Fisrt Slackware install
 

Hello,

I'm new here, first time poster, and first time Linux installer. I installed slackware 14 on an IBM PC and I think it mostly went OK, but there is a few things that I'm unsure how to proceed. I read online that I'm supposed to use CUPS to setup my printers and I get an error when I try to connect to localhost:631 I can ping localhost ok but it wont load in Mozilla. Is there another way to setup the printers? There is already another Linux computer on the network that was setup by Linux tech and it is the print server. So I guess I need to point to those, that Linux version is 15 years older, but it is also slackware. Please help.

Sincerely, Rockitglider7

Why did you decide on Slackware for your first Linux install?

You really should have chosen a distro that doesn't make you sit down, research, figure out, and implement everything for yourself, from scratch.

If your goal with this install is to spend the next few weeks/months learning how Linux works at its core, then that's fine, but if your goal is to get the machine up and running and being productive within a reasonable amount of time, you should choose another distro.

Just my opinion.

Which Distro(s) would you recommend for a novice, suicidaleggroll?

Depends on the application. For desktop use, Mint, OpenSUSE, etc. should be fine. For enterprise/server use, RHEL, CentOS, Debian, etc. should be fine. These distros allow you to configure things on the command line using config files if you want, but they don't force you to.

Of course there are more that would work too, but these are the ones I'm most familiar with.

Hello,

Yes the reason I chose slackware is because that was what was existing and My friend that I am doing this for wanted to stay with slackware, and yes I kinda wanted to spend some time with it and learn about it. My friend is not in a hurry and is willing to let me learn on his system. I am learning a lot fast but I get frustrated a little with certain things. But please help if you can as I am willing to learn.

Rockitglider7

Hi Rockitglider7. I think Slackware is a good choice if you really want to learn all the ins and outs of Linux, I would suggest you to post your questions about setting up Slackware in the Slackware sub forums here in the LQ site. There is lots of good infor there and the users that hang out there are nice when it come to helping.

If you click there on the forums look on the Linux distributionn sub category then click on the SlackWare

Here is the direct link http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/

good luck to you

Sounds like a good reason to use Slack then. I agree with TroN, you'll probably get the best help in the Slackware subforum, good luck.

I reported this thread, so that it will be moved to the Slackware forum.

I do not know much about print-servers, but if you want connect to the CUPS subsystem the first thing to check is if CUPS is running on your system. Check if /etc/rc.d/rc.cups is executable, so that it is autostarted when you boot the system. If in doubt post the output of

Moved: This thread is more suitable in <SLACKWARE> and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

OK great,

Thanks for your help, and I will check this

"If in doubt post the output of
ls -l /etc/rc.d/rc.cups" but can't get to it until the AM


Rockitglider7

I get an error when I try to connect to localhost:631?

what sort of error, is mozilla asking to confirm a security exception?

Rockitglider7,

/etc/rc.d/rc.cups needs to be marked executable to automatically start the CUPS server on boot; this is not done by default, unless you specificlly did so at the end of the install process. Then the CUPS web interface should work. As root:

Then you can open localhost:631/admin and either set up a local printer or attach to a remot print server.

See also:
http://docs.slackware.com/

That would be some other distro, not Slackware.

Please stop emitting opinions out of your fourth point of contact.

kingbeowulf Gave you some good info, that will make it executable. The way I do it most of the time is make it executable
as described then open up "system" from the "menu" and go to Print Settings and tell it to connect.

You have chosen a great distro to start with and it is not really that complicated. After making the file executable you will forever know how to do that to any file and there is always great help on this forum along with Google.

Rockitglider7,
another way is run (as root) pkgtool, select Setup, select services, scroll to CUPS and set mark on it ([ * ]) with spacebar, confirm selection with Enter and then Exit from pkgtool.
As for me, chmod a+x /etc/rc.d/rc.cups is simple enough.

