During the install, I chose usb mouse.

After I booted, I tried to set up gui with xf86config. I didn't see an option for installing a usb mouse, so I chose 3 button mouse.

startx died with error messages about not being able to find the mouse.

BTW: slack is the only distro I have used in years that requires me to run xf86config. Also, slack is the only version I know of, that can't seem to create lilo correctly on my machine. Is slack falling behind?

I've ordered 9.1, maybe that will work better, but from what I have been reading, it's hard for me to remain optimistic.

For lilo: run 'liloconfig'
For X: Choose various mouse devices: /dev/mouse or /dev/psaux, etc.

Slack is about doing things yourself. It may seem complex at first, but in fact Slack is simpler than the other distros. For example, Mandrake comes with supermount, and if you look at the it's /etc/fstab file it might be confusing becasue of it. Slack does not come with this, and understanding it's /etc/fstab is easy. It may seem like a hassle to mount stuff yourself, but you quickly come to understand how this works, and then can set up your own automatic mounting system, which of course you will understand because you made it.

For USb mouse choose device /dev/input/mice