If you find this a little less than smooth, as I do, you can preface your "startx" command line with the "exec" command like this:
exec startx [X startup options ...]This little UNIX trick starts X while ending your logon shell, instead of just running X as a child process of your shell. The upshot is that when you exit X, you're immediately returned to the login window, instead of having to type unechoed characters to a beachball. A minor tip, to be sure, but it makes running X from the console a little more elegant.

