From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Nov 2 17:35:30 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org 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 BFB9216A403 for ; Thu, 2 Nov 2006 17:35:30 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) Received: from igloo.linux.gr (igloo.linux.gr [62.1.205.36]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F077843D6D for ; Thu, 2 Nov 2006 17:35:28 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) Received: from kobe.laptop (host5.bedc.ondsl.gr [62.103.39.229]) (authenticated bits=128) by igloo.linux.gr (8.13.8/8.13.8/Debian-2) with ESMTP id kA2HZM9k015050 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Thu, 2 Nov 2006 19:35:24 +0200 Received: from kobe.laptop (kobe.laptop [127.0.0.1]) by kobe.laptop (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id kA2HZF0O003804; Thu, 2 Nov 2006 19:35:16 +0200 (EET) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) Received: (from keramida@localhost) by kobe.laptop (8.13.8/8.13.8/Submit) id kA2HZDYZ003803; Thu, 2 Nov 2006 19:35:14 +0200 (EET) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 19:35:13 +0200 From: Giorgos Keramidas To: Evans Durandisse Message-ID: <20061102173513.GB3617@kobe.laptop> References: <20061102011805.88918.qmail@web60523.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20061102011805.88918.qmail@web60523.mail.yahoo.com> X-Hellug-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-Hellug-MailScanner-SpamCheck: not spam, SpamAssassin (score=-2.537, required 5, AWL -0.14, BAYES_00 -2.60, DNS_FROM_RFC_ABUSE 0.20, UNPARSEABLE_RELAY 0.00) X-Hellug-MailScanner-From: keramida@ceid.upatras.gr X-Spam-Status: No Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: About "how the GUI should look like after installation!" X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2006 17:35:30 -0000 On 2006-11-01 17:18, Evans Durandisse wrote: > I am brand new to unix. I m a beginner student in computer > engineering. I wanted to install freeBSD since there's such a fuss > about it. I got the iso images and mounted them on a CD with Alcohol > 120. I don't know what "Alcohol 120" is, but since it helped you write ISO images to CD-ROM disks, it must be a good thing *grin* > I installed freebsd without much configuration. I answered 'no' when > asked to configure things what could be configured later. But I do not > know if I installed it right, eventhough I tried to follow the > instructions from the handbook. If it boots, and you can see a login prompt, it's installed fine. Most of the post-installation tasks can be done quite fine from a plain login shell, like the one you can see now after the boot process completes. > When I open my computer, after installation, there's the screen that > asked if I want to start freebsd or dos. So I choose freebsd. Then, I > logged in and typed 'startx' to start the gui (that's what I should > do! right!). Bingo! You have all you need for a basic FreeBSD installation *and* a desktop environment based on X11. Now is the time to install a desktop environment, if you haven't done so already :) > Consequently, it'd been loaded. I am just seeing four comand > shells. That's all I can see! No taskbars! No background picture > (greying grinded dots: like pixels in a low definition > image). There're just four squared box (shell). My mouse worked! But > there's nothing it can be used for. I tried to work myself over that > by typing some commands. But I don't know that much of the Unix > language; so it's been to no avail! What you saw is the very Spartan, very basic, extremely low-profile desktop that comes with the X11 system. The decorations around the Windows are minimal, there is no fancy menu with lots of programs, program utilities, games, and other software. You can definitely build on top of this minimal desktop, but if you want a more featureful, more fancy desktop, you will have to install one yourself. In FreeBSD, there are dozens of choises for a desktop environment running on top of the basic X11 installation you have now. You can read more about the available environments at: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x11-wm.html > So my question is should I get this kind of graphic environment? or > something missing in the installation. Don't worry. All is fine. This is the bare-bones "window manager" that comes with the X11 distribution. You can always install whatever you want, on top of X11. I am typing this message in GNU Emacs, running under XFCE4. The XFCE4 desktop is a fairly light, but nice desktop environment, which you can install easily on top of FreeBSD and X11. Other choise for a desktop environment are: GNOME and KDE. Read the Handbook section mentioned above, and you'll quickly know how to install and use one of them too. > I have an intel D845GLVA motherboard with a Pent IV, integrated video > card, Samsung SyncMaster 753DF (maybe it's the hardware). But I didn't > get any error message for that. > > Thank you for considering helping! Have a good day! Good day to you too. Oh, and "welcome to FreeBSD" :) - Giorgos