Installing X Window on Debian

5. Installing X Window X-Server and Window Managers

To install X-window, lets first update our resource lists with

apt-get update

Then, to install X-window

apt-get install x-window-system

I started using the XFCE window manager and its one of the most lightweight WMs on Linux. It has the look of Gnome and the lightweight of IceWM and X.

To install XFCE 4,

apt-get install xfce4 xfce4-themes

To install other window managers like IceWM, Fluxbox, GNOME)

apt-get install icewm fluxbox gnome

I like gdm (Gnome Desktop Manager) as my graphical login program, so

apt-get install gdm

However you can also try xdm (X Desktop Manager) or kdm (KDE Desktop Manager)

apt-get install xdm kdm

Changing your screen resolution

dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

Choose your resolution and restart your X with either

/etc/init.d/gdm restart

or

startx

Removing graphical login

You are finally tired of graphical logins. To turn off the graphical logins (default in Sarge), you have to remove X startup from all run levels.

update-rc.d xdm remove

X won't start again when your computer boots up. You'll be greeted by the console.

Last Update: 2006