Hi . My friend can't access the internet so i'm posting for him . He has installed linux redhat 9.0 in graphical mode and choosed minimum installation in the graphical mode . He has provided a password before setup and after set up , he can enter linux by giving username as " root " and the password that he has set up before . The problem is , he can't find anything graphical but everything text after entering . After providing the password and the username , he sees everything in text mode something like " root@localhost root " and he kind go to any desktop..please give me directions about how to get to the desktop environment supported by mouse and how to log in not as a root - and the benifits of doing so .

Type "startx" to get into a graphical desktop. To automatically go to the desktop the next time you reboot, edit /etc/inittab.

John

during the installation, he should've set up a user account less priviledged than root. if he didnt, have him execute this command sequence as root:
at this point he will return to a login prompt
have him log in as USERNAME
note: replace USERNAME with whatever he wants to use as a username
now: for a brief lesson, a breakdown of the commands we just used:
useradd - add a user to the system
passwd - change password (when root, issue command with a username to change that user's password. or, issue the command by itself to change the root password.)
logout - log out

<EDIT>
Afterthought: if the useradd command doesnt work, try adduser
</EDIT>

he tried with " startx" after logging in as root user but an error message said " command not recognised . "

from this, i'm guessing he didnt install X

so ? what does that mean ? is x essential for graphical operating ? hell should I ask him to do the same way again and how many partitions should he make ?

1) X *is* the graphical enviroment
2) 2 partitions - one / partition and one swap

try using

sh startx
or
.startx