Now, cups will start at every boot. But it is still stopped, so we can start it manually for this boot:
/etc/rc.d/rc.cups start
or restart machine, like windows users do.

Now you can browse to localhost:631/admin to setup printing with CUPS.

come on man...

Hello Everyone,

I will try all these suggestions and get back to you, I was going to go there this morning but have to wait until this evening.
One other thing I read in slackdocs "configuring after install", is that I need to setup my primary graphics driver, I have a Vanta-16 chipset on an Nvidia AGP card. It uses a legacy driver according to their (Nvidia's) website, version 71.86.15 and I didn't see an install package on slackbuilds.org for that version, they seem to have all but that one, not that I could run one of those packages by myself if I could find the right one :). My desktop looks like it's using a generic driver and not a 3d driver as it looks corrupted in some areas like scroll bars and large button tool bars, the colors don't seem to blend together. So that is one of my other problems with my new install besides the printer install. I'll ask you a few other questions later on about things I read about on slackbuilds and slackdocs sites. I really appreciate all of your help. Also if you know of some good learning material, I am willing to have a look, I have already discovered slackdocs, slackbuilds, and I got the book "Slackware for Dummies" but that pissed me off as it only covers 7 builds and Slackware is not one of them. I guess it will be good for later when I start to understand things better.

Rockitglider7

Fisrt Slackware install
 

Helllo,

ok I ran all those commands and I was able to get one of the printers installed with CUPS using a driver that didn't match the model number of the printer exactly, but it seems to work ok.

I found a installation guide in the sticky topic "So you want to be a slacker" and I was able to get the video working better by creating a X config file, and it looks alot better.

I still have a problem with firefox not working well with youtube videos it says it needs to install a plugin but when I select install, it comes back with, "no suitable plugin found" so I'm stuck on that.
I also still have another printer to install, but it doesn't show up under network printers, both are Brother machines.

Thanks very much for the help, Rockitglider7

This thread is old because they are from when I started with SlackWare. AlienBob has helped me alot with the software for SlackWare
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...3-37-a-934296/
it might help you though

Here is another
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...advice-934292/

Good luck to you

hello again,

where can I find a doc on command line switches or command line options? I would also be open to purchasing a book if nessesary. Unless there is some kind of method for remembering the way to use them, or how and when to apply them. Thanks again everyone.


Rockitglider7

Command line options for which program? Usually "man" can provide the answers, such as
or
For those programs that don't have a man page, usually the "--help" flag will trigger the help menu, such as

Fisrt Slackware install
 

Hello,

ok, so I downloaded the package files to do the installation, but how do I actually do the install? I've never installed a package before. So where do I put the file?, on a thumb drive or on the hard drive? And do I have to extract before running installpkg command or does it extract on it's own? Also do I put all the files in the same directory, like text files and such. I assuming that I am going to be doing the install from the command line and not in desktop mode. Thanks again, I'm getting there.

Rockitglider7

Fisrt Slackware install
 

hello, sorry to forgot to tell what install this is for. I'm talking about the flash player as mentioned in posts above. But I guess it could apply to all the other installs in general.

If you like using the terminal then you are in for a treat :)
or go to the /temp directory and
good luck to you

Fisrt Slackware install
 

hi TroN-0074,

so are you saying I need to put the downloaded files in the tmp directory without creating a flash folder inside of tmp? Also do they extract by themselves? Thanks for your help

Rockitglider7

Usually depend on what file you have downloaded if it is of .tar.gz extension then you extract it using the tar command see man tar for more infor and aditional arguments.

once the unpack is done you will have a directory named as the package name just like you have seem when using .zip files, then is when you move the original tar.gz file into that directory.

navigate into that directory using cd /blah/blah/package directory once you are there become root by issuing the su command

and run
After you run that you can either go to the /temp directory using cd /temp

or run the command right from where you are using When I navigate to a directory using cd I usually like to run to see if the files I am looking for are there. But that is just me I guess

