i just installed slackware 8.1 after an unsuccessful experience with manrake. the installation went very smooth and i installed with everything (2gig install), i also enabled gpm, i would like to now disable it. how would i go about disabling gpm? also, i cannot get X to start, when u type startx it looks like its about to start but it gets most of the way through and returns with an error. also my mouse which is a logitech mx300 connected via a USB add on card and it doesnt turn on when i boot slackware and basically slackware doesn't detect it as even existing. any help?? im not totally new to linux but im completely new to slackware.

MOH,

gpm:

In the /etc/rc.d directory there are several scripts that start various services. Most of these work by executing the script followed by a start|stop|restart type input. For gpm, as root type:

/etc/rc.d/rc.gpm stop

This will stop the gpm process. To keep it from being started at startup in /etc/rc.M towards the end there is a section that calls that same rc.gpm script to start it. Just comment this out and you'll be good. (When you think about it this is pretty slick and straightfoward, one of the nice things about slack)


startx:

Before you run startx for the first time you need to configure xfree86. The first thing you should try is "/usr/X11/bin/xfree86setup". Run this as root. It should ask some questions and try to setup your x server. You can also try xf86config, xf86cfg, or simply editing /etc/X11/XF86Config by hand. I haven't used a USB mouse before, but I'm sure you can find some useful stuff at the xfree86.org website.


usb card:

In the /etc/rc.d/rc.modules script there are several commented out lines concerning both USB Host Controllers and USB Devices. My first guess would be the Open Host Controller for the former and the "Human Interface Device" for the latter. As I haven't done this before I'm not 100% certain. You can test these by running the "/sbin/modprobe <I>device</I>" at the command line. Once you get it right then uncomment the appropriate rc.modules line.


Good Luck

Correction:

"/etc/rc.M" should be "/etc/rc.d/rc.M"

ok x still will not start, im gettin some help from a friend today hopefully who is pretty experienced with the distro i am using. also jus to let you all know, the LED on my optical mouse does not even turn on when slackware boots to command line, i guess i need to get x started and see what happens. the USB card i am using is a VIA USB Universal Host Controller

Did you install the bare.i kernel or the usb one? You also probably have to configure your /etc/X11/XF86Config file for use with your usb optical mouse. You will most likely need to install the drivers for it as well if you haven't already. I don't use a usb mouse so I can't really tell you exactly what modules to use, but I know there's many threads here at LQ with USB mouse problems. A search for these threads will probably get you really good results. When you get the proper module (driver) names for your mouse, you'll need to do as root:

modprobe <modulename>

You'll need to edit your /etc/X11/XF86Config file with the proper protocol and options as well. If it's at all possible, please post your mouse section of your XF86Config file for us.

To get X running, you'll need to set it up. As root, in command line, type the following (if you haven't already):

xf86config

This should get you well on your way to getting X to run. Keep us posted.