i installed linux mandrake 9.1 but my computer didn't have enough resources, so i did a text install. but when it starts up it has no graphical interface what so ever. it's all just white text on a black background. login is text, password text, and when i'm logged in it just stays the same. it's like being permently stuck in dos. please, is this supposed to happen? if it is how do i bring up something i can interact with?

Apparently you aren't familiar with what Linux is. I'd have to suggest lots of reading before diving into using Linux.

If you post some of your hardware and video specs though, we'd probably be able to tell you how or if your video card is supported or not to get X working.

um..

pentium pro-s 110mghz
32mb ram
2 gig drive
not sure what my vid card is, pretty good though.

um, if i need to read, then where do i get the stuff to read?

Well to tell you the truth, if you installed Mandy 9.1 on a 110mhz computer, its not going to be worth your time to try and get a Window Manager/ Desktop/X working, as its going to be as slow as my grandma.

And not providing your type of video card, well, doesn't help much either really. I can't guess or assume since there are thousands of video cards out there.

A good place for the howto's is at www.tldp.org

Your machine though would be excellet to learn and use the console or command line, its much more powerful than DOS, as you can pretty much do anything that isn't graphical.

startx
is the command to get to the GUI. However GNOME or KDE is going to take a long time to load if at all. I would suggest installing a lightweight window manager such as fluxbox
http://www.fluxbox.org
Here is a site that discusses different ones
http://www.plig.org/xwinman

Look here for distros that do not need a lot of RAM. You might want to try slackware.
http://old.lwn.net/Distributions/

i did the startx thing and it failed. it said it was unable to connect to x server and also something about a file and directory not existing.

What file and directory? If you didn't install a window manager that is more lightweight its certainly not going to work. If you have broadband internet I would download an older version of Red Hat from
http://www.linuxiso.org
or an older version of Slackware like michaelk suggested.

this is exactly what it said:

execve failed for /etc/x11/x (errno30
giving up.
xinit: no such file or directory (errno2): unable to connect to x server
xinit: no such process (errno3):server error

how would i go about installing a different window manager?

Derek-kun,

Apparently you don't either read or take advice. My first response clearly states that either your video card isn't supported or configured properly.

If you provided us with video card type, we may be of help to tell you if its actually supported or not.

Second, I clearly believe that trying to install X from Mandrake 9.1, you are wasting your time as its so intense and will be slow, it will be just a waste of time and effort. But if you can find more information about your card, that would be greatly appreciated if you want to attempt to configure X.

Darthtux,

If your going to give advice, give good advice. Don't tell a member who hasn't even provided us with a video card type and having problems configuring X to just simply type startx and go download other Window Managers. How is that beneficial to him if X isn't even working yet for him. Let's worry about what the actual problem first, before we discuss telling them to go download a new manager, etc.

Regards.

i found out what my vid card is. it's a mach 64 vt.

trickykid,

Please look back over the thread before posting a wrong rebuke. He said in the first post he installed and was at the command line and didn't know what to do to get to a GUI. So I correctly suggested to type startx. Then in
Derek-kun second post he gave his system info. So, I suggested a lower memorty window manager. It was only after that that he said there was an error starting X.

I didn't mean to come off as being harsh but if you reread his first post, it clearly states this:

That to me gave me the conclusion if it didn't detect and use the GUI at installation, well then it wasn't configured properly after booting up.

I am just an anal person when it comes to helping others, I fix one thing then go on to the next step. This guy seems to be installing for the first time ever, if we jump the gun and tell him other things, its only going to make matters worse in confusing him. Telling him to install something or do something that clearly needs the first problem resolved first is only going to get him up and going faster, and it will educate him in the process.

It would be like.. "I can't get connected to my network or internet, but can anyone help me install and configure apache for my webserver.. ?? " You got to go step by step, installing a new Window Manager should have been the last of the concerns, until we even get X working for the guy....

Regards....

Just a thought - does mdk even install a x server by default on hardware like this?
Besides this is really not going to work - don't care if you thow flux- black- or whatever other box on it.

I run Red Hat w/ 200mz CPU and 32MB of RAM. Boots into a GUI too. Is anybody going to tell my I'm imagining it?