Slackware AutoStart X as good as Puppy

[steve_s]

Ok, on this one PC, I just tried out slackware, 'cause I hadn't used it before.

How do I get it to let me login when it says 'darkstar:' and I type root, then startx, but do all that automatically?

All Slackware sites are big on OH WOW DON'T RUN AS ROOT! even though I've run puppy as root for like 8 years.

I have it entirely set up like the laptop (puppy one) it is going to replace. Posting from it now, actually...but this auto start is the last thing I'm missing.

Oh wise logical Puppy people, help me to overcome the Slack!

[amigo]

In the file /etc/inittab, change the default runlevel to '4' instead of 3 and you will boot to desktop.

[steve_s]

That boots me to xdm, then it wants me to login as something other than root. I would use xdm to automatically boot xfce cause I think u can do that, but I can't get past that. Ideas?

[amigo]

I've been away from slack so long that I'm unsure about paths/filenames. But, I think you need to look at your xinitrc files. Each Wm/DE installs one and there is a wm chooser which will let you choose which wm to use as default. Probably bets to ask around or look around in the slackforum at linuxquestions -you can save yourself a lot of heckling by not mentioning that you wanna run as root. If you notice, slackers don't like sudo either -insisting that only single commands be run as root using 'su'. That's all just cultism. Slackware is the most forgiving thing around -unless you are root- then it is all in your hands. You can even install various autologin possibilities for the full 'puppy feel'.

For over 10 years I developed a package-building system for slackware and derivatives -I eventually 'solved' the dependency problem with slackware by adapting/re-writing the package format, package installation -already having built the build system which would generate the needed information that package-tracking requires. It also would build other package types including two kinds of puppy 'packages'. Somehow, I could never convince the folks around here that pet-problem could only be solved by starting with a package ~format~ which could pass all the runtime and build dependencies to the package management ~through~ the packages. And, that the only way to produce that info is a at build-time. Or if one insists on building on someone else's base, then use their packaging system to produce what you need to add or to replace parts of their system that can't be made to do what you want. Puppy itself may be more of an 'appliance', but the content should all come from the same full-development environment -whichever one that might be.

[mikewalsh]

@steve_s :-

All Slackware sites are big on OH WOW DON'T RUN AS ROOT! even though I've run puppy as root for like 8 years.

Heh. Our Pup's an acquired taste, Steve.....and Slackware suffers from an excess of "neckbeard elitism", dating back to the early days of Linux when men were men, women were women, and geeks were real, hairy, manly geeks. 'Slackers' are immensely proud of the fact their OS of choice is the oldest still extant Linux distro in the world, and aren't averse to letting the rest of us know it at every opportunity; it's an 'exclusive' club, in the best traditions. In those dim, distant, far-off days, your entry ticket to the elite club consisted of not only setting-up your own server, but developing & hosting your own website......and you were NOT permitted to ask for help, either, since it HAD to be "all your own work".

You ever read this?

https://igurublog.wordpress.com/2010/01 ... -not-root/

There's a lot of carefully-fostered, pumped-up hype about the dangers of running as 'root'.....usually couched in terms of the most damning indictments of awfulness that will scar you for the rest of your life should you 'give in' to its seductive blandishments. For God's sakes, it's a computer operating system, when all's said & done; a clever technical triumph, as all such are, but hardly the end of life as we know it if you don't follow "the rules" to the letter!

I guess the increasingly technical society we live in has finally allowed many who were once regarded with something akin to pity to scale the lofty heights & look down their noses at the rest of us! At long last, they've 'come of age'....

(You know what I most like about Puppy? The fact that as long as you take the simple precaution of keeping your 'save' backed-up, it doesn't matter how much stick you give your Pup, she's darned near unbreakable. For the first time in many, many years, this wee OS has made computing fun again (and after decades of drab stodginess courtesy of MyCrudSoft, we could ALL do with some of that in our lives..!!))

Mike.

[geo_c]

@mikewalsh

The only other linux OS I ever installed and used was Ubuntu, maybe in 2007 or so. I had to type a password for everything, it was a bit of pain to install, and I thought, "This is like windows with none of the glitz." Then I tried puppy, and I remembered what a computer was supposed to be, an information system with an interface that allowed me access to my computer hardware, data, and applications. How can one experience the benefits of software without being able to access and modify it quickly?

Sorry @steve_s for going off topic.

[steve_s]

Lol, y'all are cracking me up. Ok, not specific answers, but certainly some good vents/rants which I get. I started Gentoo, did Ubuntu, FreeBSD, then Puppy. Then soooo many puppy's! but hadn't done Slack.

Oh well, so far it looks like it may be easiest just too 'root', then 'startx' as I have been doing. I wish I could figure this out in a moderately easy way but this may be what i have with slack.

Still open to solutions, ideas and rants about who should or shouldn't be using root

[G0rdie]

I run Slackware and it boots up to my desktop in the way you have described. KDE Plasma 5 can do this for you. I have used KDE and Fluxbox just the way you want. Presently I use XFCE in this way.

I just turn on my laptop and everything is done for me. No password, just a short wait and go to work.

I have been using this feature for a long time now and there now are significant changes in how to accomplish it.
>>>>>>>>>>

It used to only work for KDE. Now also all installed desktops will login without entering a password. I tried it with KDE Plasma 5, XFCE and Fluxbox. There is no reason to suspect it won't work with Blackbox or any of the others I have from my Full Install.

You'll need to have "root" edit: /etc/inittab and change id:3:initdefault to 4.

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# Default runlevel. (Do not set to 0 or 6)
id:4:initdefault:

(If you were to change nothing else at this time, the next time you reboot you will be greeted by a graphical login screen where you can choose the Desktop / Windowmanager / Whatever and enter your username and password.) Of course you WANT to change something else to make for an "auto-login"

Now in your program menu go to:

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- Run
- systemsettings5
Scroll down in the left pane
- Workspace
- Startup and Shutdown
From the left pane - Login Screen (SDDM)
From the right pane choose a wallpaper for your login screen
From the choices at the bottom of the right pane
- Behaviour
- Automatically log in: [X] as user: choose from dropdown USERNAME
Log in again immediately after logging off [X] 
Also choose the session (XFCE or KDE or xwmconfig) from a dropdown. (x-session is the third from the top and it gives you xwmconfig from which you are able to choose any of your installed desktops)
Save

Now you can reboot and login automatically to XFCE or KDE or any others that are installed without having to enter your username and password.

In the off-chance that the settings refuse to save you can edit this file.

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 /etc/sddm.conf.d/kde_settings.conf
 

Just be sure to keep a copy as backup.