I've got a few questions regarding configuration concerns.
I just recently installed Slackware 10.0 on my laptop, and it doesn't have "xf86config" on it anywhere. It has all the other tools needed by X, but no config program. I have a config file from Vector linux which was running on it before. So I know all the configuration's I need to set, but the only program that comes close to writing a config file is xwmconfig, which only sets the default windows manager.

Now here's the interesting part, I was able to set the default window manager to "Window Maker", but that's a far cry from KDE or Gnome. I don't want to make all the icons from scratch if I don't have to. So maybe the real problem I have is how to get KDE or Gnome, or blackbox working. The only way I got Window manager working was when I copied the older XF86config file to /etc/X11, then it loaded into Window Maker. So I imagine that there are some settings in the XF86config file that tells the machine how and what to load. But since I don't have "xf86config", I am having a tough time getting things to work.

Also I had a lot of difficulty getting GCC to work right when it was installed. I went through the whole process of trying to reinsall GCC all over again, and ran into some serious problems. The same problems seem to be starting up again. The machine doesn't recognize a valid compiler. I tried setting CC=/usr/bin/cc but that had absolutely no effect.

Then my last problem is with vi, I keep getting segmentation faults whenever I try and use vi. So I figured it was more of something in some type of config setting.

If anyone could help me with these I would greatly appreciate it, thanks.

Try /usr/X11R6/bin/xorgconfig instead. Not sure about your other problems, sorry.

Slackware uses X.org instead of Xfree86, so the config tool is now called xorgconfig and the config file is /etc/X11/xorg.conf

I dunno about GCC it worked by default for me, no need to change anything, maybe you left a package behind.

Regarding VI, i would suggest you to try vim, first copy /usr/share/vim/63/vimrc_example.vim to ~/.vimrc that will activate highligthning and other nice stuff inside vim.

With as many distros as you have listed I'd thought you wouldn't have any trouble.
There are several, try either one;
xorgcfg
xorgcfg -textmode
xorgconfig
xorgsetup
X -configure
Watch and read the messages.

Actually, you have a lot of problems for a fresh install. Have you performed a memory test?

Thanks Wallison, the xorgconfig worked fine I was able to write a config file. I think I can work with it to get it working. I'm still getting an error message about this, but it has nothing to do with the screen as far as I know.

As for vim, I copied the file vimrc_example.vim to ~/.vimrc, and instead of getting a segmentation fault I get a different error.
vim: error while loading shared libraries: usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0: unexpected PLT reloc type 0xff

I'm not sure if anyone has some idea on this, if any of you think it would be better in some other forum, I'll post it there. Until I get vim working, I'm going to have a tough time editing config and log files.

As for the memory, as far as I know the memory is good, I've been using it for a while. I haven't had any power spikes with this laptop, and I make sure to shutdown completely. I'll look for some memory testing software though.
Thanks for the support

I was just picking on ya. Keep your post here. For editors, see if you have joe, nano, or pico. There is also an editor in mc.

For the libgtk error, you may removepkg the gtk packages in /usr/adm/packages and re-install the same ones.

WOW, I should probably say that again
WOW, I have never installed a pakage in linux that easy before. Thank You very, very much. I will never go back to RH or Suse, or Mandrake, or Fedora, or anything else. The ability to install packages directly from .tgz is incredible. This makes my life so much easier. I can actually work on my computer.

I do have pico, I used that briefly to check the xorg.conf file before I used xorgconfig.

Now, I also reinstalled gcc, and wouldn't you know it, it works just fine, actually g++ works too.

Thankyou very, very much for your help X, that has solved many many issues, I can now actually work on my computer.