> once X has started I get the crosshatch screen and then the Big X cursor 
> in the screen and it moves so nothing is locked up yet...(I hope)
> but nothing everhappens past here...

It sounds like you started X with just "X" (the server), and it's sitting
waiting for a client to start. To get your .xinitrc to run, you need to
type "startx", or maybe it's "xinit".

	--Jon

                            Jon Howell
                 jonh@cs.dartmouth.edu
     603-643-2460 (h) 603-646-3297 (w)
     http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~jonh