Finding out what is happening once I have booted

[pranav.lal at gmail.com]

Hi all,

I need to know what is happening on my ubuntu system once I have booted. I
am checking the logs and am confused, is a GUI trying to start? 

I have been through tty1 to tty9 and all the consoles yield a login prompt
which I can activate. I can also activate the GUI by typing startx. However,
when I boot, I do not have speech despite having the Fenrir screen reader
being launched by system d.

Anyone any thoughts?
Pranav