switching to gui

[italianxxxpimp93]

i installed the xorg GUI on my gentoo i686 machine, but when i hit CTRL+ALT+F7 nothing happens
same with F8 F9 F10 and F11

I have no clue what to do.
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I hate windows!

[SinoTech]

Simply installing xorg-x11 is not enough. You additionally need to have a window manager installed and started. You can choose between different window managers, e.g. kde, gnome, xfce4, ... . Personally I prefer XFCE as it is small and fast and still gives me what I need. KDE and GNOME are those most known.
You can also have multiple window managers installed the same time. So you can test them and make your own decission.

Cheers,

Sino
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Help to answer the unanswered

[mjbjr]

* remember, there are always exceptions*

here is a quick and dirty explanation

the windowing system on linux is comprised of three components:

1) an X window server - ('X') - provides hardware integration and core windowing code
2) a window manager - ('wm') - this is the key to the user experience, providing how windows
look and feel, window focus, z-ordering on activation, etc
3) desktop - a place to put things, drag and drop, ipc, etc.

Xorg and xfree86 are the 2 most common X window servers. Xorg is the defacto
standard since xfree86 changed their licensing (?, or something a year or so ago and
fell out of favor)

gnome, kde, and xfce are desktop environments (de) packaging Xorg with their own
window manager and desktop. iirc, the gnome wm is metacity, kde's is kwm,
and xfce's is xfwm.

There are many more de's, and there are many more wm's that are independent
of any particular de, though they may be aligned codewise with one.

In any of those 3 categories above, you can swap in and out one component for another one.
They're about 80% the same, it's that last 20% that can make the difference.

You don't need to run all 3 components. You can run X and a wm without a desktop,
and you can drop the wm, too, iirc.

You may install as many de's and other components as you like.

You can run multiple environments at the same time, however you configure them,
and key-combo between them. Generally, full screen consoles are at ctrl-alt-F1..F6,
and *running* X sessions are at ctrl-alt-F7..F12, though this is not set in stone.

As you found out, you don't even have to have a windowing system, and can just run a console.

Once you have installed Xorg you can start a windowing session by typing 'startx'. If you don't have any
other desktops or wm's installed startx will generally start 'twm', and old and very basic wm.

Some desktops and wm's have their own startup command. iirc, kde uses 'startkde'.

In many cases, you can put your windowing components' startup commands in
your .xinitrc file, for a custom environment, and they will be started by using 'startx'.
Some de's and wm's may, by default, install their startup commands in your .xinitrc file.

Many desktop environments install a display manager (dm), which provides a graphical login to the
desktop environment. There are many of these as well: gdm, kdm, xdm, etc.

Good luck.