minimal CD --> startx

[Liam Proven]

On 15 September 2012 15:06, Thufir <hawat.thufir at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Ah, that was my misunderstanding.  I think I just want XWindows, if I understand
> your question.

There is no such thing as "just XWindows". Indeed there is no such
thing as "XWindows".

By way of comparison:

"I just want a car."
"OK, which make?"
"I don't want a particular make, I just want a car."
"But you have to choose a make. You buy cars from car-makers. Pick one."
"No, I want no make, I just want a car."

You have to have a window manager; without a window manager, you can't
have windows and thus you can't have a graphical environment of any
kind.

There is no default window manager; you have to pick one.

The simplest, most primitive window manager for X.11 is probably twm,
but twm is /very/ rudimentary and really not much use.

So, go pick a window manager, and then you can install it and the
basic underpinnings of X.11 to allow it to run.

If you don't know what a window manager is and have no preference in
window managers, then you are probably not yet ready for trying to
build a raw system from the command line upwards. A good place to
start might be Crunchbang, which is a fairly modern Linux with a
minimal, somewhat old-fashioned windowmanager setup rather than a
desktop.

Install Crunchbang, explore it, learn to work it, learn to customise
its app menu and change its panel and a few basic things like that,
then you will be equipped with some more of the necessary skills.

Alternatively, if you want to see what life used to be like in the bad
old days, try to get a base FreeBSD system running. :¬) And in the
unlikely event that you manage that, try again with NetBSD.


-- 
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