Thanks pete. I checked the X.server as you suggested, this is the result.<br><br>hai@debian:~$ dpkg -l "*xfree*"<br>Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold<br>| Status=Not/Installed/Config-files/Unpacked/Failed-config/Half-installed
<br>|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)<br>||/ Name Version Description<br>+++-=================================-=================================-==================================================================================
<br>rc xfree86-common 4.3.0.dfsg.1-14sarge1 X Window System (XFree86) infrastructure<br>rc xserver-xfree86 4.3.0.dfsg.1-14sarge1 the XFree86 X server<br>hai@debian
:~$ dpkg -l "*xorg*"<br>Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold<br>| Status=Not/Installed/Config-files/Unpacked/Failed-config/Half-installed<br>|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
<br>||/ Name Version Description<br>+++-=================================-=================================-==================================================================================
<br>ii libglu1-xorg 6.9.0.dfsg.1-5bpo2 Mesa OpenGL utility library [X.Org]<br>ii libglu1-xorg-dbg 6.9.0.dfsg.1-5bpo2 Mesa OpenGL utility library (unstripped) [
X.Org]<br>ii libglu1-xorg-dev 6.9.0.dfsg.1-5bpo2 Mesa OpenGL utility library development files [X.Org]<br>ii xserver-xorg 6.9.0.dfsg.1-5bpo2 the X.Org X server
<br><br>so it's the <a href="http://x.org">x.org</a> that is installed.<br><br>Still I don't know how to run fluxbox. I cannot run it under X windows. So, in another word, the question might be a simple one: how can I exit Xwindows to the sole-console enviornment (from where I can try exec fluxbox)?
<br><br>Thanks,<br>Hai<br><br><br><br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 6/19/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Peter Jay Salzman</b> <<a href="mailto:p@dirac.org">p@dirac.org</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
On Mon 19 Jun 06, 10:13 PM, Hai Yi <<a href="mailto:yihai2004@gmail.com">yihai2004@gmail.com</a>> said:<br>> hello there:<br>><br>> I downloaded fluxbox and installed it, now I can see its executable in the
<br>> /usr/local/bin. As per the doc, I need to modify the .xinitrc or .xsession<br>> to add one line: exec /usr/local/bin/fluxbox<br>><br>> however, Ican't find either .xinitrc or .xsession under my home directory!
<br>> I only found sth like .xsession-error !BTW, how can I know my x-server is<br>> <a href="http://x.org">x.org</a> or xfree86? I believe I am using <a href="http://x.org">x.org</a>, is it the reason why I can't
<br>> find those configuration files?<br>><br>> Thanks,<br>> Hai<br><br><br>Hullo Hai,<br><br>One of the benefits of using Debian is that you have more pre-packaged<br>software at your fingertips than (almost?) any other GNU/Linux distribution.
<br><br>If you want to know if fluxbox is available within Debian, you could try:<br><br> dpkg -l fluxbox<br><br>in which case you might see:<br><br> un fluxbox <none> (no description available)<br>
<br>which means that fluxbox is available from Debian sources (but the "un"<br>means it's never been installed on my system). You can even use wildcards<br>if you quote your search term:<br><br> dpkg -l "*fluxbox*"
<br><br>which would match any package with the substring "fluxbox". Once you know<br>of the existence of fluxbox, you can install it via:<br><br> aptitude install fluxbox<br><br>There are many benefits of installing pre-packaged software including ease
<br>of uninstallation, better integration within your operating system, and<br>Debian's anal adherence to policy (for example, you'll know that the<br>documentation will always be in /usr/share/doc/fluxbox rather than some
<br>wierdo location that the fluxbox authors may put it in like<br>/opt/share/local/doc or something really whacked out like that).<br><br>Additionally, if you install pre-packaged software, you'll get updates which<br>fix bugs and security vulnerabilities when you ask for them.
<br><br>BTW, if you ever want a description of a package, including dependencies,<br>conflicts, and suggestions, you can do:<br><br> dpkg -p fluxbox<br><br>I don't know if this is fullproof, but you can tell whether you're using
<br><a href="http://x.org">x.org</a> or XFree86 by the existence of the files:<br><br> /etc/X11/xorg.conf // <a href="http://x.org">x.org</a> installed<br> /etc/X11/XFree86* // XFree installed<br><br>Another method would be to use dpkg again:
<br><br> dpkg -l "*xfree*"<br> dpkg -l "*xorg*"<br><br>The string "ii" on the left of the output means the package is installed.<br><br>BTW, another great thing about Debian policy is that official package names
<br>are always lowercase. That means you'll never have to do something like:<br><br> dpkg -l "*xfree*"<br> dpkg -l "*XFree*"<br> dpkg -l "*Xfree*"<br><br>since package names are always lowercase, you'll know it's:
<br><br> dpkg -l "*xfree*"<br><br>Do a Google search on "dpkg tutorial". You'll find a lot of really good and<br>useful stuff.<br><br>Pete<br>_______________________________________________<br>vox-tech mailing list
<br><a href="mailto:vox-tech@lists.lugod.org">vox-tech@lists.lugod.org</a><br><a href="http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech">http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech</a><br></blockquote></div><br>