Window->Linux Newb Questions...(Yes I did search a little!)
 

Alrighty, I did a few searches towards SUPER BASIC stuff that I really need to know and came up w/ half-answers. I used to be a super Window freak, and now that I'm getting back into computers, Linux seems to be "The One." I installed Slackware 10.0 over the summer and haven't really touched Linux since (school has been outrageously schedule-filling). I am using Gnome on my X-server, however I think it's using a KDE display (KDM?) instead of GDM...
1. How do I change KDM to GDM by default.
1.5 or...how do I change my whole Desktop setup to KDE (for some reason i think I installed both on accident, because I can use "startkde" while in Gnome to go to KDE, but it's still in Gnome).
2. How do I install various files (the common command lines)
3. and is there anywhere I can go to look up SUPER newbish questions like these without bothering too many people? I keep checking various linux sites and I'm getting answers using the information I'm seeking! I figure the advance stuff I can figure out through practice, but knowing the basics would be SaWEET.

Thanks ahead,
Galen

1.5: It's probably easiest to use xwmconfig (at the commad line) to switch to KDE.
2: Slackware uses tgz files as its binaries: They're like RPMs without the dependency hell. So, using installpkg [nameofpackage.tgz] will install the specific program. Optionally you can also compile your programs using its source.
3: I suggest you read http://shilo.is-a-geek.com/slack/ Plus, you can always ask questions here!

Perfect! Thanks bro! Also forgot, that the install commands such as ./configure, make, and make install are given inside most APPS install info (Idiot!! *hits himself in head*). Thanks again though. Any ideas on how to change my Displayer Manager to Gnome's?
-Galen

Try this (at the command line):

pico /etc/inittab

Set the default runlevel to 4. For example, you'll probably see "id:3:initdefault". Change that 3 to 4. Remember to do this as root.

su -
password

Well that answer about inittab runlevel to 4 just says X will boot at default, not which bootmanager (kdm/gdm) will be used. At my gentoo installation I need to edit /etc/rc (or something like it /etc/rc.conf or so) it contains a line saying: DISPLAYMANAGER="kdm". You should make it gdm. But I don't know if this is the same at slackware.
So good luck.

well, seeing as how DreameR-X has managed to get slack installed, it may be fair to mention that if my understanding is correct, although slack is source based, it doesn't do the dependency check during install like gentoo or debian does.

Yeah fine, I prefer gentoo, but mainly because the only time i ever tried slack, I couldn't get past the install, and when I've tried debian, with "proper" debian, I just didn't know enough, so I installed knoppix to my hard drive, and then just changed the sources list to debian ones (instead of knoppix ones), and it just carried on from there.

But maybe that kind of stuff is "all in the learning"? I don't know!

enjoy and good luck

regards

John

Yea I kinda went into Slackware looking for a challenge. My cousin, who encouraged me to start using linux, uses Gentoo himself. He said slackware was much more complicated, yet much more customizable (as the two usually go hand in hand). So I figured I'd purge right into the trickier one. Thanks for all the quick responses guys!
-Galen

P.S. Just set up my email w/ Kmail (as I guess I do have the complete KDE setup on here...), but whenever I click an url it automatically uses Konquerer (the KDE default)...anyway around this? (I don't like Mozilla). :D

In Slackware, if gdm is installed and rc.4 is executable in /etc/rc.d/rc.4, after editing inittab gdm will be used. If gdm isn't installed it will skip to kdm.

http://docs.kde.org/en/3.1/kdenetwor...html#id2838649

Hope it works.

Edit:

My last reply may have been a bit short. In KDE, click K, then Control Center. From there, click "KDE Components">File Associations>text. Select html.

Wow, so I did some of this editing business and now when I reboot my comp it automatically loads X and uses the GDM. I clicked sessions and it turns out I have ike 10 diff. consoles installed w/ my Linux (Window Maker, KDE, Gnome,etc). And when I log in using Gnome...everything works GREAT and my terminal says root@example~ instead of bash2.05b...which is what used to happen. If I "shutdown now" from this awesome setup I go back to the command line and if I type startx I'm back where I began (w/ no GDM and bash2.05b). Any ideas? Thanks for the E-mail tip!
-Galen

P.S. I know that it's bad to use root. How do I make a "user" and then as that user, acquire root-like privelages using commands (chmod something?) Thanks sooo much!

1). How exactly are you logging out?
2). At the command line use "adduser nameofnewuser" and then fill out some information.

You can use "su -" to become root as a normal user.

I guess I'm not logging out. Just "Shutdown now" =( Whoops. Ok, so I thought deleting users was deluser or removeuser...but no go. Ideas? Thanks again.
-Galen

Try userdel.

Awesome...and now that I have Linux JUST the way I want it...it's all under root. =( Any easy way to transfer all apps/prefereces/settings to my user? Thanks so much for all your time Ninja Cow and other repliers!!!
-Galen

Not that *I* know of. Maybe you could copy some configuration files from /root to your user's home directory. Don't have a clue if this is safe or not.

The quickest way would probably be adding a new user and just re-editing everything.

Sweet. I've spent way more time than I've wanted to on my comp. today so I'm heading out. However, when I added a new user, it gave that user almost 0 privelages to files,etc. I'm guessing there's a way to set this?
-Galen