Re: [tlug] Lost my XWindows

[Jim Breen <jwb@example.com>]

[Charles Muller ([tlug] Lost my XWindows) writes:]
>> I changed the size of the fixed fonts for XWindows to a larger size to make
>> for easier reading of e-mail and so forth, but when I started up Linux the
>> next time, there was a video configuration problem, and now XWindows won't
>> start up (Linux starts, and I can get a command line, but not XWindows). The
>> error message says that the fixed font I used is not compatible with
>> XWindows.

First, I don't think I can help you with the problem, although it would
help to know how you "changed the size of the fixed fonts for XWindows".
Was this with some GUI provided with Mandrake (which I keep thinking is
a poisonous plant with erotic tendencies.) Quite possibly you'll have to
edit the XF86Config file, but maybe things are different in
Mandrake-land.

My concern is that there exists a utility which enables a user with
limited experience to blow away the working of XWindows. This is the
sort of trick that we regard as the preserve of the Satan of Seattle.
It's one thing to become su and start editing files down in /etc. You
*know* you are on your own then, but we expect GUIs and the like to be
more bullet-proof.

Hopefully that utility made a backup of the original so that all Chuck 
has to do is restore it. Any Mandrake experts out there?

Also, when it comes to setting the fonts that are used for email, etc.,
usually you do this at the application level. I use a mixture of kterms
and xterms, and I set the fonts when they are launched. I have never
fiddled with the underlying X11 fonts. AFAICR there is a bunch of paths
in the XF86Config, but they are pretty standard.

Good luck

Jim

-- 
Jim Breen  [j.breen@example.com  http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/]
Computer Science & Software Engineering,                Tel: +61 3 9905 3298
P.O Box 26, Monash University,                          Fax: +61 3 9905 5146
Clayton VIC 3800, Australia      ジム・ブリーン@モナシュ大学