xdm is the X desktop manager. It is used if you want to login from X directly on start-up. This is not needed; you can start the machine, log in to a console, then run startx to get X going.
xfs is the X Font Server; it is a way of providing fonts to X applications. You can however have X configured to directly access the fonts on disk without going thru the font server. The simple install doens't restrict itself to what is needed; it is simply saying "I want X on my machine, give me what you'd recommend" which is probably erring on the side of too much stuff than too little. As you've seen you can always install more precisely with apt-get or dselect. g. -----Original Message----- From: Xucaen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 16 January 2001 14:03 To: debian-user@lists.debian.org Subject: what exactly is xdm and xfs?? Hi all.. about 2 weeks ago, I installed debian 2.2r2. During the package install phase, I checked off the X packages (simple menu). Along with all the X packages, xdm and xfs were also installed. Naturally I assumed that xdm and xfs were necessary parts of X. However, this weekend I installed the various XF86 packages (xserver-vga16, xserver-common, xf86setup, fvwm, and a few others) using apt-get onto a different machine. I chose not to install the xdm and xfs. much to my amazement startx works perfectly. why does X work without xdm and xfs? forever curious, xucaen __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]