Hey whats up yall, I thought to ask this question in the Newbie section would be appropriate since I am sort of a newbie, except I got past the installation problems. I've been using linux for awhile now, not a whole lot of x though. Im starting to use X more and the smallest things have me stumped. Right now my problem is, once I compile an application that uses a gui, is there some way to make a desktop icon to run the program instead of running it from console, and how come when I run an app from console and close console the app closes. Its probably something small but Im just wondering, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Slackware 10.2
Kernel 2.6.10

Second question first. When you close a terminal window you also close anything and everything being executed in that terminal.

As for desktop icons or menu items, it depends on what desktop environment or window manager you're using. That information might get you a sensible answer.

If you run an app from console and want your console back to do further work you can append an & to the end to background that process. An example
$tvtime &

If you use KDE you can right click your desktop and create link to application. Then in command section add the path to the app. Click on the icon while you are creating it to browse for a different icon.

Hope that helps a little.