Noob(me) phases to linux mandrak 9.0 and needs help

[Serial_Killer]

ooooooohhhhhhhh noooooooooooooooooooooo

I'm a 100% linux noob.
I've heard many good things about linux and I've found many things I don't like about windows xp. So I've decided to jump over to mandrake linux 9.0

I've installed mandrake properly (I'm pretty sure I did) and as lilo comes up I pick linux and it loads everything as normal.
Then it comes to some text based screen (DOSish) where it asks me to log on. I think "Fair enough" and enter my name and password (name is robert). Then it comes up with something like "[Robert:localhost robert]$" and stays stationary there.

I wanted a graphical user interface... not this text based stuff... does anyone know how to get the GUI up?

I'll be up until 3am GMT+10:00 eastern standard time tonight

[geowiz]

Well, if the install configured the X server then you should be able to get X going by logging in as root and issuing an init 5 command.
If that works, then you need to edit (as root) the /etc/inittab file and turn on the default boot level to 5. Nearer to top of file and the line should be something like: id:5:initdefault:
I suspect that the default run level is set to 3 and not 5 .

If the above init 5 fails, try to run startx . This will at least tell you if X is configured.

Good luck

[Serial_Killer]

thanks