Re: tlug: can't run X clients

[David J Iannucci <dji@example.com>]

Thanks to Steve T. and Uc^ida-san for their answers to my query
a few days ago (sorry for the late response).

Steve wrote:
>     DJI> X is running, I can't seem to start client processes, in
>     DJI> particular xterm.
> 
> Do you have any memory left?

   Ha!  I hadn't even thought to check ^^;)  I guess in the back
of my mind, 10MB should have been enough to run an X server along
with something as relatively simple as xterm, but not necessarily,
eh :^)  Well, I did a test, and it seemed memory was a bit low, but
perhaps not low enough to have caused this kind of problem(?).

> Once in X, try to start the xterm and do Ctl-Alt-F1 and look at the
> console output.  Then do Alt-F7 and see if you have an xterm.  Then do 
> Ctl-Alt-F2, log in as the same user on the 2d virtual console and do
> `xterm -display :0 &'.  See if you now have an xterm.

   When I'm in the X server, these keys don't work to get me to
different virtual terminals.  Don't know why.  I had thought they
should have.

Masa wrote:
> It seems to me that the cause of David's problem is XFree86.3.3.2 or xdm.
> From XFree86.3.3.2 they need to use xdm to start X.

   Hmmm.... I think I've got 3.3.1, but is it really true?  I don't
know what xdm is or how to use it.  Though I recall reading the man
page once.  And not having any idea from that about what its purpose
in life was, or how to actually use the darn thing :^(

Eeeeenyway, when I looked at this again after getting the above
replies, I somehow noticed an error message coming out to my console
from xterm that I hadn't noticed before: "can't find an appropriate
termcap entry."  Debian's package database tells me that termcap
should be obsolete by now, and indeed my /etc/termcap is empty.
I'm gonna bet that I really shouldn't be getting this message, but
that it's just one of those bizarre anomalies such as I have run
into in the past related to the way my system got installed, which
seemed to me perfectly normal and smooth when I did it, but which
apparently wasn't so.

This isn't a request for further help (unless someone really has
a good clue about it), because I think I'll just try and wait for
Debian 2.0 to come out and reinstall the system from a clean slate
(as I'm not actually using it for anything yet), hoping (stupidly)
that things will go smoothly and the system will _just work_
correctly after that.

Another technical question, that will probably generate a fair 
amount of discussion, soon to come...... yoroshiku :^}

Dave


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