Slackware Installation

[metho]

helloi decided to take on another installation project , i dont know if you remember but i was left with unusued 16.7GB space when i installed Mandriva With Ubuntu , well if you dont remember here is the table which shows what i have on 60GB Hard drive at the moment.

Mandrake Mount point /hda1 7.1GBMount point /home hda5 6.8GB/bakup hda714GB Ubuntu (/)Hda8 4.8GB(/home)hda95.7GB Future Installation Hda10 15GB

now i am trying to install Slackware 10.2 on Hda10, good news is that i see hda10 is fdisk utility but i dont see any options which let me install on hda10 without harming my other distrobutions... anybody had an experience with installation of slackware, if yes, would you mind telling me next few steps that can help me to complete the installation procedure!!!thanks in advance!!!!

[burninbush]

helloi decided to take on another installation project , i dont know if you remember but i was left with unusued 16.7GB space when i installed Mandriva With Ubuntu , well if you dont remember here is the table which shows what i have on 60GB Hard drive at the moment. now i am trying to install Slackware 10.2 on Hda10, good news is that i see hda10 is fdisk utility but i dont see any options which let me install on hda10 without harming my other distrobutions... anybody had an experience with installation of slackware, if yes, would you mind telling me next few steps that can help me to complete the installation procedure!!!thanks in advance!!!!

Well ... I don't see an hda6, so I'm guessing that's a swap partition??? Going forward on the assumption that's the situation. Is your hda10 already being used for something else? Is it formatted fat32 or ntfs? Hard to understand why slack wouldn't see it if it's a linux-type partition, or unused space [but it must be a partition already since it has a name hda10??] Maybe you just didn't arrow-down far enough to see it on Slack's screen where you assign mount points? With that many parts, it might not show otherwise. Just to be perfectly clear, boot Mandriva and run #cfdisk /dev/hda -- which will tell you what type partition hda10 is. If it isn't linux, then arrow down to highlight that partition, then arrow right to Type, and make it a type 83 [which means 'linux']. Then arrow right to the Write item, answer yes, and when the prompt comes back reboot the puter. When it comes back up, run a #mkfs.reiserfs /dev/hda10 -- which will surely make it visible to the Slack installer. It has been a while since I did a slackware install, but early in the process you'll get a screen that discusses where to mount partitions -- that's where you'd tell it where to put its / and then where to put its swap -- and here you'd use the same swap as the others are using. It's completely OK to go ahead and format the swap, and then to re-format the hda10. After that, just select 'all' packages and let it go ahead. Slack won't do anything to your other partitions without you giving it permission first. Here, I'd avoid letting it create mount points for the others -- easy to do that manually after it's running. Given you already have a bootable puter, I'd tell slack to put it's boot code to the partition root, i.e., to hda10 and NOT to the mbr; if you let it write to the mbr, then your current booting arrangement will be overwritten. Easy to add Slack to the menu of whichever distro you currently boot with. If you specify the use of grub, then the installer will make a /boot/grub/menu.lst file, and you can then boot with one of the other distros and just edit/copy the relevant section of that slack menu.lst into the menu.lst of ubuntu or Mandriva. Wouldn't hurt to take a copy of the current mbr before doing anything further -- # dd if=/dev/hda of=hda.mbr bs=512 count=1 and then copy that hda.mbr file off onto a diskette. If something goes wrong you can restore that later [same command, just reverse the of and if commands; if means input file, of means output file] to get back your current bootup. Ask again if this didn't help.

[teacher]

A quick starting point would be to go in Mandrake to your control center. Then go to your partitioning and go ahead and partition and format that drive. With 15GB you might want to split it into two partitions - one for / and one for /home. Then you should be able to go in and add your slack easily.

[Bruno]

Hi MethoIf you do as Julia says, first making the partitions needed for Slackware using Diskdrake in Mandriva ( and choose "NO mount point" while doing this ! ) . . . you can as second step reboot from the Slackware install CD and directly start at "Installing Slackware Linux Part 2 - setup" here in this thread By Grogan On the Bitbendersforum Bruno

[metho]

A quick starting point would be to go in Mandrake to your control center. Then go to your partitioning and go ahead and partition and format that drive. With 15GB you might want to split it into two partitions - one for / and one for /home. Then you should be able to go in and add your slack easily.

