I just finished installing the Slackware OS. Now I boot the machine and I'm prompted with a login. So I enter my username and then I'm just stuck in a dir with nothing in it but 1 zip and 1 text. How do I actualyl enter the shell os? The gui?

You could try by typing "startx" once you've logged in. I am assuming that you made a full installation as well, or you may not have x-server installed.

I probably will get flamed by saying this(because most Slackware users believe that Slackware is the best thing since sliced bread), but you are apparently far too new to Linux. If I were you, I'd start with another distribution, such as Ubuntu (which has the casual/end/new-user in mind), to make it easier for you. If you did not know how to get into the gui, you most likely will get to frustrated with Linux and quit even before start using it.

Just a tip.

Good luck!

*Shrug* I'm pretty comfy with new sandboxes. startx responded, howver ended apparently halfway through with an xinit error stating that the connection was reset by peer, unable to connect to x server. Is an internet connection necesarry? Could you clarify what this message means.

Nevermind. Managed to get it up and running with configging x.

"init 4" is the command you are looking for. X is runlevel 4 on Slackware.