trevor hamel wrote: > i recently installed linux. when i finished the installer i as hoped > to be gretted with an OS with a display like windows.... what i gto > was more like a display of dos. can someone tell me how to get it to > not be in command prompt... because i didnt think that was what linux > was.... thank you for te help >
You have a (common) misunderstanding of what "Linux" is. Linux is the core, the "kernel", of the Debian GNU/Linux operating system. Although it is quite complex, it is relatively small and minimalist compared to the whole OS. It's basic function is to provide an interface between the "bare iron" (disk drives, serial port, video adapters, etc) and the higher level software. In the case of Debian, on top of the kernel sits all sorts of utilities and programs, such as web servers and GUI interfaces (similar to MS-Windows) and programming environments. Since Debian is geared more for those who want to control their computer rather than be controlled by their computer, the installation is pretty minimalistic unless you tell it be otherwise. It tends to install more than the bare minimum, but less than would be expected by the average Windows user (unless, as mentioned, you tell it during the install to go ahead and install more than that). In your case, this resulted in a "command prompt" environment (although it's more powerful than any command prompt you've ever known in the DOS/Windows world). You'll want to install a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Although there are dozens (hundreds?) of different GUIs available (unlike the Windows world, in which you basically have the one GUI provided by Microsoft), you'll probably be most comfortable with KDE. To install KDE, as root, (and don't run as root except when necessary; a better solution would be to use "sudo"), enter the following commands: apt-get update apt-get install aptitude aptitude update aptitude install kde kdm x-window-system The first command updates apt-get's knowledge of what packages are available for installation. The second command installs "aptitude", which by some accounts is the Future's "replacement" for "apt-get", so you might as well get it now and start getting comfortable with it. It works very similarly to "apt-get". The third command updates aptitude's knowledge of what packages are available for installation (and may be unnecessary, since I believe it shares the same database with apt-get, but it can't hurt). The fourth command actually installs the X11 Windowing System (the basic GUI), along with KDE (the bells-and-whistles that make X "pretty"), and KDM which is a graphical login manager. Then to start the X system, you can: * run "startx" (as a normal user, not root) or * run "/etc/init.d/kdm restart" (as root) (although this method will leave root logged in on the first Virtual Terminal (VT) - you can switch back to VT1 with Ctrl-Alt-F1 (or to VT2 with Ctrl-Alt-F2, VT3 with Ctrl-Alt-F3, etc), log out of root, then Alt-F7 to get back to where you were in the GUI) or * reboot Prepare for an adventure; the fun has just begun! -- Kent -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
