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Message from Steven
===================
James wrote:
>
> > So the startx goes at the end of /etc/profile.
> 
> How extensively did you test this? 

Extensively enough to see the xterm issue 
(plus another issue, which apparently you 
haven't discovered yet).

> It does seem to work in the sense of causing my 
> configured Xvesa to pop onto the screen after 
> I've hit enter to activate the console. 

Which can be avoided by using respawn instead
of askfirst.

> But what happens on your setup when you try to 
> open an xterm? 

Opening an xterm activates a login-type shell,
which reads /etc/profile (to get aliases and
other parameters).  Since startx is at the
bottom of /etc/profile, the xterm shell tries
to startx (even though it is already in X).

> On mine, every time I do that, it switches 
> me back to vt1.  To get back to X, I have to 
> hit ctrl-alt-F4. 

Yes, that is what happens.  I was aware of that.

> There I see some cryptic messages in the xterm 
> about transocket something or other 

That's because you can't start X on a screen that
already has X running.

> Anyway, it's not going to be a very workable 
> solution to auto-starting X 

You never mentioned that you wanted to run an
xterm.  Initially, you wanted something to auto-
run your mgp presentation.  I gave you a method
for doing that.  You didn't like that because
it restricted you to one specific presentation.
I then gave you a method for starting icewm
(which I though you were using).  You didn't
like that because you wanted the default wm,
background and menu.  So I gave you a method
for doing that.

It's easy to avoid the xterm problem (by making
it an non-login-shell in /usr/share/swm/menu.sh)
but then you'll probably complain that it's 
missing the environment established by /etc/profile.

The best solution was probably my icewm suggestion
with jwm instead of icewm.  The swm+MENU kludge 
(used for BasicLinux 3.40) is best avoided.

Cheers,
Steven