Well that's positive no?

Try again but now using:
at the console after login. Also to avoid some stuff (root being unable to login to GUI like on some distros) run the startkde command as your user. If startkde doesn't work, then try startx when logged in as your user.

Kind regards,

Eric

Hmm....

startkde resulted:
"Cannot display"
then, in very rapid repetition:
"kpersonalizer: cannot connect to X server"


startx resulted:
"fatal server error.
No valid [something, bad handwriting]path could be found.
Waiting for X server to begin accepting connections.
Giving up.
xinit: connection reset by peer (errno 104): unable to connect to X server
xinit: no such process (errno 3): server error

can you guys clue me in?

do you have kdm/gdm?

what did you do a debian minimal install or what?

Debian KDE CD 1

ah
an install cd?
only one cd holds kde?

Ok, next step towards a working GUI.

Login as your user and check if you have a .xinitrc file in your home directory.

To do this after login you should be in your home directory automatically. So just type:
In the list there should be a file .xinitrc (starts with point).

If it exists then check the contents of the file:
There should be a line like this in it
If that line is not in there, then open the file with an editor and type it in.

If the file .xinitrc does not exist then create it:
and put the line as stated above in it.

You could also try to start the X environment and KDE like this:
Hope this works out.

Kind regards,

Eric

The NETINST is so much easier in my opinion, at the final step it asks you if you want to install a desktop environment and/or other stuff and does it automatically.

How do I do that?


Holy minkro$oft, now you tell me..!

How do I open the file?

You can use for example:
put in the line of code and then CTRL-X to exit the editor. When prompted to save the document type yes or y.

Didn't I mention the netinst in one of the almost 150 posts?
Not sure, maybe not, if not then sorry, but hey you're learning a lot.

Kind regards,

Eric

LOL

I was wonderin
why you didn't just do a net-install
its good
your leraning this way
the Dreaded Command Line!

Yeah, old school stuff, great!!!!!!

I created .xinitrc, added the line.
Then I attempted the startkde commend. Nothing.

And startx didn't do anything neither? Did you get any error?

I don't mind building a whole OS by hand, file by file, but I don't want to be any more of a nightmare to you guys. I love to learn this, but it's not like you are my paid instructors. Eric, you have sat with me here for, well, days, if you add up the hours!