[h]

x x wrote:
> what is ~/, like ~/.mg? Is that /home/.mg or /home/bob/.mg?

~/ is defined as that users home folder

ie on my system, when I'm login in as kim

~/

is the same as

/home/kim/

I'm not sure what happens to su, as i think it still goes to the 
original user not root.

>
> I copied /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc to /home/.xinitrc is it ok to edit 
> that for how I want fvwm to load with startx command? I can use fvwm 
> for Firefox and Pidgin can't I?

I'm pretty sure, and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but 
it think you want .xinitrc to be in your home  _not_ the /home directory.

And yes you can run firefox and pidgin from fvwm

>
> How do I change how it looks, like colours and add some sort of 
> background wallpaper?
>   

have a look at xsetroot it gives you options for setting all sorts of 
wondrous things

my favorite one is xsetroot -solid black it's the first thing i type on 
most boxes.

have fun

kim