programs dont start
 

I am using 2006 free and some of the programs I try to open, do
start because I see the spinning hourglass on the K bar,
but they dont finish starting. I never see these programs run.
one example is GDM graphic display manager configurator
and the photo setup. I have some others that also dont run
what does this mean.

also how do I find my own IP address. (automatic dhcp)
its in a file somewhere, or some netstat command I am sure.

ifconfig should tell you your ip address

Could you try running one or two of the programs that don't start from a terminal and see what kind of error shows up?

gdm for example
 

I understand now how but

I dont know how to run the GDM configuration on a command line

I tried >gdm

and

> GDM

how to know what starts the program

Do you normally start this program from a button in the menu? If so, you can right click on the menu button, open the menu editor, then look for the icon that start the program. On the upper right you should see information about the menu button including the full path required to run the program from a console.