i am trying to install slackware onto an old compaq 1235 laptop. install went off without a hitch, but when i try to run x i get this error "could not star kdeinit. check you install"
any help would be apreciated.

P.S. i also have no idea what the horizontal and vertical sync rates are. anyone know?

Could be that the system can't find kdeinit. Did you do a full install? Did you notice any errors during the install (perhaps during the 'k' group). If you don't care so much about KDE, try switching to a different window manager.

Regarding the Horiz. and Vert. sync rates. They are the range of frequencies your monitor can handle. It's fairly important to get these correct in your xorg.conf. IF you don't know what they are for your particular monitor, look up your make and model on Google. You can probably find the specs for it somewhere out there on the net

ok, how would i go bout switching it to gnome.

i cant the model number of my lcd, so i cant find the spec

Look up the laptop model, it should tell you the refresh rate.

hp/compaq doesnt have ANY support documentation on their site. tech support doesnt have anything either. i asked what model screen i had, and they said it was an 12.1 inch hp display. which is wierd because the 1235 is a compaq, from b4 compaq and hp merged. then again, when they asked me what os i was running, it took em 5 tries to realize that linux is not a version of windows(is that 98 me or xp?).
ok, rant over.

gnome dun werk either. i musta done something wrong during install, ill start over.

Let me know if you need some help with this old lappy.
Someone just gave me the same model, and I've got
Slackware-10.0 installed on it fine. I'm now working to
get hardware recognized and working. And yes, there
is not much on the net about it. And HP Tech Support DOES
NOT know anything about Linux. However, you could ask
them for the particular chipset of the hardware, for example,
under Windoze 98 (what came installed on this model) and
they might could tell you that. I can't even use their stinking
web interface with any of the browsers I've tried in Linux. I
had to boot into a Windoze OS to chat, and I already know
infinitely more about the laptop than those jokers...