thanks for that tip, made my job very very very very easy

Hi MethoIf you do as Julia says, first making the partitions needed for Slackware using Diskdrake in Mandriva ( and choose "NO mount point" while doing this ! ) . . . you can as second step reboot from the Slackware install CD and directly start at "Installing Slackware Linux Part 2 - setup" here in this thread By Grogan On the Bitbendersforum ;) Bruno

thanks Bruno for sending me that link again ... i didnt even look at the step 2 because i assumed that i needed to follow that guide from the step 1 but i forgot that the partitions were made already @ burninbush: thanks for your help, it was very helpful

[Bruno]

LOL . . . So this means the install was a success ?? Great !!In that case there are a few important Tips for you here: Slackware Tips 1 Slackware Tips 2 Slackware Tips 3 Slackware Tips 4 Bruno

[metho]

LOL . . . So this means the install was a success ?? Bruno

well answer to this is "NO" ... everything went smooth untill this following image and after that it asked me to setup a password for root, i clicked yes and it wouldnt let me setup the password because /etc/.../passwd file was missing so i decided not to setup the password for root. than it told me that installation is complete and system needs to be rebooted!... i rebooted the system and now all i see is mandriva and ubuntu as before... but i dont see slackware anywhere... question is how do i login into slackware... have i messed up the installation or something.

[Bruno]

Hi MethoThe first install CD has the option of booting an installed Slackware . . . . you can try that one . . . . BUT . . I do not like the error you had with the root-password . . that is an odd one, never happened to me, so maybe there is more stuff missing then just the /etc/passwd file and maybe a reinstall is needed.Sure, if you can boot what is installed at the moment, you can set a root-password before you log in. Bruno

[metho]

Hi Bruno

Hi MethoThe first install CD has the option of booting an installed Slackware . . . . you can try that one . . . . BUT . . I do not like the error you had with the root-password . . that is an odd one, never happened to me, so maybe there is more stuff missing then just the /etc/passwd file and maybe a reinstall is needed.Sure, if you can boot what is installed at the moment, you can set a root-password before you log in. Bruno

thats what i was thinking. a reinstall maybe is the answer... i was following that slackware installation guide step-by-step and i dont know where i went wrong ...its true what people say about Slackware... it is DANM hard to install!!! it took me quite a long to install whatever i installed !!! anyway i'll post the results of next installation. Edited February 26, 2006 by metho

[Bruno]

Just keep your cool Metho . . . . . no matter how hard the install is, with every time you do it again you will get better at it and you will see things you might have missed last time.Just chill, get your breathing under control . . . and pretend you are not nervous at all, that way the installer will think you're a Linux professional and not play his tricks on you :DB) Bruno

[burninbush]

Hi Brunothats what i was thinking. a reinstall maybe is the answer... i was following that slackware installation guide step-by-step and i dont know where i went wrong ...its true what people say about Slackware... it is DANM hard to install!!! it took me quite a long to install whatever i installed !!! anyway i'll post the results of next installation.

Just to make a point to two -- Slack is one distro that will happily allow you to not create a root password -- it's optional, and unless you force it you won't have one. Dunno what you did about where to install the boot code? If you put it in partition root as I suggested up the thread, then you'll have to modify one of your other distros' boot menu to add slack to that -- not writing to the mbr means you can't directly boot into slack without doing that outside fixup. Got a cd that boots with grub? Ubuntu live does, for example -- boot with that, do an Esc and then a c to get grub into command mode ... colored text below is what you entergrub> root (hd0,9) .... this is grubspeak for hda10grub> kernel (hd0,9)/boot/vmlin ... and here Tab to get grub to finish the name, and then you must add after that the statement 'root=/dev/hda10 ro' so it appears like grub> kernel (hd0,9)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda10 rothen grub> initrd (hd0,9)/boot/init .... and Tab again, this time no appends grub> boot which should start your slack running, if the install was really successful.

[metho]

and pretend you are not nervous at all, that way the installer will think you're a Linux professional and not play his tricks on you

LOL... will do that

Just to make a point to two -- Slack is one distro that will happily allow you to not create a root password -- it's optional, and unless you force it you won't have one. Dunno what you did about where to install the boot code? If you put it in partition root as I suggested up the thread, then you'll have to modify one of your other distros' boot menu to add slack to that -- not writing to the mbr means you can't directly boot into slack without doing that outside fixup. Got a cd that boots with grub? Ubuntu live does, for example -- boot with that, do an Esc and then a c to get grub into command mode ... colored text below is what you entergrub> root (hd0,9) .... this is grubspeak for hda10grub> kernel (hd0,9)/boot/vmlin ... and here Tab to get grub to finish the name, and then you must add after that the statement 'root=/dev/hda10 ro' so it appears like grub> kernel (hd0,9)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda10 rothen grub> initrd (hd0,9)/boot/init .... and Tab again, this time no appends grub> boot which should start your slack running, if the install was really successful.

