hmm i think i *might* have fixed it.
i found the files in /root/.kde and /home/myname/'kde, which were:
socket-localhost.localdomain and tmp-localhost.localdomain also there were two more called charlie instead of localhost.localdomain.
i renamed the charlie ones to backups and restarted. on reboot i was told that 'localhostlocaldomain' (note the missing '.' ) was bad hostname, like before when it was charlie. now im not sure if i had typed hostname localhostlocaldomain accidently some time earlier, so i have yet to reboot and try again, this time renaming the ones without the dot. hopefully that will work.
hmm so much fun trying to fix my mistakes, seriously its so satisfying when i solve a problem, especially if i do it by myself.
*****************EDIT******************
ok it didnt work.
basically this is what is happening:
when linux boots i can see the line:
Setting hostname localhost.localdomain [OK}
then when it gets to
Starting lpd
it comes with the error get_local_host: localhostlocaldomain bad (note the missing dot)
when i load kde and type hostname i can see that it is indeed set to localhostlocaldomain. Now if my hostname is set to anything except localhost.localdomain (note the dot is there) everything is slow to open. but it keeps getting renamed.
also when i load up linux two new directory links appear in /home/myname/.kde and they are:
socket-localhostlocaldomain
tmp-localhostlocaldomain
i dont understand what is going on. im gonna continue trying to figure it out, and i have not yet found any useful information anywhere. does anyone know how i can fix this? thanks
CHarlie