Testing the X11 Setup

After you have finished with xorgconfig and/or hand-edited the xorg.conf file and saved your changes, you are ready to test the X Server.

Type startx at the command line to start the X11 system. If all goes well, your screen will go blank for a moment, and you should soon see a checkered background with a small x in the middle, as you saw in Figure 2.13 in Chapter 2. The x is the mouse pointer. After a few more seconds, the window manager should come up, the mouse pointer should turn into a more familiar white or black arrow, and you should be able to move the mouse around on the screen.

If you can't move the mouse or if X11 seems to start but then quits with an error message, double-check your xorg.conf file to make sure you have everything configured properly.

Caution

If you start X11 and your screen appears to be garbled, or you hear a high-pitched whine coming from your monitor, immediately turn your monitor off and press Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to kill the X Server. Either one of these symptoms indicates that you are probably driving the refresh rate of your monitor higher than it can tolerate, and the flyback transformer in your monitor is getting ready to fry. After you have killed the X Server, reconfigure the sync rates and resolutions for your monitor in xorg.conf or with the xorgconfig script.

If you type startx and your monitor goes blank and then seems to turn off or go into a suspend mode (the power light changes color, starts blinking, or you can hear the static on the monitor discharging), it probably means you have driven your monitor past the specs it can tolerate. Press Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to kill the X Server. This should restore your screen and give you the command prompt back. Then, reconfigure your refresh rates and resolutions in xorg.conf or with the xorgconfig script, specifying less ambitious resolution settings, before trying again.

After you have a working X11 setup, you may want to make some customizations to the way it works. The next section covers your personal .xinitrc file in your home directory.