The title of this should be changed to 'Help the linux n00b.' Sorry for all the trouble, but Linux is becoming more and more usable for me. Soon I will only use Windows for gaming.

Sorry to bug you yet again, but I DID have the foresight to try dpkg-reconfigure, since that has been a standard response. When I try, it just says System startup links for blah already set. It runs at startup, but cancels and thinks I don't want it.

[edited by - nagromo on January 28, 2004 11:29:43 PM]

quote: Original post by nagromo
The title of this should be changed to ''Help the linux n00b.'' Sorry for all the trouble...

No worries. We all had to start somewhere, we wouldn''t be on the site if we weren''t interested in helping people.

quote: Original post by nagromo
Sorry to bug you yet again, but I DID have the foresight to try dpkg-reconfigure, since that has been a standard response. When I try, it just says System startup links for blah already set. It runs at startup, but cancels and thinks I don''t want it.

Try doing this as root: echo ''/usr/bin/X11/xdm'' > /etc/X11/default-display-manager

That might be enough to make it happy. Not entirely sure as I''ve never done it manually in Debian, the debconf way always worked for me.

xdm is working now, but I have yet another question/problem. How can I use something other than kde? I would like to set the default window manager and/or choose at login. xdm doesn''t give me the option to choose. I also have icewm and enlightenment installed, but I don''t know how to start them.

quote: Original post by nagromo
xdm is working now, but I have yet another question/problem. How can I use something other than kde? I would like to set the default window manager and/or choose at login. xdm doesn''t give me the option to choose. I also have icewm and enlightenment installed, but I don''t know how to start them.

Most of window managers (there''s a couple exceptions) and all of the desktop environments in Debian come with session scripts for gdm and/or kdm. Install one of those two and they''ll be an easy way to select which you want to use prior to logging in. If that''s unacceptable, you can configure your ~/.xsession file to tell it what to load each time.

To set the default I think (it''s been a while) you do one or both of update-alternatives --config x-window-manager or update-alternatives --config x-session-manager as root after installing the choice you want to pick (it''ll ask you which you want to use and give you a list).

OK, I can log into any window manager, but one thing still bugs me: I can''t shutdown. If I am in the X, log off is the only option. If I type ''shutdown now'' on the command line, it asks for the root password and restarts. Is there a way to properly shut down?

xdm.gdm let you shutdown from the login screen.

shutdown -h now will get you shutdown.

or just,

halt