[SATLUG] Need help with KateOS

[Don Crowder]

KateOS is an installable live CD and its most recent incarnation, 3.6, 
is very impressive.  It installs pretty much like any of the more 
popular Linux distros though it doesn't automatically partition the HDD, 
gparted pops open and the gparted help file isn't included on the CD but 
there's a terminal icon on the toolbar underneath the gparted window, 
the root password is simple "kate" (w/o quotes) and cfdisk is onboard (I 
had to learn how to use cfdisk when I learned to install DSL).  Kate 
uses Xfce and something called "slim" (along with XDM I think) when it's 
booting up.  I can't figure out how to get it to login automatically so 
I installed GDM with the package manager (because I know how to login 
automatically with GDM or KDM), and it'll work with Xfce (of course) but 
I can't figure out how to turn it on, or maybe I should say invoke it, 
I'm not sure of the nomenclature but I want it switch to GDM, which I've 
already configured to login automatically.  (any other method of getting 
it to automatically login to the user account would be ok too)

I did some googling, talked to some folks on the kateos IRC channel (@ 
freenode); I didn't find an answer, but it's possible I have some clues 
which may help wiser heads put me on the right track.

A fellow on the IRC channel told me that Kate uses slim.  He couldn't 
tell me more than that but I was able to find the slim.conf file:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# Path, X server and arguments (if needed)
# Note: -xauth $authfile is automatically appended
default_path        ./:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
default_xserver     /usr/bin/X
#xserver_arguments   -dpi 75

# Commands for halt, login, etc.
halt_cmd            /sbin/shutdown -h now
reboot_cmd          /sbin/shutdown -r now
console_cmd         /usr/bin/xterm
#suspend_cmd        /usr/sbin/suspend

# Full path to the xauth binary
xauth_path         /usr/bin/xauth

# Xauth file for server
authfile           /var/run/slim.auth


# Activate numlock when slim starts. Valid values: on|off
# numlock             on

# Hide the mouse cursor (note: does not work with some WMs).
# Valid values: true|false
# hidecursor          false

# This command is executed after a succesful login.
# you can place the %session and %theme variables
# to handle launching of specific commands in .xinitrc
# depending of chosen session and slim theme
#
# NOTE: if your system does not have bash you need
# to adjust the command according to your preferred shell,
# i.e. for freebsd use:
# login_cmd           exec /bin/sh - ~/.xinitrc %session
login_cmd           if [ ! -f ~/.xinitrc ] ; then exec /bin/sh -login 
/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc ; else exec /bin/sh -login ~/.xinitrc ; fi

# Commands executed when starting and exiting a session.
# They can be used for registering a X11 session with
# sessreg. You can use the %user variable
#
# sessionstart_cmd	some command
# sessionstop_cmd	some command

# Start in daemon mode. Valid values: yes | no
# Note that this can overridden by the command line
# option "-d"
daemon	yes

# Available sessions (first one is the default).
# The current chosen session name is replaced in the login_cmd
# above, so your login command can handle different sessions.
# see the xinitrc.sample file shipped with slim sources
#sessions            xfce,icewm,wmaker,blackbox

# Executed when pressing F11 (requires imagemagick)
screenshot_cmd      import -window root /slim.png

# welcome message. Available variables: %host, %domain
welcome_msg         Welcome to KateOS

# shutdown / reboot messages
shutdown_msg       The system is halting...
reboot_msg         The system is rebooting...

# default user, leave blank or remove this line
# for avoid pre-loading the username.
#default_user        simone

# current theme, use comma separated list to specify a set to
# randomly choose from
current_theme       default

# Lock file
lockfile            /var/run/slim.lock

# Log file
#logfile             /var/log/slim.log

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



and I also found the xdm-config file:


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
! $Xorg: xdm-conf.cpp,v 1.3 2000/08/17 19:54:17 cpqbld Exp $
! $XdotOrg: $
!
!
!
!
! $XFree86: xc/programs/xdm/config/xdm-conf.cpp,v 1.10 2002/11/30 
19:11:32 herrb Exp $
!






DisplayManager.errorLogFile:	/var/log/xdm.log
DisplayManager.pidFile:		/var/run/xdm.pid
DisplayManager.keyFile:		/usr/lib/X11/xdm/xdm-keys
DisplayManager.servers:		/usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xservers
DisplayManager.accessFile:	/usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xaccess
DisplayManager*resources:	/usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xresources
DisplayManager.willing:		su nobody -c /usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xwilling
! All displays should use authorization, but we cannot be sure
! X terminals may not be configured that way, so they will require
! individual resource settings.
DisplayManager*authorize:	true
!
DisplayManager*chooser:		/usr/lib/X11/xdm/chooser
DisplayManager*startup:		/usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xstartup
DisplayManager*session:		/usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xsession
DisplayManager*reset:		/usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xreset
DisplayManager*authComplain:	true
! The following three resources set up display :0 as the console.
DisplayManager._0.setup:	/usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xsetup_0
DisplayManager._0.startup:	/usr/lib/X11/xdm/GiveConsole
DisplayManager._0.reset:	/usr/lib/X11/xdm/TakeConsole

DisplayManager*loginmoveInterval:	10

! SECURITY: do not listen for XDMCP or Chooser requests
! Comment out this line if you want to manage X terminals with xdm
DisplayManager.requestPort:	0
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions will be greatly appreciated and the solution, if found, will 
probably become a tutorial on my website (with credit where due).  :)
-------------- next part --------------
Don Crowder
http://www.don-guitar.com
http://www.lockergnome.com/eldergeek/
http://www.freelists.org/list/donspatch
http://don-guitar.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/donguitar
A proud user of Debian Etch w/KDE.