Slackware 10.2 and VM
 

I am running a Dell 4700 with a P4/2.8 ghz processor. The host OS is XP Pro sp 2. I have 1.5 gbytes memory and 2 SATA hard drives. I want to run Slackware 10.2 in a virtual machine of 256 mb. I have tried VM Ware WS 5.5 as well as MicroSoft Virtual Machine. With either vm, I get the same result. I can boot off a cd, and I can do the hd prep with no problem, except in VM Ware I have to set the hard drive to IDE in order to do cfdisk. In both cases I create an extended partition of about 512 mbytes to be used as a linux swap (type 82). I create a primary partition (type 81) as a bootable linux partition. Both partitions are on my 2nd hard drive. They come up as hda2, and hda5. (About 7 gig in VM Ware, 15 gig in MS for hda2). They are virtual drives, not physical. I appear to run setup with no problems, everything is pretty much staightforward. I use defaults as much as possible. When I get all done, I remove the CD, hit ctr-alt-del, and I get a blank blinking cursor, and that is it. I have tried using the SATA kernel instead of bare, but I get the same result in either vm. I think the problem may be which kernel I am using, but I don't know how to change the kernel without doing a full install, which is a pain. I can start the system from the installation CD, but that seems like an unnecessary hassle.

Though I am not familiar with linux, I have worked with MS DOS and even with CP/M in the olden days, so I am familiar with many of the concepts of cli. Where should I go from here?

Did you install LILO as your bootloader?

Yeah, I think I was prompted about that during setup, and I did the install with whatever defaults it wanted.

And I think the defaults are wrong. Boot up from your Slackware CD (in the virtual machine). There will be prompted an example how to boot from it your install. Adjust it with the kernel you installed and your partitions device.
After booting execute liloconfig as root and install LILO to the MBR of the virtual harddisk (not your installation's root partition).

I'm sorry but I don't quite understand what you mean.

What part don't you understand?
If you boot up with your Slackware CD you see a promt
Right above that you see some instructions and one line where an example is given to boot an existing Slackware installation. I don't remember it completely, but the line should be similiar to this:

The line above should work if you installed using the huge26.s kernel (else fit in the one you installed) and if you told VMWare to use a virtual SATA disk of which the first one is your Slackware / (root) partition.
If you adjust the line to your settings (kernel name and root partition) it should boot up your already installed Slackware. Then run "liloconfig" as root and install lilo to the MBR of your virtual Slackware machine.

It is not very clear how you installed it -- you wrote about two harddisks, once about physical ones and once about virtual ones. You didn't write which kernel you actually used (as you tried several). If there are any errors or you don't understand some parts, please specify more details.

I understand all that except for "Then run "liloconfig" as root and install lilo to the MBR of your virtual Slackware machine." How do I run liloconfig as root, and how do I install lilo to the virtual disk's MBR?

As far as the installation: I have 2 physical hd's - however VM only uses one drive as a virtual disk.

Also, I have tried bare.i (which seems to work ok when booting off the cd, and I have tried sata.i which also seemed to work.

Login as root. I guess you don't boot into GUI mode but see a console (like DOS mode in Windows world). If you have logged in just type "liloconfig". You should have that command if you installed the LILO package.
This starts a small menu based configuration utility that will ask you how to configure your LILO and installs the LILO bootloader on your request.
When you are asked where to install LILO just choose MBR (you will be questioned anyway and will recognize that option).

If bare.i works you will have to do nothing special about your kernel IMHO. Configuring LILO and installing it to the master boot record (MBR) of your virtual harddisk should be enough to get you going.

I will try that this evening... I will let you know tomorrow how it worked.

Success! If everybody knew how easy this was, they'd all be doing it. Thanks for the help. Now to learn linux!

Nice that you got it working. Have fun with Slackware :)