Re: Newbie: GTK: cannot open display in FreeBSD

[derik DeVecchio <derik pobox com>]

James Drabb,

Recently I said:

> > After I log in I type: 
> >   gnome-session
> > 
> > and immediately I get an error that says
> >   (gnome-session:N): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display:
> > 

To which you kindly replied with step by step instructions.  Thank you. 

However this makes me think that I must be missing some key piece of
documentation.  None of the following documents mention how to run Gnome
using the .xinitrc file you mentioned:
    - the man page for gnome-session
    - the gnome FAQ,
    - the Gnome Installation instructions
    - the GTK installation instructions
    - the GTK FAQ.
Or any other way to start Gnome for that matter.  So where are you
supposed to learn that?   All that documentation and no one bothers to
mention which program you have to call to start the whole thing!
Seriously, what am I missing here?   There are other questions that I
burn to know.  Like how do I change the resolution?   I didn't find that
in the FAQ either.  Is that too in this mysterious documentation I can't
find?


BTW you also said

 
> 
> Maybe a distro similar to Red Hat 8 or 9 would be
> best until you become more familiar with Linux?

As I said.  I only tried a BSD install after first having a completely
successful install with GPU/Linux.   Further, I figured that a manual
install of qmail or Apache would be nearly identical after I switched to
BSD.  That is, I thought the only "hard" part of changing my OS would
with the installing the OS itself.  And Mandrake was so easy (worked the
first time with no help from anyone and no reading the FAQ's) that I
didn't realize FreeBSD would be such deep water!  Nonetheless:
   "If you go to the deep water, you will at first flounder; but if you
    stay in the shallow water, you will never truly swim."

Thank you again for the lesson!  Your advice worked on my system.





derik      
 
                     email:  derik pobox com

                     WWW:    http://www.pobox.com/~derik