(Hehe, new linux n00b, lots of questions. not all of them here)

It's just me on my computer. Should I bother making a second user account besides root? While sifting around in here for other things, I was given the impression I should by someone, but I forget what post by now. If that's a good idea, how do I go about it?

Second question, which may sound silly, but if I decide to change the name of my box... how do I do that? IE when setting up the dhcp during install, I typed in EA, but want it to be Jane instead. (Hehe, and yes, I do want to change it to Jane...Orson Scott Card r00lz) Currently, the only thing that I can think of to change that is a fresh install.

I guess just two other questions... (I'm running Slackware... although I doubt that makes a difference.) How do I get into Xwindows? :blush:

And probably most importantly... how do I find the HOW-TOs that came with my install? I have NO idea on how to find them.

Thank-you all a bunch!
~EA~

Absolutely. As soon as you can, if not sooner. Root is a dangerous account to use as you can REALLY screw up your system. There are no obstacles between you and disaster. So create a normal account and use su when you need root access, like when you install new software.

I think you can do that through the netconfig command. Since it is Slackware, it is almost certainly a value in a text file, but I don't recall which one off the top of my head and I'm away from my box.


You do that with the startx command. Of course first you have to configure X using xf86config (you need to do that as root) and select a X environment with xwmconfig (you do that as your normal user).

Yes, you should. If you accidently do something as a non-root user, you can only damage the files in your home directory. As root, however, you could render your system inoperable.
In Slackware, you should find your hostname in the file /etc/HOSTNAME. Use a text editor to change it, then reboot.
Run the command "startx". If you see nothing but a pile of messages and another prompt, then your X server isn't properly configured. The configuration file is found at /etc/X11/XF86Config (in Slackware 9.1). For instructions on modifying this file, google the web or read the man page (with the command "man XF86Config").
Uh... Try "locate howto". I usually google for HOWTOs, though.

mdavidn

thank-you both. Will do.

Heh. I've spent the past couple of hours trying to get Xwindows to start... typing startx just gives me an error which no amount of hitting the break key pauses it for me. I either get the first line that says host not found, and a quick tap of a key to un-break and then hitting break again takes too long, or it just flashes a bunch of text long enough for me to know it's there... and then it flashes the a screen that looks to me as if it's out of resolution and it hangs.

I've read the XFree86 HOWTO, and ran XFree86 -configure as recommended. I don't rightly recall the message I got, but afterwards it says to type in one large command, which I did, and I got a nice grey screen with a little X in the middle. At which point, it hung.

Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?

hehe i'll second that


read sig

Hehe, already done that... I deleted a kernel once

Ok, so I found the tutorial on here called "Configuring XFree86 for a Non-Specific Linux Distribution" and ran xf86config instead, answering each question in turn, after looking up the specs for my monitor.

I believe chose the appropriate H/V freqs.

I have a CTX 1785 monitor and upon research came up with H/V freqs of 30-85/45-110.

I chose '31.5 - 82.0' and '50-100' respectively rather than punch them in manually.

When it came time to chose video cards, I chose 'Radeon generic' (I'm using a Radeo 7200), and 64M.

Saved the settings, and startx again flashed some unknown error, and gave me a black screen this time.

I'm 99% certain, there's a way to pipe the error message somewhere, isn't there? I'd dearly love to post whatever text is coming up but dissapears too quickly to catch it with Break.

is the error possibly "No screens found"?

i'd recommend trying a different driver Generic VESA or Generica VGA.

Well, if your computer doesn't freeze up, you can use Shift+PgUp and Shift+PgDn to scroll the console. In addition to that, the X server writes to a log in (I think) /var/X11/. (I'm not currently sitting at my Linux PC, so I can't be more specific.)

Edit: Also, when X appears to freeze, try pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1, which should take you back to your first TTY, or Ctrl+Alt+Backspace, which should stop X.

mdavidn

Check in /var/log. At least on my system there is an XFree log file. If something is going kablooie, it should be in there.

Thank-you.

As it turns out, it was never the video I was having a problem with, it was my mouse.

I have a '4D Mouse' (nasty extra buttons, I have them disabled in Windows), and it's USB. (actually, I'd forgotten I was running a USB mouse, although 'auto' in the config file never got it to work)

Once I'd realized it was USB, I noticed that it's displayed, recognized, and named at boot-up, so I don't understand the problem.

(in xf86cfg, lovely graphical interface, the mouse would light up when moved, but I had to use the num pad for genuine imitation mouse )

In the meanwhile, I have, unfortunately, solved my problems temporarily with an older ps2 wheel-mouse. (But I want my good mouse back! )

Thanks again everyone for answering my questions! I seem to have so many; can't wait until I know enough to help others.

This thread is long enough... I'm assuming asking how to get my USB mouse to work belongs in the hardware section.

Onwards and forwards to... Tarballs! and... untar-ing.

Hopefully I won't be back for help on that one

As always! Thanx again.