i am trying to install the fvwm desktop manager.
I got the files from the net, extracted it and i installed it (i think) using the commands ./configure, make and make install where do i go from here.

make isntall should install it - but whether or not your system knows about it is another matter.

What distro are you using?

D

red hat 9 i am really trying to setup a kiosk environment

Depending on your distro, go into your ~/ directory, and edit your (probally) .xinitrc (or whatever file points to your default windows manager), and replace the default (probally gdm, kdm, etc.) with /path/to/fvwm

(updatedb && locate fvwm should accomplish this)

Then just shut down X, and type 'startx', and you should boot into your new WM, even after rebooting.