Ok, got tired of RedHat and his cripple KDE. Mandrake 9.1 I just dont like. so decided to go with Slackware...

After Full install (twice) and I get in as root add my user and try to run XF86config or what I found (which I think is what I need to run) xfree86setup I still dont have a startx command. (even after locate) XF86Config is there (not executable not sure if this is correct) and xfree86setup does nothing... (no output or nothing and yes is 755 and it executes just does nothing) So..... wth am I missing?

I downloaded Slack 9 ISO from:

ftp://ftp.kpn.be/pub/linux/slackware....0-install.iso

Is that iso missing something vital or so? does anyone knows?

>>OT<<
BTW new to the boards :P and Slack... decent with RH and command lines as long as there is good documentation on it.
>>/OT<<

xf86config should work, hmm.

I'm curious whether there's something wrong with that ISO as I've downloaded that one too, but not installed it yet.

like I said.. no good.

typed xf86config
no such file blah blah

locate xf86config
found
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/doc/html/xf86config.1.html

nothing else.

I don't know what else to say other than bad ISO? You obviously didn't miss any x packages with full install, but if there was something wrong with the ISO I'd think the ISO would've been removed/replaced. Strange indeed.

The source used for your ISO image has the same md5 sum that the image I used from a different site. That ISO image does include the the X packages, and startx, xf86cfg, xf86config, etc.

The image does require 700 MByte CDR/RW like Slack 8.1. If 650 MByte was used then it would be missing some of the packages. When I ran md5sum --check on the slackware directory tree, I think it reported 282 files were missing. (The "k" and "kdei" disks sets.) All other files reported OK. The command to verify the contents from the slackware cd tree;

md5sum --check CHECKSUMS.md5

If it reports any errors, other than the "k" and "kdei" sets, then consider it a bad CD.

*sigh* Ok I am about 2 seconds away from going back to RH8 I mean ya they crippled KDE but damn Slackware 9 has been a pain. I re-installed yet again. Full install. I know X is installed because I mounted the CD and installed everything from the X folder. and still no startx or configs.

Sorry if this is a silly question, but
you *ARE* trying to do this as root, right?

Cheers,
Tink

From http://www.slackware.com/config/x.php

If you prefer to use a regular X server, you'll need to build an /etc/XF86Config file specific to your system. The easiest way to do this is to run /usr/X11R6/bin/XF86Setup as root. It's a graphical setup program for X. If that does not work, you can always use /usr/X11R6/bin/xf86config. The setup program allows you to pick your server, resolutions, color depths, and monitor settings. Be sure to enter the correct information for your system.

The last thing to do to setup your graphical environment is to select a window manager. There are dozens available, and we include a handful of them with Slackware. Run the xwmconfig program to set the default window manager for your system. This program will present a list of installed window managers and let you pick one.

Don't give up just yet...you'll love Slack once you get it setup to your liking, and we are all willing to help. Also, remember!!! All commands in Linux are case sensitive!

Have you verified your install CD using md5sum?

Yes md5sum reported no errors at all. And yes I am root :P and yes I know is case sensitive. Hell I can add ssh to this system and give anyone access if they want (test box :P) so you know that those commands are just not there! the only thing close is called xfree86setup and it goes right back to the shell prompt with out doing anything else.

Well ... no one knows.... downloaded a second ISO image with same results. There is no startx program anywhere. Back to RedHat I see.. heck v9 should be out begining of next month

mount the slack cd and browse there should be a directory called /slackware/x i think which would have xfree. If that isn't there.. i would just grab that dir off a slack ftp and then use pkgtool and install X.. and then everything should work just fine. oh.. if X was installed might want to look in /usr/X11R6/bin/ to see what you got.

That is what the problem is... I am not new to linux... I have compile kernels with NTFS support, I have compiled apache php mysql installed many many times RH back to days of 6.2 where it was also by command line. I use to work for a webhost dealing mainly with linux BSDi and FreeBSD tho never have mess with XFree86. I can follow instructions fine and understand linux commands. x was inside the cd, /etc/X11/bin had many files including xfree86setup which did nothing. I did full installs, newbie install, menu install and still startx was not installed or anywhere to be found. Console screen resolution was set to 1024 x 1280 or whatever that res is (dont feel like checking the right res) there is a startkde and a startxface (or something like that) that errored out giving libXtext or so missing errors. I even re-installed everything from the x directory after installation. Its not there! I downloaded a second ISO from a second source with the same results. I installed RH 8 again but if anyone has the answer Ill give Slack 9 another go. Hell if anyone wants to ssh into my system and take a look Ill even set it up again.

This should be /usr/X11R6/bin...
Maybe that's part of your problem?

Ya sorry X11R6 typed that from memory and didnt bother to check. but thats not the problem since X11 got semlinked to X11R6 automatically.