[BUGS] x11 & window managers

[Glenn]

Jonathan,
How do you start X? Do you get a graphical login panel when you boot, eg xdm
or kdm login panel?

When my machine boots it presents a terminal login prompt and I log in. If I want to run X then I type startx on the command line.   In my home directory is a file called .xinitrc and this contains the command to start the window manager which on my machine is icewm-session.

If I want to change my window manager I would first install from 
/usr/ports/x11-wm/fvwm2.

After the install is complete I would read the man page for the new window
manager to find the appropriate command to start it then update my .xinitrc
file with the command.

Regarding gnome and kde; I do not run gnome or kde desktops but I do have gnome and kde libaries installed because applications I use need them. 

Hope this helps.

Glenn.