After install process from CD, the laptop reboots
and the
CentOS release 6.4 (Final)
Kernal 2.6.32-359.e16.i686 on an i686

appears then the cursor is blinking looking for a login
for user.

During install process a password was requested and I entered a password but do not remember the install process asking for a user or login ID.

Is there some standard login name that I use with the password I entered during the install process?

login:root

You should have set up a user account during the install, I didn't even realize not setting up a user account was an option (it shouldn't be). Are you sure you didn't set up a user account? You should be able to just run "ls /home", any user's home directories will be located there.

If you really don't have a user account, the absolute first thing you should do is make one. root should be reserved for system administration tasks, every day tasks should be done as a non-privileged user.

Thank you, I did create a user account after reading further in the manual.

That's good. You can always switch to a root account if necessary by typing "su -" on the command line and entering the root password. Just keep in mind that you can do anything you want as root. If you feel so inclined, you can run DON'T RUN THIS OR YOU'LL KILL YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM "rm -fr /". Root does not block you from anything, you can do whatever you want, even if that action destroys the entire OS.

This is why you should stay out of root as much as possible. It's too powerful, too much responsibility. Stay out of root and you'll lead a much happier life. Spend too much time in root and I guarantee you you'll be re-installing your OS in short order.

Thank you for this info which is very helpful. Would appreciate any links you may recommend that would help me with the next steps
after installing OS. Such as getting user accounts, installing packages, installing network package, etc...

I know google will get me some but you may have a some that would suit my needs.
Thanks again for your time.

See the documentation section at centos.org.

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extra steps ?

this was the 700 meg CD you used to install cent and NOT the 4.3 Gig DVD

so there is VERY little software installed

during the centos6 install you set up a ROOT account
partitioned the drive
and installed
THEN on the very FIRST boot !
you set up the FIRST non root user account
the timezone and so on


after that
have a read through the CentOS wiki
http://wiki.centos.org/

another good resource is ( BUT IT IF FOR FEDORA ! and will need to be ported to cent !!!! )
is the fedora mjmwired page
http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-fedora-f19.html
( the above is not cent!! it needs to be ported TO cent)
that in combination with the wiki will be the most useful

CentOS uses the RedHat documents
https://access.redhat.com/site/docum...erprise_Linux/
and these assume that you already have a lot of Linux experience

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For software, see this
http://wiki.centos.org/AdditionalRes...epositories%29
Note the bit about setting priorities: use 1 for CentOS, 2 for EPEL, and 3 for RPMfusion.

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Just in case, if you forget root password in future, you can change it by booting in sigle user mode (assuming you have not set grub password).

Thanks for the tips. First order of learning will be to refresh my use of the command line, worked some with unix in the past but has been over ten years. Then will get connected to my home network with my test box then see about Firefox and go from there. From the early responses I think I have choosen a good distro and forum to learn from.

just be advised
Centos6 is NOT using the current firefox !!!!
6.4 has firefox 10 installed by default
and has the current different
"Extended Life" version firefox-17.0.10 in the updates

and to install the current firefox 25
you have to manually install it AFTER you uninstall the already installed ff10

seeing as cent is a rebuild of the RHEL code
it is mostly for a server , but Cent has added extra Desktop software for installs on desktop systems

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You can refresh your knowledge of the cli with http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz

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Great, link chrism; thanks John appreciate your info.