've also tried what you suggested about the .xinitrc file, and put twm in there, and when I do that, upon starting x, it just sits at the generic X windows screen with the X curser.

You won't start a window manager by simply running it. Use the method with .xinitrc. In case you get strange effects (like the one you mention), close X (in emergncy ctrl+alt+backspace) and look into its messages. There should all errors be written.