Hi,

I just tried installing Debian GNU/Linux. Version 2.2r5 When I try to start up Linux all I get is a command prompt where I can log in. When I log in I cant do anything except ls commands. I cant get a GUI to come up. It says command not found when I type "startx" I cant find any applications to run. I basically cant do anything. I have tried installing Linux plenty of times and this is always what happens to me.

I am installing Linux on an old pentium 166 processor with 32 MB EDO RAM, 600 MB Hard drive, 34X CD-ROM, 4x 2x 6x SCSI CDRW, SCSI card, and a Floppy drive.

What am I doing wrong. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Hi
Does your version of Debian Linux come with a GUI in the first place ? Maybe it doesn't, so it does not install any GUI.

If you want to use Linux with a GUI, you can try Redhat linux 8.0,Corel Linux or SuSe linux 8.0......They definitely have at least one GUI in their installation package. And they are inexpensive to get and easy to install and use too!

debian comes with a GUI....
it just might not be installed
you would just have to install it if you want the GUI
no need in installing another version of linux
just to get a GUI

How do I install the GUI from what I have now?

I will give that a shot. If I still have problems I will try a different version of Linux.

Thanks Guys

have u done x-window configuration during installation.if ur configuration is correct then startx should work.if u haven't configured xwindow then this command won't work.so first of all configure x-window..using commad
Xconfigurator
this should solve ur problem.
if u want to login in to GUI then u can edit /etc/inittab file and see the entry for the runlevel and change it to runlevel 5.

I tried Xconfigurator and it told me command not found. Any suggestions?

thanks

Dave

then probably u haven't selected the X-window support during installation.it is true that debian has X-window support so don't worry that ur OS doesn't have X-window support.sorry to say but i can only suggest a reinstallation.but don't forget to enable X-window support during installation.(this is done when u select the packages).well i haven't heard that any one first installs Linux for only text mode and then installs the packages for the GUI so i am afraid to say that u have to reinstall Linux.this is better solution than installing latest X-free86 version.(though u may try it).

By default, on a fresh Debian install, you get the base packages to be able to boot up the system. Once the system boots up , you go through the system configuration wtih setting up your root password, users, password files, etc. Then debian asks you if you would like to install using "tasksel" or "dselect". That is where you would have to go in to install your packages.

First off, at this point, I would suggest upgrading to the latest stable release of Debian, because 2.2 (Potato) is a few years old. If you installed debian entirly from cd, then you need to update everything by running the command "apt-setup", from this menu, choose "ftp", then choose your local country and local mirror (say yes to using non-us and getting updates from security.debian.org). Apt will then download the latest package release for Stable. When that program is finished, you can issue the command "apt-get dist-upgrade" which will upgrade your installation to version 3.0 (Woody), note, this will take a while, there is a considerable upgrade between 2.2 and 3.0. When that is done, you can install X-Windows with the following:



This will download and install your Xserver and run you through configuration for it. When this is done, you need to install a window manager, which can be anything, I would suggest something simple and easy first off like Window Maker (apt-get install wmaker) or blackbox (apt-get install blackbox).

When this is all said and done, you can just "startx" and it should boot you right in.

The beauty about Debian is that, initially, you don't get any crap that you don't want on your system, just the bare essentials to get the system up and running, then you add everything as you need it with apt-get. This is the main reason why I use debian on all my boxes.