Grrrrr. I've spent the last 10 days or so slowly but surely learning about my Linux system, solving one problem at a time.

But a few days ago, I began receiving strange system messages during startup, looking like
/etc/rc.d/rc.m : line 148 : /dev/null : Is a directory
as well as similar messages for hotplug for about 2 pages long. However, these do not appear when I type dmesg.

Then suddenly X will not start. It was working fine this morning, I checked my mail and such, making absolutely no modifications to XF86Config or such files. I had to use xf86conf to get it working again.

Then alsa won't start. Here's what alsaconf has to say :
modinfo : snd : no module by that name found
modinfo : snd : no module by that name found
modinfo : snd : no module by that name found
/usr/sbin/alsaconf : line 150 : /dev/null : is a directory
/usr/sbin/alsaconf : line 153 : /dev/null : is a directory

Yay. So I open a console window... or rather try to. "The window "terminal" is not responding" says Gnome. Hmmm.

EDIT : I just noticed that all Gnome apps are broken. Games, system monitor, etc. None is working.

So while I'm not eager to do so, being from the Windows world, I'm used to reinstalling. But I wonder : what the HECK happened ? All I did was install a few packages and modify files like fstab of XF86Config. I didn't try any custom kernel or whatnot.

So if you have any advice, ranging from "Here's how you fix it" to "Man, you should try a simpler distro", go ahead. I'm fresh out of ideas.

Good evening,

It appears that an important dependancy may be missing for Gnome to be running properly. If you have any other desktops (KDE, Windowmaker, etc) try starting one of those. In order to choose a new default desktop in Slackware run "pkgtool". Scroll down through the menu and select "xwmconfig". From there you can choose your GUI. If they start properly it is known for sure that it is a Gnome specific problem. I have no way of knowing which package/s may be missing so maybe installing all of Gnome would be a good idea although overkill.
As far as your "alsa" errors go run "alsaconf" again and select your sound card. I was recieving those same errors from a fresh install and that resolved the issue. It seems Slackware does not config automatically.
If you're willing to stick it out i would keep your current distro. Although Slackware does not have a lot of hand holding it is my preferred distro. Since things aren't done for you, one is forced to learn many things as you are probably becoming aware. In the end this will probably make you a better user. Some distros add extra directories or put packages in places other than the default making package updates other than through their servers/rpm's a little problematic sometimes.
I hope this is of help. Good luck.

Javpra

Well said javpra :)

@SolarBear

Well, if you're at your wits end and slackware is borked, how about waiting a few days for Slackware 10 to come out (it should be a few days, but don't quote me on that :P) and install that.

But as javpra said, slackware does force you to learn - if you want to use linux but have no intention of learning anything about linux, then mandrake is very good - it sets up everything for you (or there about) but it never taught me anything about linux. Slackware does. :)

Good luck

Steve

That's not a bad idea. Maybe it's time I installed Dropline...

Quote:

As far as your "alsa" errors go run "alsaconf" again and select your sound card. I was recieving those same errors from a fresh install and that resolved the issue. It seems Slackware does not config automatically.

Oops ! My mistake : the above error messages were given by alsaconf, not alsa, when I noticed Gnome would not give me sound.

Quote:

If you're willing to stick it out i would keep your current distro. Although Slackware does not have a lot of hand holding it is my preferred distro. Since things aren't done for you, one is forced to learn many things as you are probably becoming aware. In the end this will probably make you a better user. Some distros add extra directories or put packages in places other than the default making package updates other than through their servers/rpm's a little problematic sometimes. I hope this is of help. Good luck. Javpra

Well that's the exact reasons I installed Slackware : to learn. And damn am I learning But still, I'm not learning fast enough to my tastes (and my 56k, not downloading fast enough either)... So I guess I'll stick to slack.