So... I just installed Slackware 8.1 but being so new to linux I'm not sure if my problem is distribution related or not.

I installed from the official CDROM deleted all partitions then created a swap partition and a regular one. Then I ran the 'setup' command and got through everything smoothly... The one hitch being that when I got to the LILO configuration set up and tried to do the simple (auto) and install to my root partition it said there was some kind of error.

I finished going through setup, removed the CDROM and rebooted... my computer ended up on a blank screen and all it said was "Press any key to reboot"... yuk.

I put the CDROM back in and restarted. I just hit <enter> when it asked for what kernal & keyboard to use. It then says I can log in as root, but even though I set a root password when I went through 'setup' all I did was hit <enter> and it dropped me into the shell.

This gets me to my problem... Every command I try 'startx', 'liloconfig', 'xf86config' doesnt work. It can't find anything....

Whats going on??? (sorry if this is the "newbiest" question you ever heard. I've heard many good things about Linux and want to try it out)

Thanks in advance!

The problem is that when the lilo part of the installation failed, it did not install the lilo boot loader on the master boot record (MBR). When you restarted with the CDROM, all it did was boot from the CDROM, not the install you just completed. As I see it, you have 2 main options:

1. Boot from the CDROM, mount your hard drive, edit the /etc/lilo.conf file to the correct specs (you would have to tell us your hard drive setup in order for us to tell you the proper config), run "/sbin/lilo" to install lilo, and reboot without the CDROM.

2. Reinstall Slack, but use manual configuration for lilo. Again, we would need to know your hard drive setup to tell you the appropriate settings.

Beyond those 2, I would suggest 2 more things:

1. If this is your first try at Linux, I would try something like Mandrake, Fedora, SuSE, etc. Mandrake is my favorite for new *nix'ers.

2. If you insist on Slackware, which is not known as a newbie friendly distro, I'd try a newer version. I'm running Slack 10 on my laptop. It is compiled for i486, so even the newest version will run well on older hardware.

Thanks 65_283,

I redid the install and installed LILO to the MBR and that seems to have fixed it... I can now boot without the CDROM.

Also, thanks for the advice on the other more "newbie-friendly" distributions... I'm going to see how far I can get with Slackware (I've been told its the best way to learn the inner workings of Linux... If you have the patience...). If it gets to frustrating I will definately go the route you recommend.

Thanks again!

One other comment - you might want to consider upgrading to Slackware v10.0 At this point v8.1 is fairly old, and v10.0 contains numerous useful upgrades. -- J.W.

Hey, glad I could help!