OK. So here is the list of things I needed to do to get Slackware 13.37 working on my Lenovo X120e.
1. You need to make a usbboot disk since there is no CD drive. You can accomplish this by downloading the files at
a mirror like this. To make the usb drive, supposing you are already on a linux machine, you can transfer the image to the usb drive /dev/sd? by
Code:
dd if=usbboot.img of=/dev/sd?
In my case, my usb drive was located at /dev/sdb, so you have to replace that question mark with something.
1.a. If you want to dual boot Windows 7 and slackware, you need to use something like gdisk somehow to resize your partitions. I did this using an Ubuntu usb installer.
2. Boot up the slackware usb drive installer. I used the ftp/http installation route since I didn't feel like figuring out where to put the sources, and I have a fast internet connection. This installation went fine without any problems. Make a USB boot loader though!!!
3. I needed to install Lilo to the MBR, unlike what is suggested in the install. I think this was because with dual booting, I needed to have linux installed on an extended partition and my computer didn't like to boot that for some reason. The default Lilo settings to detect my linux and windows OSs worked great though, so no worries. It was just a mess trying to figure this out having to boot from the slackware usb installer every time!
4. This should get you to a slackware command line! Once you are here, you can also even get kde or fluxbox or xfce working. You just won't be able to switch back to a virtual terminal. So to fix this you need to install the proprietary ati driver.
5. The driver is located
here. Neither of the open source drivers seemed to work. The installation was surprisingly simple. When you download the driver, you get a file:
Code:
ati-driver-installer-11-11-x86.x86_64.run
To install, just run
Code:
sh ati-driver-installer-11-11-x86.x86_64.run
and follow the on-screen instructions. DO NOT install the distribution specific version. If memory serves me correct, this was buggy.
You will then need to run something like
Code:
aticonfig --initial
to generate an xorg.conf file. My current xorg.conf is attached to this post.
This should hopefully have your video/graphics up and running.
5'. IN A PINCH:, the vesa framebuffer xorg.conf will work just fine, but it has poor resolution.
To get Xwindows just to work with framebuffer, you need to be root, go to /etc/X11 and then
Code:
mv xorg.conf-vesa xorg.conf
Then running
should get you started.
6. My audio wasn't working right away. I needed to run
and follow the on-screen installation. This worked just fine. You then need to make a new .asoundrc file in your home directory to get alsamixer to work right. Create a file .asoundrc in /home/USER with:
Code:
type hw
card 1
}
ctl.!default {
type hw
card 1
7. You will also need to install the proper wiereless driver. You can find it
here.
I recall this installation going through without any trouble, in a straightforward manner.
8. I think these were all my headaches. Make sure to do a (nearly) full installation of slackware. This saves you a lot of trouble hunting down libraries and kernel sources if something goes wrong. I didn't install the Tex distro since I like TexLive better, but I did install everything else!
9. I hope these are all the problems you run in to. Best of luck!
10. Well, I thought the audio was working. I had to blacklist some drivers to get the audio to work correctly. I didn't have sound coming out of my headphones...
