the first was xserver-xorg. After having done that I did get a normal xorg.conf file built. Next x11-common had to be reconfigured to answer some security-related questions. Now I find out xserver-xorg-core installed incorrectly since the /etc/X11/xserver/SecurityPolicy file isn't where it ought to be and I may have to untar that package to get at it though I'm hoping that'll be all that is needd from that package. When debian does a reinstall it only replaces configuration files if some very obscure syntax gets used. I got a bunch of lines after SecurityPolicy file missing fatal with expected keysynth followed by numbers and what may be screen modification instructions and then the system can't used font "fixed".
