Linux virgin can't set display

The Oilbaron · 11-06-2006, 12:55 PM

Hello,

first time Slackware linux installation. I can not start any grapical window. It's aborting with $Dsiplay is not set ?

Rgrds,

The Oil baron

Caeda · 11-06-2006, 01:00 PM

Well, I'm sure someone will post something helpfull to this soon, but as a matter of opinion.

First time? Start with something easier. Pick a distro like knoppix, sabayon, or any other "live" cd or dvd of linux. This way you can boot up, check that everything works. These distro's then let you install the already working system to your hard drive.

Less configuring for first timers.

The Oilbaron · 11-06-2006, 01:06 PM

Thanks caeda,

So I picked the most difficult distro available ?

raska · 11-06-2006, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Oilbaron

...So I picked the most difficult distro available ?

No you didn't, but there are some BSD's out there that could be a little harder than Slackware's install.
Addressing your problem, have you tried to issue the command startx ??
or did you skip some packages during the installation?

The Oilbaron · 11-06-2006, 01:26 PM

As I sad before, I'm a linux virgin, but you just said the magic word "startx"

Thanks a lot,

The Oil baron,

I'm better in drilling well's than starting Linux for the first time.

raska · 11-06-2006, 01:37 PM

Welcome to linux and LQ.org

I'm glad that it is now working outright!!!
Slackware's learn curve can be pretty steep but once you like it and understand some basic things, you shall never leave it

Please post any doubts of yours on these forums, there are people willing to help in any way they can

You might want to check out the Slackbook, there is also a PDF version available to download and print if you feel like it. It's a fine literature to help your start

Eternal_Newbie · 11-06-2006, 01:56 PM

Slackware is only as difficult as you want it to be. It does help to read the manual, though. Here are some useful Slackware links to get you started:

The Book: http://www.slackbook.org/ (also available as a dead tree)

The FAQ: http://www.slackware.com/faq/

The Wiki: http://slackwiki.org/Main_Page

The are many other great sources of information on Slackware, this site being one of the best and the nearest thing to an official forum that Slackware has.

Enjoy yourself!

The Oilbaron · 11-06-2006, 02:09 PM

He guy's back online without the help of bill gates this time. I will do some PDF reading and go to sleep than. Thanks for all the support.

Kind rgrds,

The Oil baron

The Oilbaron · 11-06-2006, 02:12 PM

Ooh yea,

One more thing, but maybe I can figure it our myself, how do I setup this laptop that it will go straight away to KDE 3.5 without all the questions about logon root and startx can I edit a autoexec.bat or so to have it all automated.

Pls. let me know, so my wife can start this baby up as well.

Kind rgrds,

The Oil Baron.

simcox1 · 11-06-2006, 02:51 PM

First create a user account so you're not logging in as root user. Log in as root first then type adduser. Answer the few questions, log out from root and re login as the user. Then type startx. To boot straight into graphical mode, open the file /etc/inittab in a text editor and change the line

id:3:initdefault

to

id:4:initdefault

so you're in run level 4 instead of 3 at start up. You need to be root to edit that file, which you do by typing su in a terminal to log in temporarily as root user.

randomsel · 11-06-2006, 04:39 PM

check the slackware book for step-by-step instructions.

Chapter 6, part 5, xdm and it's associates