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Old 04-28-2004, 07:22 AM   #1
glore
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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Argentina
Distribution: Mandrake 10
Posts: 61

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Installing Slackware 9.1


Hello again,

I am a 40 year old teacher new to linux.

I've been trying Mandrake 10 Community during the last 2 weeks. I really like it. Of course and as a consequence of being a newbie, I had and have many problems installing things, etc. but this is mostly because I don't know -yet- how to handle many things in Linux. Now I will try the official release.

On the other hand I want to try Slackware 9.1 since many people say it is a very good and very stable distribution. If so, how should I install it in a 10 Gbytes partition. I mean, how should I distribute the partition for /user /swap and root.


My idea is to have: Win XP; Mandrake 10 Oficcial and Slackware.

If I already have winxp and Mandrake, when installing slackware Will it be automatically added to my lilo? If not, how can I add it?

Finally, Would you recommend installing Slackware? :-)


Thanks for the cooperation.

Last edited by glore; 04-28-2004 at 10:02 AM.
 
Old 04-28-2004, 08:00 AM   #2
satinet
Senior Member
 
Registered: Feb 2004
Location: England
Distribution: Slackware 14.2
Posts: 1,491

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Hello sir,

Well, I would say that Slackware 9.1 is an excellent linux distribution. However, I am a Unix administrator and, without blowing my own trumpet, am pretty comfortable with editing files, the file structure, mount points and so forth. I mention this because Slack is not the easiest distro for inexperience users. For example partitioning your disk(s) is somewhat more onorus than in, say, mandrake. I would suggest using ext3 with a root partiontion, one for usr, a small swap and then one for /home. Now I know you can do a lot more, but i think that is fine for most people.

It won't be automatically added to your lilo.conf file as this will be stored in /etc in your Mandrake distro. You can add it in however - you need to put in /boot/vmlinuz etc as per mandrake. However, I would let Slack install lilo in the root partion of where it is installed (i.e not the MBR of the first disk). Then you can just added a new entry to you mandrake lilo.conf (similar to the one for XP), which will take you to the Slack lilo. I know this is messy, but I think it is much better to get slack up and running before you start worrying about things like that... (IMHO) In case you don't know after you've edited /etc/lilo.conf you need to cd to /sbin and run 'lilo' to write the file back to disk. BTW, 10Gb is more than enough space for this distro.

Would I recommend Slackware??? Yes and no. It's definately faster that Mandrake for starters. Building kernels is more straight forward, it's more stable and the pkgtool command is pretty cool. I have Slack 9.1 on and 850mhz Amd with 384mb RAM and it runs great. If you have good unix/linux knowledge/skills, you can really do a lot with this distro in terms of configuration and fine tuning. However, it's harder to install than mandrake, there is no control panel like mandrake, as standard it doesnt use supermount (you have to mount CD/DVD's every time you chance disk), you have to use the command line to edit files more.

Basically I would say that it is considered as a 'proper' distro for people who are interested in Linux (although using kde/gnome isn't exactly rocket science). It really depends on what you want from it. If you want to increase you knowledge then definately do install it. if you just want to use linux and not have to think about it, then it probably doesnt offer much above mandrake. Personally, I think it is a great distro that is stable, well supported and very configurable. I would definately commend the Mandrake people for bringing Linux into the mainstrean tho.

Go for it I say! You can always format the disk. A little tip - you could always format the partions before hand using 'disk drake' in mandrake and installing Slack into those partitions after a re-boot. People seem to find that a stumbling block with this distro (not sure why).

good luck
 
Old 04-28-2004, 04:59 PM   #3
urka58
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Registered: Nov 2003
Distribution: slackware 15
Posts: 546

Rep: Reputation: 43
Congratulations......
My curiosity has been stimulated by your introduction....
Why did you felt the need to specify your age?!
Just pure curiosity.
Anyway Mandrake is probably the best choice for beginners as it is usually easy to install and offers a great quantity of sofware.
You can play around with it for some time, then as you get more confident with linux you can switch to Slackware.
Of course you can install Slack by side of Mandrake, but my suggestion is you wait a while getting more confortable with linux before you move to the Slack world.
Although Slackware is my favourite since some years, I think Mandrake gives you the possibilty to learn linux using linux as well. This is important because, many people has often the temptation to come back to windows when they get struggled by some problems they can encounter using a DIFFERENT operating system.
Lets go into the technics
As already said by satinet you can install Slack using first the partition tool from Mandrake and as slack installation is almost finished, when you are asked choosing where to install lilo, you can choose the floppy option.
This avoid modifications of Mandrake lilo.conf that could lead you to some problems if not done properly
Ciao
 
  


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