Installing X11 in Debian


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I am trying to set up a virtual machine running Debian Etch (4.0). Being the idiot I am, I told it not to install the graphics environment during setup. Here are the specs of the VM: Emulated Pentium M 1.73 GHz, 512 MB Memory, 16 GB Hard Disk, 8 MB S3 Graphics, running under Virtual PC 2007 (under Windows XP).

I logged in as root and typed in "apt-get install x11-common" and "apt-get install gnome" and "apt-get install xserver-xorg." Then I rebooted. When I rebooted, I got this error message: "Failed to start the X server (your graphical interface). It is likely that it is not setup correctly. Would you like to view the X server output and diagnose the problem?"

After I got that error, I typed in "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg" and reconfigured X, then I rebooted, same problem occurred. I also tried the command "startx" and nothing happened.

What am I doing wrong?

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It's been less than an hour... relax. :p

So, you are installed in a virtual machine? How did you set up your X? I am going to guess that the problem is from interfacing into your virtual environment.

Also, I have heard bad things about MSVPC running Linux. The conspiracy theorists say it is a Microsoft plot. Those without tinfoil will still usually say that VMWare works better and has less problems. Either way, the virtual software you are using may be making things more difficult.

If I had VPC experience, I would help more, but this should be a start.

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