Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Thu, 2 Apr 1998 00:40:25 -0800 (PST)
From:      Doug White <dwhite@gdi.uoregon.edu>
To:        arb-freebsd@iconnect.co.ke
Cc:        questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: help with ctwm
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.3.96.980402003828.8262F-100000@gdi.uoregon.edu>
In-Reply-To: <19980401170413.22355@siafu.iconnect.co.ke>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Wed, 1 Apr 1998 arb-freebsd@iconnect.co.ke wrote:

> Hello. I have recently installed FBSD and it works well on my home
> computer. However, X sometimes does strange things.
> 
> 1. Sometimes, when I start X using the startx program, the session just
> hangs. All I see is dotted gray background. The window manager does not
> start and the mouse pointer does not move. I have to kill the session with
> CTRL-ALT-BKSPC  If I then rerun startx, the session works just fine.

Try hopping back to a text console (ctrl-alt-f1) and check the wm's status
with ps.  It may be waiting on a nameserver lookup.

> 2. If I run xdm from rc.local, it starts up OK, but then after I log in,
> the window manager does not start, and the screen just has a gray
> background, and at the top, there is a patch of distortion. For fear of
> damaging my monitor, I kill this session with CRTL-ALT-BKSPC  So I cannot
> run xdm.

Make sure that your startup info is in ~/.xsession rather than ~/.xinitrc
for xdm logins.  

Blowing up modern smart monitors with X is virtually impossible -- they'll
just turn themselves off.  You have to worry about the really old iron.

> I have edited the system-wide xinitrc file to contain only 2 lines at the
> end:

I would suggest making these changes to your personal ~/.xinitrc rather
than the system default -- this way if ctwm blows up you can fall back to
the default twm to fix yourself.

Doug White                              | University of Oregon  
Internet:  dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu    | Residence Networking Assistant
http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~dwhite    | Computer Science Major



To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.3.96.980402003828.8262F-100000>