Desktop environment blank screen?

Catach

Hi all,

I got X and kde working, and i can load a desktop environment (login
screen). When i log in i hear a neat sound and can move my mouse
but there is no taskbar down the bottom or 'Home' icons in the top left
corner. My 'Desktop' folder in my home directory contains files for
'Home' and 'Trash', so i dont think they're missing, just not visible.

I've set my XF86config file to choose resolutions from "1280x1024" down
to "640x480", but it always selects 640x480. Would this be a resolution
problem or something else? Any help at all would be great.

-Luke
_________________
Zak: Luke's making a 3D interface for Linux"
Jon G: "Yeah, Luke's making a 3D user interface with Logowriter"
Jon H: "He's only got 99 shapes to work with"
Jon G: "And they're all turtles."

OdinsDream · Veteran Joined: 01 Jun 2002 Posts: 1057

The order that you specify your resolutions in the file matters. Try putting the resolution you want first.
_________________
s/(?<!gnu\/)linux(?! kernel)/GNU\/Linux/gi

Don't blame me. I didn't vote for him.

http://john.simplykiwi.com

Catach · Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2003 6:00 am Post subject:

I got a better resolution by entering some horizontal and vertical
refresh rates, however there is still no taskbar or desktop icons.

running 'startx' from a prompt brings up twm and two windows
(as specified in my .xinitrc). should there be more info in .xinitrc to
load load kde stuff?
_________________
Zak: Luke's making a 3D interface for Linux"
Jon G: "Yeah, Luke's making a 3D user interface with Logowriter"
Jon H: "He's only got 99 shapes to work with"
Jon G: "And they're all turtles."

OdinsDream · Veteran Joined: 01 Jun 2002 Posts: 1057

Simply running "startx" will look into your /etc/rc.conf file to the DISPLAYMANAGER variable (I think) for what to do next. In the default case, twm is started (tom's window manager), and that likely isn't going to be what you'll want to use. It's very basic, and uses no taskbars, icons, etc.

Try running "gdm" or "kdm" for the Gnome and KDE display managers, respectively. These start a graphical login program that in turn runs the full desktop sessions with taskbars, window decorations, etc. If you like the graphical login manager enough, you can set your system to run the gdm or kdm program at boot by doing:

rc-update add xdm default

...as root. xdm will look to the previously-mentioned DISPLAYMANAGER variable to decide what to do (this means everyone can use xdm as the service, even if they use gdm instead of kdm, or vice versa)

Good luck to you.
_________________
s/(?<!gnu\/)linux(?! kernel)/GNU\/Linux/gi

Don't blame me. I didn't vote for him.

http://john.simplykiwi.com

X · Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 3:12 am Post subject:

startx is just a script that handles xinit. If you change .xinitrc to "exec /usr/bin/kde" (I think, I don't use kde) instead of twm, you will get kde when typing startx.

Or you could do as above and use a display manager like kdm, which will allow you to graphically log in, ignoring the console.

Also, I don't believe startx uses /etc/rc.conf at all. /etc/init.d/xdm will use it to know which display manager to start when it is started.