yipee! oh, but no functionality
 

Okay, I got slack to start using the startx command after logging in, and the desktop is pretty sharp, but the only thing I can do is move my mouse around. There's a black box in the center of the screen, with what I suppose are icons, but I can't click on any of them or do anything? Am I missing something?

Did you do a "full install" and what DE did you choose as your default?

Well, I have 6 disks but the setup said it was finished after installing 3. I don't recall choosing a DE, and I'm in the dark as to what it is.

Slackware setup only needs the first 3 disks; the other three contain sourcecode mostly.
Sounds like you did not install XFCE or KDE (those are Slackware's main "DE" aka Desktop Environments).
What kind of install did you choose? Full install? If so, what package sets did you (de)select? Apparently you did not select KDE and XAP.
Can you use a camera to take a snapshot of your monitor and post it here? You may be running twm, the basic window manager which is used when all other software is missing.

Eric

Actually, I'm pretty sure I chose KDE. I chose full install, but, as I said, I only used 3 disks.

You need only the first three CDs for installation (the rest contain the source code). At some stage it must've asked about your default window manager (or DE, desktop environment). Before typing startx, you can run xwmconfig to make a new choice. I'd recommend trying XFCE or fluxbox first, just to make sure X works properly (KDE might be attempting to usefancy effects which sometimes cause problems if the video card is not set up properly).

Later on you can edit /etc/inittab to change the initdefault value from 3 to 4. This way you will get a graphical login screen where you can choose the window manager you like.

The snapshot was to big to upload. I posted it online though and here's the link: http://bluegospel.tripod.com/slack.jpg

You may need to past the link to your address bar.

Use another website for uploading images, I can't see it.

run xorgconfig and then try startx.

KDE doesn't load completely.
Any pointers in the logfiles?
in your home directory
or
I would suggest to change the thread title to something relevant

had a brain-fart should have been xorgsetup

Just to get to something you can use and to check to see if it's just KDE, try doing That will start xfce instead of kde.

Thanks everyone for your help. I will certainly get to all your suggestions ASAP. Right now I have to go.

Asido, I'm not sure why the link redirects. If you copy the link and paste it into your address bar it should work.

Damgar, I tried your suggestion, which brought me back to the prompt.

Colorpurple, I tried yours too, which worked for a while. At first there was an error message: something about an error occuring at startup of Ahonidi server, whatever that is. There were lines distorting the windows somewhat, but I was able to browse around in X for a while. When I went into an image editor it froze and I had to restart manually.

Do we have an equivalent of cntr-alt-delete in Linux?

CTRL-ALT-Backspace I believe is the norm for restarting the x server.