To be honest, i dont think installation was 100% correct anyway i will download ubuntu Live CD and do what you told me. cheers for the info!!!!

[Bruno]

Just to make a point to two -- Slack is one distro that will happily allow you to not create a root password -- it's optional, and unless you force it you won't have one. Dunno what you did about where to install the boot code? If you put it in partition root as I suggested up the thread, then you'll have to modify one of your other distros' boot menu to add slack to that -- not writing to the mbr means you can't directly boot into slack without doing that outside fixup. Got a cd that boots with grub? Ubuntu live does, for example -- boot with that, do an Esc and then a c to get grub into command mode ... colored text below is what you entergrub> root (hd0,9) .... this is grubspeak for hda10grub> kernel (hd0,9)/boot/vmlin ... and here Tab to get grub to finish the name, and then you must add after that the statement 'root=/dev/hda10 ro' so it appears like grub> kernel (hd0,9)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda10 rothen grub> initrd (hd0,9)/boot/init .... and Tab again, this time no appends grub> boot which should start your slack running, if the install was really successful.

Hi Burnin' . . . Why complicate things? Like I said in the post above yours: The 1st install CD can be used to boot the ( partially)installed system ;)Also, just for your info: Slack uses Lilo as default . . AND it does not use an initrd ! Bruno

[burninbush]

Hi Burnin' . . . Why complicate things? Like I said in the post above yours: The 1st install CD can be used to boot the ( partially)installed system ;)Also, just for your info: Slack uses Lilo as default . . AND it does not use an initrd ! Bruno

OK ... well, re an initrd, I have scsi disks in my machines, and have had to use an initrd in past installs of Slack to accomodate that -- this is in the readme on the disks. Agree it would not likely be necessary on an ide-only system. I have learned this the hard way in the past, install slack to a scsi disk and take the install script's suggestion to use the kernel from the cd, only to find it wouldn't then boot, gotcha. If I was dumb enough to take the default lilo and overwrote the mbr, then the entire machine would be dead. This is how people get turned off of using linux -- too many dead machines. Apart from that, knowing how to boot any random install with grub is a useful thing to know. The grub routine I showed would have gotten him up, assuming the install wasn't fatally busted.If he didn't write to the mbr, then he will have to do *something* extra to boot into it, whether from the slack cd or other method. Seemed clear he didn't know how to proceed, but might not need to reinstall, a quick boot with grub would answer some questions about whether or not a reinstall was necessary. That is surely not the only method of repair we should be suggesting on a linux board -- nobody learns anything new from that, other than memorizing the install dialog. Doesn't slack allow you to spec grub as a booter? Assuming he actually has an install fault, then this situation just reinforces my bias against lilo -- if he had taken the default to use lilo and write to the mbr, he would then have a totally dead machine. Writing a new distro to the mbr is inherently dangerous -- they don't always work at first try.

[Bruno]

Sure . . you obviously know better Downloading Ubuntu to kickstart a Slack install ? That's a good idea ? Bruno

[burninbush]

Sure . . you obviously know better Downloading Ubuntu to kickstart a Slack install ? That's a good idea ? Bruno

Bruno, if you were reading the thread, you'd know that he already has ubuntu installed on the same disk, also Mandriva. Check the first post.

[steel]

hi Metho, honestly i would just do a reinstall and take your time and you can do it, Slack is well worth it, personally i love it even though they dropped gnome on 10.2, but Dropline works excellent .. Its a great learning curv but well worth it....hi Burni know that u mean well and you have good intentions, but honestly thats really confusing that way,and i am sorry but i cant see how you can boot a partial system using grub or ubuntu i dont know much about Ubuntu i run debian "sid" myself along with freebsd, and slack 10.2 and you had said that you dont learn much about installing a system? only way i install debian is expert26 and you really learn what it takes to run your system.... at least debian is getting easier my first debian was slink briefly till potato came out, took 100 retarded questions to be answered and your own notes back then ...as a matter of fact i did install potato for the fun of it and posted in this forum somewhere.... the point that that i am trying to make is try to keep everything simple because for a new user it could get scary getting to techie... just my 2 cents ...

