Hi there, I'm new to unix-environments.
I'm richard, and i'm mostly a web-developer, under php. I've done work in unix env before, but never had my own.
Today, I've got debian 3.1 r4 from the official site, and i've attempted to install it twice.

I installed it initially as "Desktop Environment" and "Database server", but it wasn't working (no x). After that, i formated the old partition, reinstalled it just as desktop environment. I tried starting X (startx), but it gave a bunch of errors, weird characters, and after that, my prompt changed, and i was typing weird characters (menu constructor lines, dots, squares, etc).

rebooted, tried xf86cfg and xf86config, and after that, it just popped me "No screen found" (or display, hmm).
I really don't know what's wrong, or what do I have to do anymore. Can i find somewhere a default X configuration?

I have a Flatron L1919s, which has a native resolution of 1280x1024, a ATI X1600 video card with 256 mb ram (i tried screwing around with this values in xf86config, but it didn't work, either) and a standard keyboard and mouse (3 buttons, wheel, optical, connects to ps/2).

How can I make a small config file, and most important, how can I transfer it to debian? No internet (PPPoE, can't configure) no printer, no floppy drive. I was thinking of a RW disc, but how do i use that?

thanks