Debian - Can't load Gnome

[poorman]

Ok I am very new to Linux, about 8 hours new. I got a old system of mine to run Debian (network install) no problems with that. I then installed Gnome (apt-get install gnome). It did its thing, took forever but it finished. So now the question is how to I start it? I typed "exec gnome-session" and all I get is Gtk-WARNING cannot open display. This does it if I'm in root or not. I'm so confused here. Gnome is a GUI right? Am I missing somthing? Thanks

 

[horndude]

ya, X has to be started first then gnome gets started by the script that starts X

not sure where that gets changed in debian off the top of my head

 

[poorman]

Thanks for the reply! I typed startx but it doesn't recognize it. Is there somthing else I need to install?

 

[horndude]

maybe, dont know, I wasnt there when you installed the OS

serious lack of info means all I can do is make stupid guesses

 

[poorman]

Tell me what you need to know.
As much as I myself know:
Made boot disks with rwwrtwin.
Had installer wipe hard disk clean (1.5gb)
In the setup I said it's primary purpose was a webserver

I installed Gnome using apt-get install gnome
It did whatever it had to do no errors.

I am the only username. I used the same password for root access. I type "exec gnome-session" response gtk warning **: cannot open a display. I'm going to Google more about X. Sorry If I'm not providing enough info but I don't know anymore.

 

[horndude]

im guessing you didnt install X, check and see

this gets **** complicated real fast trying to go and figure out whats on your system, I didnt install it, and because you have zero experience I will end up typing paragraph after paragraph explaining stuff they may not help at all anyway..........I dont do this anymore, I used to, but not anymore

check to see if X is installed, if it is it needs setup first before it gets run for the first time, xorgconfig or xf86config should do that

 

[poorman]

Ok, xwindow isnt on the system. I did: "apt-get update" and am doing:
apt-get install x-window-system kde kdm. Says it will ned another 605mb of space, I just hope I dont run out of HD space. Thanks for your help.

 

[horndude]

type df and see how much space you have left, you will probably run out

 

[poorman]

So I'm guessing Gnome wasn't needed?
It's ok if I run out, Ill start all over if I have too.

 

[jakec]

Yeah,

Horndudes Answer is probably correct you ran out of space
what you need to do is make sure your machine is meeting the Minimum requirements

QUOTE
You must have at least 4MB of memory and 35MB of hard disk. If you want to install a reasonable amount of software, including the X Window System, and some development programs and libraries, you'll need at least 300MB. For a more or less complete installation, you'll need around 800MB. To install everything available in Debian, you'll probably need around 2 GB. Actually, installing everything doesn't even make sense, since some packages conflict with others.



http://www.debian.org/releases/2.1/i386/ch-hardware-req.en.html

you might also want to try this Link

http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.i386/ch03s04.html

I also found this great tutorial for installing Debian, just ignore the parts that don't apply to your situation

http://www.falkotimme.com/howtos/perfect_setup_debian_sarge/

hope this Helps,

Jake