Why Can't I Startx from Darwin?

I have XDarwin and am trying to launch it and Gnome from the Mac OS X 
10.3 console (via >console logon.) While I have no problem launching 
XDarwin/Gnome full-screen from "startx" with Aqua loaded (an OS X 
terminal session), when I try the same from the console (via >console 
login), I get a blue screen, no icons and a system hang.

Any clues why I can launch XDarwin/Gnome from the Aqua terminal, but 
not from the console?

Thanks a million.

Ed