Now it doesn't want to run X. I have the dreaded nVidia video hardware, but I figured I might be able to use the generic "nv" driver from x.org untill nVidia fixes their binary driver. Not so, but curiously, the log file doesn't show the nv driver to be the problem, but rather the mouse. "Can't find /dev/psaux" (this is a Logitech PS/2 optical wheel mouse that worked fine under XFree86-4.3.0). Needless to say /dev/psaux exists and has appropriate permissions, and the mouse works fine in the console, as well as throughout the entire installation process. I've tired all the plausible mouse configurations offered in the mouse config utility, as well as several implausible ones, including "no mouse." No dice; it still wants to find /dev/psaux.
Finally, it refuses to find my NIS server, so I can only log in as "root."