HOWTO: Setup a GUI login with XDM

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HOWTO: Setup a GUI login with XDM

Posted by Jason on Wednesday May 30, @11:28PM
from the dept.
If you would like to configure your system to use a graphical interface to login and start X-Windows, try using xdm, the X-Windows Display Manager.

Before setting up xdm, you should configure and install X-Windows. You should also setup your .xinitrc file and test it with the startx command. Once you are happy with your X-Windows setup, you can use xdm to provide the graphical login.

There are two items that need to be configured for a basic xdm setup. You need to modify the /etc/ttys file, and you need to create a .xsession file for each user.

[Modify your /etc/ttys file]

The reason you modify the ttys file, is so the gui login (xdm) will automatically display itself on startup.

To modify your /etc/ttys file, you must login as root. Use the editor of your choice (vi, ee etc.) and modify the line that reads:

ttyv8 "/usr/X11R6/bin/xdm -nodaemon" xterm off secure

Changing the word off to on like so:
ttyv8 "/usr/X11R6/bin/xdm -nodaemon" xterm on secure

Now save the file and exit from your editor.

[Create a .xsession file]

Just as startx uses a .xinitrc file in each users home directory for its configuration, xdm uses a .xsession file also located in each users home directory. Since the format is the same, you can either copy .xinitrc to .xsession or simply sym-link them with the ln -s command. To copy your .xinitrc file use the cp command like so:

Login: user1
Password: ********

$ cd /usr/home/user1
$ cp .xinitrc .xsession

You will also need to set the read and execute permissions on the .xsession file using the chmod commmand.

$ chmod 755 .xsession

All I have in my .xsession file is a command to start kde.

  #####
  # .xsession
  exec startkde

[Test your configurartion]

To test your configuration, you can reboot your system and the xdm GUI login should appear after the standard startup messages. Alternatively, you can login as root and execute the command xdm.

To toggle between your gui login and other ttys use ctrl-alt and f1 through f8 for text consoles and f9 for xdm.

Note: Thats ctrl-alt-f1 for console 1 and ctrl-alt-f9 for the xdm gui login.

If you would like more information on these commands, I recommend the man pages.

  man xdm
  man ln
  man chmod

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