window managers don't work but X does.

Don't use Modelines.

It's not clear what you mean by "window managers don't work". What happens? How have you tried to use them?
 
When I enter startx all that appears on the X console is gnome-terminal, nothing else. No pattern, no bars, icons. Just black. I can right click and see a menu for Applications >, System > and Logout.

I added the mode line to see if it would fix the problem, but it made no difference.

I say "window managers don't work" because I can't see them.

How have I tried to use them? I added them to ~/.xinitrc according to the pattern in the original file /usr/local/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc.

When I minimize a window on the desktop, I expect something clickable to restore it, not empty blackness.

I used the ports system to install xfwm4, and, when that didn't work, lxde-meta with the same result. Did I skip a step?
 
~/.xinitrc

Code: 
#!/bin/sh

userresources=$HOME/.Xresources
usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap
sysresources=/usr/local/lib/X11/xinit/.Xresources
sysmodmap=/usr/local/lib/X11/xinit/.Xmodmap

# merge in defaults and keymaps

if [ -f $sysresources ]; then







    xrdb -merge $sysresources

fi

if [ -f $sysmodmap ]; then
    xmodmap $sysmodmap
fi

if [ -f "$userresources" ]; then







    xrdb -merge "$userresources"

fi

if [ -f "$usermodmap" ]; then
    xmodmap "$usermodmap"
fi

# start some nice programs


if [ -d /usr/local/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ] ; then
	for f in /usr/local/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/*.sh ; do
		[ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
	done
	unset f
fi

openbox-lxde &
#xfwm4 &
#xclock -geometry 50x50-1+1 &
#xterm -geometry 80x50+494+51 &
#xterm -geometry 80x20+494-0 &
exec gnome-terminal
 
oops!

Just noticed have neither .Xresources nor .Xmodmap. I wonder if that's what's missing. Seems the first part of .xinitrc depends on them :\
 
Much of that stuff is optional. All that really needs to be in .xinitrc is the command to start the window manager. In my case:
Code: 
#!/bin/sh
exec /usr/local/bin/startxfce4

However, xfwm4 is meant to be part of xfce4. Ports does not have openbox-lxde, and the exec of gnome-terminal explains why that is running.
 
Sparky said:
[red]I[/red] Just noticed [red]I[/red] have neither .Xresources nor .Xmodmap. I wonder if that's what's missing. Seems the first part of .xinitrc depends on them :\
Click to expand...
Generally speaking these files affect settings but should not be critical. Having said that, I use neither XFWM nor LXDE so I couldn't possibly say to what extent these (meta-)ports are preconfigured in any way. You may have to explicitly configure them yourself, but then again there may be a workable default configuration that is supposed to work but in your case doesn't. As a test, can you start X without a custom ~/.xinitrc (temporarily rename it if you have to)? If this gets you a grey-ish background and an extremely simple window manager called mwm using ugly pastel green colors, at least you'll know that the problem is with whatever window manager (or desktop environment) you're trying to use and not X itself.

Since you are getting a black background and are able to summon some kind of menu I'm quite inclined to say that the problem is with the configuration of whatever WM/DE you're using rather than X itself, but it doesn't hurt to check.

Disclaimer: I'm still under the influence of my dentist's anesthetics so please forgive me if I'm not making any sense, perhaps I should just go to sleep instead of hanging out here.
 
You're starting the window managers instead of the desktop environment.

either add
startlxde
or
startxfce4
to .xinitrc

Preferably as the last line using the exec command so it drops out of X when you close it.
 
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