Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 16:59:42 +0000 From: Peter Risdon <peter@circlesquared.com> To: Claude Martin <claude_martin_41@hotmail.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: How do I get into GUI? Message-ID: <401152FE.1050605@circlesquared.com> In-Reply-To: <BAY2-F94PaqhT4UHtWK000139aa@hotmail.com> References: <BAY2-F94PaqhT4UHtWK000139aa@hotmail.com>
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Claude Martin wrote: > My problem is that I expected the booting process to finish in the > graphical user interface. Instead, it stops at a CLI prompt. Maybe I > did something wrong. No, although you were probably asked during the install whether you wanted to configure X Windows. Not everyone wants a GUI for every machine. I don't install X Windows on mail or web servers, for example, except (rarely) as a dependency of some other program. Assuming you're completely new to all this, there are two stages to running a GUI. The first is to get a running X server. The second is to select your preferred window manager (such as KDE or, as another poster suggested, Windowmaker). Nothing can happen without a properly configured X server. The choice of window manager is arbitrary and you can switch between them if you want. The easiest way to get a running X server is, as root, to type: /stand/sysinstall Then go Configure-->Mouse and get your mouse working. Having configured the mouse, you should be prompted to go to the next stage and configure the XFree86 system - aka your X server. If not, go back to the previous menu and select XFree86, then select option 2, xf86cfg, a graphical setup tool which might just get your graphics card right unaided. If not... > an Nvidia GeForce2 video card, ...you need to tell it which graphics card you have and, possibly, which chipset it uses. If you're having problems and need to drop into a lower-level configuration tool, you'll need to know suitable vertical and horizontal sync ranges for your monitor. In addition to the information and links given to you here by other posters, you might find it helpful to look at: http://www.xfree86.org where you'll find detailed information about how to configure X for different graphics cards. PWR. PWR.
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