[metho]

Helloburninbush: I just reinstalled the slackware and it worked fine (but I still have few problems that I am sure can be fixed easily), I know you had good attentions but what you told me was going to confuse things more, and to be honest, I consider myself a Linux newbie. Cheers for you help. Bruno: you was right, reinstall was the answer, I must have messed up the first installation somewhere anyway it is all sorted now. Two Questions: how do I switch to KDE from a Terminal (shell) (Bruno, do I need to follow part five of the guide???, and also I can only boot to slackware and I don’t see other distros. Do I have to configure lilo.conf file to add other distros. I get the following image after booting and pressing enter lead me into command based Slackware.

[steel]

hey metho great job and welcome back..... sounds like you only have your root account .......you have to create your user accounts first ...... just simply do this to create your user accounts if you havent already ...# adduservery simple and straight forword....after you have created all your user accounts then hold down ctrl key and press D .... that will bring you back to log on and you can log in with the user account that you created .... and then to start gui ......... type "startx" ....

[metho]

hey metho great job and welcome back..... sounds like you only have your root account .......you have to create your user accounts first ...... just simply do this to create your user accounts if you havent already ...# adduservery simple and straight forword....after you have created all your user accounts then hold down ctrl key and press D .... that will bring you back to log on and you can log in with the user account that you created .... and then to start gui ......... type "startx" ....

thanks steel :"> , but still i dont see my other distros e.g. Ubuntu and Mandriva!!!

[quint]

Metho,Congrats!! (my favorite Linux distro)Multiboot LILOBest fortune. :">

Edited February 27, 2006 by quint

[Bruno]

Hi Metho !!Congrats !! . . . . Glad it worked okay this time !For adding your other distros to the boot menu . . . . .I will help you with the first one, next you will be able to do the other . . . okay ?Here we go: ( NOTE the /dev/hdaX is the partition Mandriva is on . . so replace the X )

$ su< password ># mkdir /mnt/drake# mount /dev/hdX /mnt/drake# cp -r /mnt/drake/boot /boot/drake# ls -al /boot/drake# cat /mnt/drake/etc/lilo.conf

( Watch the spaces in the commands ! . . . if one command fails, please stop and don't do the next one . . . and post for help )Show me the output of the last 2 commands and I will post the follow up ;) Bruno

[burninbush]

Bruno: you was right, reinstall was the answer, I must have messed up the first installation somewhere anyway it is all sorted now. Two Questions: how do I switch to KDE from a Terminal (shell) (Bruno, do I need to follow part five of the guide???, and also I can only boot to slackware and I don’t see other distros. Do I have to configure lilo.conf file to add other distros. I get the following image after booting and pressing enter lead me into command based Slackware.

Hi, Metho -- Well, we'll never know what was the actual condition of your first install, now that you've overwritten it. Congrats on getting Slack up to a text login. To get KDE running, try entering 'startx' after logging in to the text console. If you want it to always start with a KDE login screen, then edit your /etc/inittab file to make the default runlevel 4 instead of 3. As always, I urge you to make a backup copy of the original file, as a way back in case things don't occur as expected --# cd /etc# cp inittab inittab.backupAs for your other distros, where you are now is the expected consequence of letting Slack [or any other distro] overwrite your mbr. If you saved a copy of it as I suggested in my first post to you, then you can get back to your previous boot screen by replacing it -- or, you can go through the routine of adding your other distros to your current /etc/lilo.conf file. I'll leave the details of that to the people who enjoy that sort of work. If you search the board you'll find many examples of how to do this fixup. To explain again, the way both common linux booters work is like this: the last distro installed takes over the booting, as if the others didn't exist at all, so in most cases of multibooting you'll have to manually fixup the result of that. So ... if you didn't save the old mbr, you now really only have the one choice of adding the others to your Slack's bootup screen. .

[steel]

Yeap Metho, i know i just wanted to make sure that you had your users accounts setup first and Bruno is excellent at multi boot not even sure i could help you out 1/2 as good.... next step now ... slack tips 1slack tips 2slack tips 3slack tips 4rkhunter root kit checkers

[havnblast]

hmmmm my slackware installs have always found the windows for dual booting.Lilo is my favorite bootloader - much easier for me to understand and make changes tooSlackware hard to install? I don't think so. Your basically doing a big wizard with about 6-7 clicks it's installed. A bad read of the disk or some other fluke is going to cause a problem no matter what your installing.The thing I struggle with the most in slackware is the Nvidia driver.I run all slack now and it's solid. Once you discover linuxpackages.net for your added software needs you are set.