> On Friday 16 October 2009 01:33:17 Tim Clewlow wrote: >> It sounds like your system is not using the xsession method of >> managing an X session, which means it is using the native xinit method. That's ok, and just as easy to work with. First check if you >> have a file called .xinitrc in your home directory, if it exists, rename it to .xinitrc.sav to move it out the way for a bit (so you >> can always rename it back later if you want) with: >> mv ~/.xinitrc ~/.xinitrc.sav >> Now create a brand new .xinitrc file in your home directory, it will >> be exactly the same as the .xsession file you made earlier, so if you still have the .xsession file just do: >> cp ~/.xsession ~/.xinitrc >> Or if you need to create, or want to check, the new .xinitrc file then it should contain: >> #!/bin/sh >> xrdb -merge ~/.Xdefaults & >> icewm & >> idesk & >> while [ 1 ] ; do >> sleep 1000d >> done >> As long as no-one has modified the X startup scripts (which is >> very >> unlikely for most systems), this should work, well, hopefully :-) > I did this almost immediately on getting up. (We obviously live in > different > time zones!) > I copied as you advised, then kept my xsession but renamed it. > Then restarted. Everything appeared to be exactly the same. > I have (mea culpa) failed to report an error message that I get when > I start a > terminal. This has happened throughout the saga so consistently that I no > longer register it. > Here - belatedly :-( - it is: > l...@dunhurst:~$ > Fatal server error: > Server is already active for display 0 > If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock and start again. > It does not go back to the $ sign, but is immediately usable > normally.
lol - that error makes quite a difference. It means pretty much what it says, ie X is already running, or, the combination of config files means the system ends up trying to start X twice. I think the first thing to do is to comment out the 'startx' line in the ~/.bash_profile file and then restart the computer. Hopefully this will mean X does not start, ie it is not being started by a command in some other config file. If this is the case, then log in and manually start it by typing 'startx'. It should then read the xsession/xinitrc files and start up with icewm and idesk. If after commenting out 'startx' from the .bash_profile file and rebooting, X still startx, then we need to look at a whole bunch of possible files to see where it is being started from. Try the first option and we'll see if that works. Oh, and in case your wondering, I'm more than happy to do through this with you, I've only moved to Debian recently from another *nix so I'm happy to have this as a learning exercise for myself too. :-) Cheers, Tim. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
