Read the X FAQ.
Old page: AudioVideo (transitional).
First of all, before you go any farther, make sure you are running the appropriate version of the software for your video hardware. If you have any doubts whatsoever about whether your card is supported by your Debian version, you should run Etch instead of any previous versions. Woody has XFree86 4.1.0.1 and does not support the GeForce 4, newer Radeons, etc. Did we mention Etch? Run Etch on your workstation. Etch is good.
Now, when you install Debian, you don't have any X packages by default -- no X server, no window managers, etc. In order to get X, you need to have at least the package x-window-system-core, which depends on (and therefore brings in) the X server, the basic X shared libraries, the basic X fonts, and the basic X client programs such as startx. It does not include GNOME, KDE, etc.
You will want to make sure your X server is properly configured and capable of running before you install anything fancy such as a display manager that causes X to start at boot time. The first time you install the X server (whose package name is xserver-xfree86), you'll go through a debconf configuration session in which you are asked a lot of questions. For most US/English users, hitting Enter repeatedly will get you through them without serious injury, but you should read them and attempt to answer them. Some gotchas:
- If you have just one video card, leave the Bus ID blank.
If you're asked whether to use the frame buffer, say no, unless you happen to know you need it.
You should use /dev/input/mice as the mouse input device, especially on a laptop where an external mouse might be connected later. (Load the mousedev module in /etc/modules if it's not already loaded.)
- If your mouse still does not work try to "modprobe psmouse". You can also try to use "/dev/psaux" as the mouse input device instead of "/dev/input/mice".
To enable scrolling append line ' "Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" ' to Section "InputDevice" for mouse you are using.
If you need to repeat this dialog later, you can run the command dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86 and it will keep your previous answers as the defaults.
If you edit the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file by hand, then debconf will no longer update it when you re-run the dialog. So you must decide whether you want to use the automatically generated one as a template and then take control of it yourself (by editing it), or whether you want to let debconf retain control. If you want debconf to retain control, you must not edit the file!
If you are running the unstable branch of Debian, then you may be using the xserver-xorg package instead of xserver-xfree86 for your X server. In this case, the configuration file is /etc/X11/xorg.conf and you may use the command dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg to rerun the Debian configuration dialog for it.
Some video cards (in particular medium-aged Radeons) are known to work much better with X.org's X server rather than XFree86's. If you'd like to try X.org on your sarge box, there are backports available at http://people.debian.org/~nobse/xorg-x11/ -- just install the xserver-xorg package (and its dependencies if any). There's no need to upgrade libraries or clients.
Configuring 3D Graphics Acceleration
XF86DR How to configure 3D Graphics Acceleration