I have no idea how to work with slackware, have no experience with linux at all. I'm wondering if it works like a window (with things like the desktop and stuff) or is it suppose to be something like ms-dos? I don't even know if I installed it correctly because it seems to have quite a lot of errors during the installion. I read the help file already still couldn't figure out how to operate slackware.

If anyone out there and help me with a complete guide line or anything like that, it's appreciated. Or if there's any other version of linux that would be easier to operate, please state it in the thread. Thank you very much all!

Linux has both command line (DOS) and GUI (windowing system). If you need to know something specific, post it.

I'm not sure which help file you're talking about, but you might try checking out the Rute User's Guide. It's a great step by step introduction to Linux.

By default, Slackware will boot into the command line interface (or CLI). As it boots, you will see a lot of messages scroll up the screen. These may or may not be errors. If it eventually stops and the last thing you see on the screen looks like:

Welcome to Linux 2.4.XX (tty1)

darkstar login:

Then you have installed it correctly. The next thing you should do is type 'root' (this is the name of the superuser). If you set a password during the install, then you will be prompted for it next. If not, then you will be logged in without a password, and the next thing you should do is set a password, using the command 'passwd'.

Once you are logged in (and have a root password) you can start to look around the filesystem, using commands like 'ls' to list the contents of the current directory, and 'cd <name-of-dir>' to move (or change) to another directory. When you are tired of this, you can type 'halt' to shutdown the system.

Another command that you might try is 'startx'. If you have installed a window manager, then this command will bring you into a more windows-like environment. If this works, and you would like your computer to start in this environment automatically, then you will have to edit a file called /etc/inittab. But this is something that I don't want to explain right here. The Rute User's Guide has more than enough info about things like that :-)

Good luck, and Welcome to Slack.

Enjoy!
--- Cerbere

I successfully installed Slackware 9.1 and got to the part where it asked for the user name. However, when I got into the password mode (for setting the user password), I had no control of the keyboard except for [Enter]. I doubt that'll matter much for now. The problem that I'm having is when I typed in "startx", the computer seems to be operating on something, but i couldn't see anything. After I enter the startx, it seems to have problem with the video card. Please help me to find a solution to this, thanks!

Generally, when you are entering a password, it won't show up on the screen. It's a security feature, so no one can see it by looking over your shoulder while you're typing. That's why when you change your password, it will ask you to type it twice; so if you made a typo, it won't change to a password that you don't know. Try changing the password again, and be careful to type it in correctly both times. If the first password you enter matches the second one, then it will change it.

Now, what makes you think it's a problem with the video card? And what kind of video card do you have? Whenever you ask a question here, try to give as much information as you can. The solution will usually vary depending on your particular setup, so try to tell us any errors you receive and what hardware you're using.

Also, you can find more info about almost anything in Linux at the Linux Docmentation Project, just check out the How-To's.

Or you can try the search feature here in the forum.

Enjoy!
--- Cerbere

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I have a Navidia GeForce 4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X

Many people start off with a distribution such as Mandrake which is a bit easier for newcomers to linux. You might want to consider this. You can always move to another distro when you have a little experience. This is what I did.

That said, if you are determined, you will succeed. You will need to download the correct driver for your video card:

http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

you can install this as root from the command line by navigating to it and typing the name of the file - I think it ends in .run or similar.

then try startx again. you will probably need to edit some config files as well, but let us know what error messages you get and we will help

Go to the Slackware home page

http://www.slackware.com/

and go to the book section. You will really have to do a bit of reading. The previous posts mention other good info sources.

Good luck,

tobyl