I think if the file is of .txz type you can just type the installpkg packagename.txz as root and the application will get installed without having to do much do a test and download VLC from this link and install it by issuing as root installpkg
http://www.slackware.com/~alien/slac.../vlc/pkg/14.0/

OK TroN-0074,

Sounds good. I won't be able to try it until tomorrow morning, but it doesn't look too daunting :D

Thanks again, Rockitglider7 :cool:

detailed howto
 

Slackbuilds.org has a howto: http://slackbuilds.org/howto/

I suggest you make use of the console, here is my detailed howto step by step:

(optional) suggestion of path for compilations:
1. Download slackbuilds file flashplayer-plugin.tar.gz :
2. uncompress file flashplayer-plugin.tar.gz :
3. entering in directory extracted:
4. Download source (choose 32bits for Slackware, or 64bits for Slackware64):
or
5. Give execute permissions to file flashplayer-plugin.SlackBuild :
6. Run slackbuilds script:
7. Install created package, look to the last line of script output (probably in /tmp/SBo/.. i don't know exactly the file name)
8. Make sure restart browser and verify your instalation: http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/...sh-player.html

You can search in Slackware Docs any other ways or packages already compiled for Slackware 14.0 http://docs.slackware.com/slackware:flashplugin

Sorry, nvidia-71.xx.xx series is a bit too old for me to maintain on SBo. Also, it appears to old even for nouveau http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/CodeNames/ and the old 'nv' driver hasn't been updated in ages.

You can try running the install script as root (do NOT load a graphical environment) (do NOT load a graphical environment) but since this driver date is from 2011, it may not work with newer kernels. It might be better to pick up a cheap Geforce 7/8/9 series AGP card.

You have chosen wisely for a first-timer into Linux.

Slackware will teach you much of what you'll need to know to operate, manage, and maintain a working Linux installation. the rest, is up to you to ask questions.

May your days of Slacking be productive ones.:D

Hello Sardinha,

Everything you wrote for me worked perfectly, the actual directory in the end was slightly different, but I received the confirmation that the plugin is installed and working and is the latest version. Brilliant! I really appreciate your time and efforts. I guess all I have left is to figure out one more printer install. I also read somewhere in SlackDocs that I can create a generic kernel to run at boot that will reduce the size of the kernel making it faster on bootup and I'm assuming it will speed the system up in general all around. Do you know anything about this? I think I read it in the

Go into your root partition and look in the directory /boot and look for the file README.initrd and read the directions there.

Keep in mind that getting under the hood of your operating system often ends up in a broken system and having to re install everything and start from scratch. Sure it can be a good learning experience but Linux assumes you know what you are doing and sometimes that can be really frustrating.

A good practice might be to install a virtual box and study your operating system there if it breaks is fine no harm done.

good luck to you

Hello again,
OK I found this at the docs.slackware.com site (See below) and I did most of it and backed up my files just in case. The only step I haven't done yet is the last step to make it permanent. I have installed Slackware 14 on a laptop of mine just to learn on so it's ok if I screw it up. I will try to do this, but my question is, is this a common or necessary thing to do or is it not a required thing to do? The reason I ask is with today's machines, they run fast and can handle a lot of data, but maybe a slower machine might benefit from the generic kernel.

"Switch to a generic kernel"
It's recommended that you switch to Slackware's generic kernel. This is easy to do but there are a few steps to follow.
What is the difference between a “generic” kernel and the “huge” kernel which has been installed as the default kernel?
The “huge” kernel is essentially a kernel which has every hardware driver built in which you might need for a successful installation of your computer. Think of storage and (wired) network drivers, filesy stem and encryption drivers and a lot more. All these built-in drivers result in a big kernel image (hence the name “huge”). When this kernel boots it will use up a lot your RAM (relatively speaking… with 1 GB of RAM you will not really be troubled by a few MB less RAM).
The “generic” kernel on the other hand, is a kernel which has virtually no drivers built in. All drivers will be loaded into RAM on demand. This will make your kernel's memory consumption lower and the boot process a bit faster. The smaller size allows for the use of an initial RAM disk or “initrd”. An initial RAMdisk is required in certain configurations, like software RAID, or a fully encrypted hard drive.
For now, you need to remember that a “huge” kernel will not support an intial RAM disk, but the “generic” kernel will. We go for maximum flexibility and use a “generic” kernel.

