AfterStep is an X window manager and cannot be run from the terminal. It must be run through X. The easiest way to do that is to create (or edit) your own .xinitrc file (which contains a list of the programs you wish to load upon startup) and to add the line exec afterstep to the end. This last exec'd line is significant in that it says to shut down X when that program is terminated. Now that you have that file, simply startup X in your customary manner (most likely by issuing "startx" or "xinit"). Now you're off and running. Good luck!
If you are using xdm, you will need to put the call to afterstep in your .xsessions file.
By default, version 1.5 installs in different directories than versions < 1.5. The binary names are the same, unfortunately, so if the earlier binaries are "earlier" in your path than the new binaries, you will not get the new binaries.
One trick is to use the new, version 1.5 install script to place the new binaries wherever the old binaries are. Another possibility is to track down the old binaries, and remove them from the system. By default, AfterStep used to install in /usr/X11R6/bin. Version 1.5 installs, by default, in /usr/local/bin.
Starting with version 1.5, AfterStep binaries are installed in /usr/local/bin by default. Many users do not have this directory in their path. The solution is to add the directory to the path statement set at login time. This is usually found in the .profile or other such file in the user's home directory. The particulars are specific to the user's shell. If you don't know how to adjust your profile, you should find some good documentation for new users of UN*X systems. A good place to start is the Linux Documentation Project, at http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/ (the documents there can be useful even for those who are not using Linux). You can also call AfterStep with its full path.
Some operating systems (such as Red Hat Linux, Debian Linux, or HP-UX) have packaging tools which check for and control dependency information. Moreover, the filesystem standards for most UN*X variants require that /usr/local be reserved for things that have been installed entirely from source, by the local system administrator. AfterStep, however, installs in /usr/local by default, even when it is generated by the AfterStep-distributed RPM file. (RPMs that come from Red Hat do not install under /usr/local/.) This behaviour actually breaks the filesystem standard. The developers, however, believe that the additional effort to maintain precompiled binaries distracts from regular development.
The obvious answer here is to use source-type files (e.g. src.rpm files), and re-configure the installation to put the binaries into a compliant location, or else to use the source code, compile it, and install it in /usr/local. If you don't know what this means, you are strongly encouraged to find out, or else wait until a binary version comes available from an authoritative source for your operating system. That means (for instance) that if you are unwilling to wait for Red Hat to release the newest version of AfterStep, you have three options: re-configure the RPM to install in a compliant directory, remove the rpm and compile from source, or accept that your problems will be unsupported ones.
Just edit the relevant file under ~/GNUstep/Library/AfterStep. See the section on configuration for details.
This is/was a known bug. The problem is that the pager is at least three screens in at least one dimension. There have been reports of getting the pager to work correctly if the desktop size is set to 3X3 or 3X2. (For more information on how to configure the Pager, see the section on Modules, below.)
Albert Dorofeev (albert@mail.dma.be) reports that the following changes
to src/functions.c will fix the problem in AfterStep 1.4; I do not know
whether these will work for other versions. In src/functions.c, change the
lines
if (newx > Scr.VxMax)
newx = Scr.VxMax;
if (newy > Scr.VyMax)
newy = Scr.VyMax;
to
if (newx >= (Scr.VxMax - Scr.MyDisplayWidth) )
newx = Scr.VxMax - Scr.MyDisplayWidth;
if (newy >= (Scr.VyMax - Scr.MyDisplayHeight) )
newy = Scr.VyMax - Scr.MyDisplayHeight;
This change apparently leaves a bug whereby the mouse pointer "jumps" on the right-hand border; but at least your pager will correspond to the desktop.
The bug is fixed as of AfterStep 1.4.5.x, so if it really annoys you, please upgrade. In the 1.4.5 and later series, the virtual desktop is set up in the base.{yourbppnumber}bpp file, and not the pager configuration file. Please edit the correct file according to your configuration.
There are ever-fewer problems with AfterStep and Solaris; this one has been patched in version 1.4.4 and later. You should upgrade to the latest version. You should also check the information in the README.Solaris file, and see the following site: http://www.primate.wisc.edu/software/imake-stuff/.
Depending on which version you are using, you may need to edit your feel file, as well. Look at the section on looks and feels.