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Date:      Tue, 21 Mar 2006 11:19:11 -0500
From:      "Jud" <judmarc@fastmail.fm>
To:        "Danny Butroyd" <danny.butroyd@globalmedia-webmarketing.com>, "Benjamin Sher" <delphi123@zebra.net>
Cc:        freebsd-questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: Using boot manager with FreeBSD and Windows
Message-ID:  <1142957951.21769.257162452@webmail.messagingengine.com>
In-Reply-To: <44201E9B.6070503@globalmedia-webmarketing.com>
References:  <44201195.6040307@zebra.net> <1142954306.17090.257155784@webmail.messagingengine.com> <44201CAA.4000508@zebra.net> <44201E9B.6070503@globalmedia-webmarketing.com>

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On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 15:41:15 +0000, "Danny Butroyd"
<danny.butroyd@globalmedia-webmarketing.com> said:
> Benjamin Sher wrote:
> > Dear Jud and friends:
> >
> > OK, I finally figured out how to make OSL2000 work. In scanning all
> > bootable partitions, it lists FreeBSD as two partitions: the 512 MB
> > /boot partition (name unknown) and the FreeBSD 37 GB partition. It
> > will not boot FreeBSD from the FreeBSD partition but, after changing
> > the mode to swap, it booted at last directly into FreeBSD with the
> > command "startx". I first saw during bootup that it said that I named
> > "localhost" (for Mindspring) incorrectly. At any way, I was pretty
> > disheartened when I finally arrived in FreeBSD. What I saw were two
> > rectangular screens (with green edges): the one on the left said:
> > "login", the one on the right said: "xterm". Plus a tiny clock in the
> > upper corner. I feel completely lost. Where is KDE? What command
> > should I use to get into KDE or to access the Internet?

Ah, OK - what we had here was a failure to communicate.  ;)  FreeBSD has
already booted at the point where you can enter commands.  What you are
asking about is how, after boot, to start the graphical user
interface/desktop/KDE.  The startx command is the correct one to use,
but as Danny notes below, while some Linux distros automagically create
the needed files for you, in FreeBSD you have to manually create the
file that the startx command works on.  What you apparently have done in
the absence of creating your own .xinitrc file is start the bare-bones
twm window manager rather than KDE.  At least you know that the X server
works.  :)

You create .xinitrc by starting a command line editor.  In FreeBSD the
'easy editor,' ee, comes with the base system.  Assuming you're in your
home directory (/usr/home/ben or something similar, perhaps?), as root
or the superuser you would enter 'ee .xinitrc' (no quotes) on the
command line; once in ee, you'd type in the 'exec startkde' text just as
Danny shows below; then save and exit.  (If you have a different command
line editor installed or are comfortable with vi, which also comes with
the base system, you can create the .xinitrc file with that.)

> You probably need to edit/create the .xinitrc file in your home
> directory.  I dont use kde but a quick search on google reveals that
> this may work in your case:-
> 
> exec startkde
> 
> Google is definately your friend for this kind of setup question :)

After creating the .xinitrc file, what does startx (as a normal user)
do?

Jud



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