[ale] linux

[William Mahavier]

I am about to give up on linux, having loved it for 2 years. I 
ftped slackware from gatech two years ago and installed it on my
laptop without a hitch. This time I bought Turbo linux from Pacific 
Hi Tech on cdrom to install on my new Aptiva. X windows does not work
and after many hours I find I need a beta version 3.1.2G of X.
Then I tried my printer. I have installed the A, AP, X,  and XAP
packages. I read the printer howto and it says to look at 
man printcap. But I have no /etc/printcap and no man page for
printcap. I emailed Pacific Hi Tech about my problem and they
responded saying they did not know how to get printer support
but they always got it when then installed everything. I did an
ls on every package in the slakware directory on my cdrom an found no
clue that lpr or lpq or lpc or printcap lived there. Some of the
needed files live elsewhere but I don't know what I need or where
it goes.  I have read probably 100 pages of howto's and faq's and a 
lot of the lpd stuff. Much of what I read was incorrect. I hate 
Windows 3.1 and Windows95 even more.  We should do better.

Can someone tell me what I should do to get printer support
and man pages for printcap and lpr and whatever I need?

Does this no longer come with slackware? 

Should I buy Walnut Grove slackware or redhat and start over?

Thanks for any help.