making a user
 

This is my first time using slackware, and my experiences with other distributions has been very brief.
I switched to slackware because I hope it'll help me figure out what's actually going on without it doing everything for me, but I've hit a small snag.
With other distributions I've been able to create a user account during the setup process that is at least somewhat functional.
I realize that a new user created in slackware has none of this, but I'm not sure what I need to give the user account to allow it to function.
At this point my user account can't even start Gnome (KDE works for some reason) without the system locking up, or even do something as minor as shut down or reboot the machine.
I realize I can give the account access to different things by using the chmod command, but I don't know what it is I have to change.

Hope this question isn't too stupid for you people.

Thanks in advance

Users should be able to use gnome, you might want to try and remove the .gnome folder from the users home folder and see what happens.

As far as allowing users to run commands as super user you can check into using sudo, or maybe suid on some commands.

The Slackware Book is a great help for basic stuff.
Newly created users should have at least basic functions.
Halting and rebooting, mounting and such are sometimes considered admin territory. You would want to decide the best way to give users more control for your situation.

If you are interested in changing the runlevel to 4, it should allow the users the ability to shutdown and restart from the menu. The default login is then provided by xdm I think it is. When a user begins to logout, they are given the choice to login as a different user, shutdown, or restart the computer. The xdm login also offers the user the choice of window manager desired. This runlevel only offers by default a single standard console though on tty6. Selected by Ctrl-Alt-F6. However, in X the user can run as many system consoles, like Konsole under KDE, as desired.

If desired, change 3 to 4 on the line in /etc/inittab like below:

# Default runlevel. (Do not set to 0 or 6)
id:4:initdefault:

For mounts, that will need to be setup in /etc/fstab. I am sure there are many examples here on LQ. Search for "fstab" and restrain the search to the Slack forum.

Yah, this one really threw me at first. Anyone feel free to correct my (newbie perspective) explanation.

Slackware is more extreme than most distros with the default security. It's a pain in the rear to set up a user initially, but you then are forced to learn how to control device access. Maybe even how to do it properly!

I can't help you with the Gnome problem, but here are a couple of the problems I "fixed":

floppy and cdrom access: edit /etc/fstab, change "owner" to "user". You do know how to add a disk access point to the desktop by right clicking, correct?

For other devices like sound, you can chmod /dev/dsp to 666 and make it accessible (to anyone with access to your machine). Perhaps a better way is to add the name of your user account to the group listed for that device (ls -l, I think. The file browser works well for me in /dev) in the /etc/passwd file. Although you reserve access to an individual user this way, a possible drawback is that the user then gains access to all devices controlled by that group. This approach usually works because you will often get an error message that indicates the device name you don't have access to.

The most useful advice I could give you, though is to use the search function on this forum (maybe justlinux, too). Most of the basics have been covered a number of times, usually by someone more knowledgeable than me. Under /usr/docs there is a lot of program documentation, also a bunch of howtos. Some of them are even up to date!


I have learned very much more about Linux by going through a Slackware install than I learned by using an "easy" disto. Why somedays I even have a snowball's chance in hell of fixing a problem by myself!

Walt

I feel the same way. :D

Good recommendations too!

DeadlyMuffin: try running adduser and following the prompts. It's quick and painless. :) In here you can set up the group and everything. You will need to set the permissions later, but at least you'll feel more at ease with creating new user accounts. The chmod command will come to you as you progress with Slack. It's actually kind of nice to know that I can allow or prevent specific users from performing commands like shutdown or reboot or what not. I also like that I can prevent certain users from nosing around where they don't need to be. All I have to do is chmod them. :D

be very careful changing file permissions, and also changing a files ownership

things like sound may be harmless, and the only drawback would be someone listening through your mic or something. However, letting users do shutdowns is not really a good idea. Unless your the user and don't expect to have a lot of users, or the machine is not on a network or internet. Most people just leave their machines running so it's not a big deal.

consider allowing only your user to do admin things, not chmod 666 everything in site.