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sirgarfield 09-21-2003 10:22 PM

I need help getting started
 
I have installed Mandrake 9.1 as a guest under VMWare. The vmware installation instructions say not to start the X server until vmware tools are installed so you are to uncheck the start X server at boot box. I successfully installed the vmware tools to make the display and mouse work properly. The problem is that when I boot I get the logon prompt. I log onto the root but I do not know the commands to start the X server and KDE GUI.

koyi 09-21-2003 11:39 PM

the command to start x is "startx" or "xinit". This command reads from a file named ".xinitrc" (don't forget the 'dot') under user home directory to determine which desktop to use. Add the following line to start kde.

exec startkde

Notice: If there is a line starts with "exec" in .xinitrc, change it from "exec whatever" to "whatever &". For example, if the original .xinitrc looks like this:
-------------------------
whatever1 &
exec whatever2
-------------------------
Change it to:
-------------------------
whatever1 &
whatever2 &
exec startkde
-------------------------
Just be careful that whatever2 could happen to be another window manager or a desktop suite like gnome, in that case, just comment it out like this:
--------------------------
whatever1 &
# exec whatever2
exec startkde
--------------------------
ps: If the file doesn't exist at all, create it yourself and simply write the "exec startkde" line to it.

Hope this helps.

sirgarfield 09-22-2003 11:57 AM

Koyi,
Thank you for the help. With such good instructions, how can I miss?

Of course when I do, I will beg for help again.

I think a lot of the problems with using Linux is getting used to the kernel commands. I was using Dos before MSDos was even a glint in Bill Gates' eye. I had a terrible time making the transition from the CPM variety to it.


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