Lunix help please

[philman213]

I just installed Red Hat 9 on my server and it appears I logged in as root, but I have no GUI, and its just a black screen waiting for me to type something. I have no knowledge of Linux or any commands, would anyone be kind enough to tell me how to install stuff and get on the net or something.

[devpon]

Type in "startx" without the quotes and your gui should show up if you installed X. You did not say what you loaded off the cds. Also set up a user account and log in as that user not root. Check out the sites below to help you get started.

http://www.icon.co.za/~psheer/book/index.html.gz
http://dsl.org/cookbook/
http://linux.org.mt/article/terminal
http://www.linuxcommand.org/

[HTRegz]

Hey Hey,

devpon's advice will definately get you into X the first time... did you install a GUI and did you go through configuration steps for it? YOu may have to go back to the CDs and install all the X components, or if they are installed at least run XConfigurator (Xconfigurator... case??)... assuming RH9 still uses that, or xf86config (which all systems should have). As long as startx worked and brought you to a GUI, then you are find and good to go.... You may want to modify it so that your system automatically boots into the GUI. To do this follow these commands.

1. From a root console type vi /etc/inittab and press enter
2. Locate the line that says id:3:initdefault: (it could possibly be another number, however it should be 3... if it says 5, then you are supposed to be in X, but have errors.... Then you'll have to start sifting through logs (or run startx again) to see why X is crashing out)
3. move your cursor over the 3 in the line id:3:initdefault: and press shift+R. The bottom of your screen should now say Replace
4. Press the number 5 and then press ESC. The bottom of your screen should no longer say replace.
5. Just to be safe press ESC again (in case any other keys were hit) and then press :qw
6. Reboot the machine and see what happens. You should now be in the GUI when it reboots.

Hopefully this get's you up and running

Peace,
HT

[philman213]

Thank you both very much for your help. Ill try out all of that stuff. Do you guys recommend me getting a book since Im such a linux noob, and if so, what book?

Thanks

[philman213]

I typed startx and it loaded the GUI. All I got was this small icon in the topleft corner that said xterm, and then at the bottom right a big table that had 9 cells.

[HTRegz]

Hey Hey,

Books are ok, however I prefer using google, it's a hell of a lot cheaper....


Sounds like you've got a very slim Window Manager booting up... You'll want to try the command startkde in order to get KDE to boot) once again.. assuming it's installed) or else you can start editing your X config files to get the WIndow Manager of your choice. I'd suggest finding a good step by step guide on the net if yer brand new to all of this.

Peace,
HT

[philman213]

Alright I guess I can try that. Thanks.