Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 07:51:54 -0400 (EDT) From: CyberPeasant <djv@bedford.net> To: mvrck@snap.portalinc.com (- U L Y -) Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Configuring the X Window Message-ID: <199805161151.HAA27206@lucy.bedford.net> In-Reply-To: <355D6E44.4E62D0A5@portalinc.com> from - U L Y - at "May 16, 98 06:45:24 pm"
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
- U L Y - wrote:
> Dear Sirs,
>
> successful... afterwards...I shut it down and reboot the PC, after
> logging in, I type X and then the screen turns into grey with a big X
> for a cursor inside the screen...and it just stays there for i don't
> know how long... ( I tried leaving it for 2 hours and when i came back,
> it is still there, no change in the screen, although the cursor can move
> around freely,)
>
> What had happened? Is it the way i configured it or my devices don't
> support the settings I gave them?
>
OK, nothing is wrong. X is just the server, i.e. the display manager.
It doesn't know anything about windows, starting applications, etc etc.
In general, you don't start X by just starting the server. The
usual way to start it is with the command "startx". This is a shell
script located in /usr/X11R6/bin/startx. Startx does some very
essential housekeeping functions, and then calls a program "xinit".
xinit starts your server (X itself), and in its default form, opens
a couple of terminal windows, the starts a window manager named
twm. The window manager is the thing that controls opening, resizing,
moving windows around, i.e. is the user interface and "look and feel".
Most users prefer a different window manager. Fvwm2 is a popular choice;
install the fvwm2 package, and read the fvwm2 man page. To get it started,
you will edit /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc, the startup script
for xinit. The last part of this script, set up to run fvwm2 rather
than twm, looks like this on a system of mine:
if [ -f /usr/X11R6/bin/fvwm2 ]; then
exec /usr/X11R6/bin/fvwm2
else
twm &
xclock -geometry 50x50-1+1 &
xterm -geometry 80x50+494+51 &
xterm -geometry 80x20+494-0 &
exec xterm -geometry 80x50+0+0 -name login
fi
The five lines starting with "twm &" are in the original.
man X is interesting reading. Also man Xserver, man startx and
man xinit
Dave
--
<----. mail-to: djv@bedford.net
<----|===================================
<----'
To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199805161151.HAA27206>