Folks,

I could not start X by issuing "startx" command, netither can I find the configuration program
/usr/X11R6/bin/XF86Setup or
/usr/X11R6/bin/xf86config
as instructed in official slackware web site http://www.slackware.com

Here is what I have done:
1. I made bootable iso image using (as instructed by http://wwww.slackware.com)

mkisofs -o /tmp/slackware.iso \
-R -J -V "Slackware Install" \
-x ./bootdisks \
-x ./extra \
-x ./slackware/gnome \
-x ./pasture \
-x ./rootdisks \
-x ./source \
-x ./zipslack \
-hide-rr-moved \
-v -d -N -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 32 -boot-info-table \
-sort isolinux/iso.sort \
-b isolinux/isolinux.bin \
-c isolinux/isolinux.boot \
-A "Slackware Install CD" .

2. copy the iso to a windows machine (I have not been able to get my cd burner working in Slackware yet) via Samba.

3. Burn the iso image to CD with CreateCD

4. Place the iso CD in cd driver and boot from CD.

5. Install slackware with ALL packages

6. Login as root to configure X, and here is the place I am having trouble.

Please note that what I describe above is probably a very common way of installing slackware since it follows the instruction from the official web site, besides, it HAS ALWAYS WORKED for me in the past.

What did I do wrong this time?

Can you get your X working with V 9.0?

If so, how do you do it?

Many Thanks.

Kayaker

It sounds like you might be missing a package from the "x" disk set or it was corrupted and unable to install. You can check in the /var/log/packages directory for installed packages and each has the files installed. So you could try;

ls -l /var/log/packages/xfree86*
grep startx /var/log/packages/*

There should probably about 9 packages listed with the first command and the second command would tell if startx is actually there. It should be in xfree86-4.x.x-i386 package. The commands you mentioned should be in the /usr/X11R6/bin directory.

Hope it helps.

Excalibur,

Thank you.

After inspecting the files went into the iso image, I found out that some files are missing during ftp. I am re-ftp-ing right now and hopefuly this will take care of the problem.

Thanks again.

Kayaker

It might be worth using a program called md5sum. Slack provides a CHECKSUMS.md5 file that can be used as input and it will report if any files are missing or corrupted. Normally from inside the slackware tree;

md5sum --check CHECKSUMS.md5

It can save a tremendous amount grief from a bad file set.

This is the exact problem I am having and posted on my other thread..... I did not created an ISO bur rather downloaded and checked it with md5sum. There is no startx no matter what I do.

Whats the benefit to downloading all the files separate instead of just getting the 634MB install iso?? I see that you can do it either way and also see that most people choose to get the files separetely and make their own iso. why is that?

Most ISOs available for download have predetermined packages excluded so the image fits on a cd. Some people like to make their own ISO so they may choose which packages to exclude according to their individual needs.

I got my s9 up running with the help from the folks here. Thank you.

Here is what I did.

(0) re-ftped from
ftp://ftp.cerias.purdue.edu/pub/os/slackware/
they got 2-t3.

(1.1) The official slackware instruction would produces an iso image that is too big to fit in a single blank CD. Thus I modifed it as follows:

mkisofs -o /where_s9iso_is/slackware.iso \
-R -J -V "Slackware Install" \
-x ./bootdisks \
-x ./extra \
-x ./slackware/gnome \
-x ./slackware/xap/netscape-7.02-i686-1.tgz \
-x ./slackware/xap/mozilla-1.3-i386-1.tgz \
-x ./slackware/xap/gimp-1.2.3-i386-2.tgz \
-x ./slackware/ap/mysql-3.23.56-i386-1.tgz \
-x ./slackware/n/samba-2.2.8-i386-1.tgz \
-x ./pasture \
-x ./rootdisks \
-x ./source \
-x ./zipslack \
-hide-rr-moved \
-v -d -N -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 32 -boot-info-table \
-sort isolinux/iso.sort \
-b isolinux/isolinux.bin \
-c isolinux/isolinux.boot \
-A "Slackware Install CD" .

and then burn a bootable iso with the iso image created above.

Notes:
(a) where_s9iso_is the directory where the iso is going to be - makre sure you have access, enough room,...there.
(b) In addition to the official slackware exclusion, I excluded netscape, I excluded:
netscape, mozilla, gimp, mysql, and samba.

(1.2) burn the second cd with files listed in (1.1.b)


(2) Select "expert" while installing packages to exculde the packages identified in (1.1.b)

xap/netscape-7.02-i686-1.tgz
xap/mozilla-1.3-i386-1.tgz
xap/gimp-1.2.3-i386-2.tgz
ap/mysql-3.23.56-i386-1.tgz
n/samba-2.2.8-i386-1.tgz

(3) proceed to complete the installation and reboot the system once the installation is "completed".

(4) log in as root, place the cd produced in (1.2) in cd driver, and mount the cd rom:
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
cd /mnt/cdrom
and then
pkgtool
to install all the excluded packages.

(5) proceed with configuration.

By now you should have all the files you need to configure X.

I used
/usr/X11R6/bin/xf86config

I am sure that there are better way to get this done. I am simply sharing my experience.

Good luck to you.

S is the way to go!

Kayaker

Never mind, you posted the answer the same time I asked the question.

Kayaker: Did installing the missing files fix your problem?