You will need to create an initial RAM disk (”initrd” for short). The initrd functions as a temporary root file system during the intial stage of the kernel booting, and it helps get the actual root system mounted when your system boots. Run this, as root:

# /usr/share/mkinitrd/mkinitrd_command_generator.sh

This command will not actually do anything. It is informational only, and will output something like this - depending on your kernel version, your hardware configuration, the root filesystem you chose when you installed Slackware and so on:
# mkinitrd_command_generator.sh revision 1.45
#
# This script will now make a recommendation about the command to use
# in case you require an initrd image to boot a kernel that does not
# have support for your storage or root filesystem built in
# (such as the Slackware 'generic' kernels').
# A suitable 'mkinitrd' command will be:

mkinitrd -c -k 3.2.29 -f ext4 -r /dev/sdb2 -m usb-storage:ehci-hcd:usbhid:ohci-hcd:mbcache:jbd2:ext4 -u -o /boot/initrd.gz

Run the script's suggested mkinitrd commandline (as root) to generate the initrd.gz image.
If you have installed LILO (the default bootloader of Slackware), then you will also need to make changes to its configuration file /etc/lilo.conf by adding a section to your Slackware entry as follows:

image = /boot/vmlinuz-generic-3.2.29
initrd = /boot/initrd.gz # add this line so that lilo sees initrd.gz
root = /dev/sda1
label = Slackware
read-only

Actually, the ”mkinitrd_command_generator.sh” script will show an example section which can be added to /etc/lilo.conf if you pass it the name of the generic kernel as an argument, like this:

# /usr/share/mkinitrd/mkinitrd_command_generator.sh -l /boot/vmlinuz-generic-3.2.29

Note that it is recommended to add a new section instead of editing the existing kernel image section. Assign a unique label to your new section. After reboot, LILO will give you two options: to boot into your freshly added generic kernel, or to boot into the failsafe huge kernel (of which you are certain that it will work).
After making the changes to /etc/lilo.conf you have to save the file and then run


# lilo -v

to make your change permanent. Then, reboot.

Thanks again, Rockitglider7

Hello Sardinha,

How does one such as myself learn which commands to do and what options to use with those commands to make things work or to install software? Is there a book I can get that will teach me this, or is there a place where I can read these things? I would have never been able to figure out the commands that you wrote for the flash player install. I really appreciate you typing all those commands out for me and making it easy for me, I just really want to learn how to do it as well. Please point me in the right direction if you can to where I can learn how to install some additional softwares. Thanks a bunch to all who have taken the time to help me.

Sincerely, Kit :cool:

Some experience will improve our knowledgement. My method is search, learn and try, if i have no success, i will starting again searching. Help a lot starting your own tutorials too.

Do you already understand all commands and options used in my tutorial to install programs with scripts slackbuils?
Explore the basic commands: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Guide_to_Unix/Commands

The only command you will not find in gnu/unix coreutils is the upgradepkg, because is a slackware package utility: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ed-for-543445/

You can installing, in same way, any program that is listed in the slackbuilds.org website. You just need download the script and the source for the program you want to install. Beware if was pointed some dependencies, in that case you must installed they first.

I only use the huge kernel on my machines and see no problems with it. I tries using the generic kernel, but then had issues with my wireless card. I'd rather have a few more seconds on booting than the headaches trying to get the generic kernel to work properly. :-)