I've just joined tclug in the hopes that someone can help me learn some Linux. I am quite knowledgeable about Windows & hardware, however, Linux gives me fits. I have run Mandrake 7.0 in the past, but it would no longer cooperate when I moved to a newer computer. I've just completed an installation of Mandrake 8.0. The install went great with all my hardware being detected properly (I even have sound!). Now for my first blunder... I logged on as root and set up my internet connection with KPPP. I thought this would set up a connection for all users. What has happened is that now no user except root can log into the system (or at least can't use the KDE or Gnome interfaces). At the "Welcome to Localhost" screen I must log on as root. If I try any other user & KDE I get this message... error setting up inter-process communications, message returned: could not read network connection list. //.dcopserver_localhost.localdomain_:0 check that dcopserver is running. If I try to log onto Gnome it just shoots me back to the "welcome to localhost screen" with no error message. I would appreciate any help, I really want to learn this system. Carl