From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Aug 25 14:11:54 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1CBCE16A4CE for ; Wed, 25 Aug 2004 14:11:54 +0000 (GMT) Received: from rwcrmhc13.comcast.net (rwcrmhc13.comcast.net [204.127.198.39]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DC62343D41 for ; Wed, 25 Aug 2004 14:11:53 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from mailist@whoweb.com) Received: from h000092a708fc.ne.client2.attbi.com ([24.131.157.19]) by comcast.net (rwcrmhc13) with SMTP id <2004082514115001500p1grqe>; Wed, 25 Aug 2004 14:11:51 +0000 From: mailist@whoweb.com To: "james heck" , questions@freebsd.org Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 10:13:00 -0400 User-Agent: KMail/1.5.4 References: In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200408251013.00764.mailist@whoweb.com> Subject: Re: no user interface X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 14:11:54 -0000 As others have eluded to, FreeBSD does not provide a windows based user interface after an installation. The graphics you do eventually setup on the system will be based upon X windows (see www.xfree86.org). Unlike Microsoft, there are numerous options for graphical windows interfaces that can be installed and used on unix machines. Therefore, there is no "standard" or default windows configuration after installation although arguably there could be and people could change it later on. The Freesbie (www.freesbie.org) have done some nice work related to automating the process of detecting graphics cards and their parameters for X. The X configuration procedure can be daunting for a novice user, so be prepared to spend some time doing it and asking lots of questions. But you'renot done yet even if you get X working. You are most likely going to want a "desktop environment" like KDE (www.kde.org) or GNOME (www.gnome.org) based upon what I *think* you might be looking for. This is another layer of software that interacts with X to "manage" your desktop windows and provide easy interfaces for adding background images, changing colors, fonts, etc. Once you get here, your average person would have a hard time looking at the monitor and telling you what operating system was running on the system. The current KDE desktop environment is very user-friendly and looks alot like what you are used to with Microsoft. You can select X and a desktop environment as part of the FreeBSD installation. Unless you have very specific needs I suggest you select the package option that gives you everything. I don't recall the exact wording, but it's something like "all sources, docs, games, and X". Your 10gig is plenty big enough for all of this. At some point during the installation you will be offered the opportunity to select a windows manager and you can select which one you want. I use KDE only because when I was in your situation someone pointed me to KDE and I just stuck with it. If they had told me about Gnome, I'd probably still be using that one. There are many other desktop software packages available as well. If you have the time, I suggest you do a search for unix desktop software or unix window manager and check out all the options. Most have screenshots available on their respective web sites. To get where you want to go, you need to: 1) Install FreeBSD 2) Install X 3) Install kde, gnome, or some other desktop manager 4) Configure X for your specific graphics card and monitor. You'll need to know EXACTLY which model graphics card you have and the technical specs of your monitor. 5) Run "startx" after logging in, or configure the system to start X and let your desktop manager take care of the login process. It's a lot of work, but the results are worth it. I've gotten to the point where I use my FBSD/KDE desktop for 95% of my needs. No cost, no licenses. Just take it one step at a time and you'll get to where you want to go. The latest iterations of xfree86 and kde web sites have gotten very good with their install and configure documentation so there is lots of info available to start you off. On Tuesday 24 August 2004 06:19 pm, james heck wrote: > I just installed 5.2.1 via download onto cdr media. I left about 10 gigs > open for freebsd, and left 9 for my win2000. the dual boot works fine on my > dell laptop, however when i go to load freebsd 5.2.1, i cant get into a > graphical interface. Instead it stays in a "dos-like" interface with > commands only. It recognizes my user name and the admin name of root, but > there is only a command line and no background. i installed cd1, i have a > boot only and a second disc which i have not installed. please point me in > the correct direction > > james heck > > _________________________________________________________________ > On the road to retirement? 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