I am a newbie, trying to learn Linux.

I have GRUB installed in my MBR, and I have SimplyMEPIS installed. So far it's been great, and I think it's a great distro for a total newbie to get up and running quickly, but I want to move on to something that will require me to learn more and dig deeper, so that's why I want to give Slack 12 a try. I think it will help me to know Linux better.

I want to keep and continue to use my MEPIS system, and do a Slack install on another partition.

While reading the Slack book I noticed that LILO is mentioned as the bootloader.

Can I just do the Slack install and continue to use my currant GRUB bootloader to manage booting instead of installing LILO?

Will GRUB automatically recognize my new Slack install, or will I have to do some type of configuration with GRUB?

Also I see that there are four ISOs for download. I can't really tell which one's I need, or if I need all of them. I think they may differ from what is noted in the Slack book. I'm guessing that I may need the first three for the install, but I can't really tell for sure. Can you help me with this also?

You can use grub from Mepis to boot Slackware. No, grub will not automagically recognize Slackware after the install.
When you install Slackware and come to the part where you install lilo, choose not to install lilo, and instead boot Slackware according to post #4 from this thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=393379
You will need to choose the huge-smp kernel to first boot with. You should then boot the generic-smp kernel by making an initrd as per the README in Slackware's /boot directory.
Read this after installing Slackware:
http://slackware.mirrors.tds.net/pub..._AND_HINTS.TXT
You only need the first 2 Slackware CDs for a full install. Slackware is great for learning linux. Read all you can about it.

You can skip the LILO installation when you install Slackware, but you'll need to add an entry for Slackware to your GRUB configuration file. CDs 1 and 2 contain most of the packages. CD 3 contains KDE internationalisation packages, plus stuff in /extra (extra packages, see that directory on any Slackware mirror to see which packages are in it). The other 3 contain source code, the Slackware book and the packages in /testing (again, see any mirror for which packages are in there). So, you only really need the first two and possibly the third.

Thanks for the great responses!

I won't be needing any internationalization packages, so it looks like I'll only need the first to ISOs then.

Hi,

Looks like you are set on 2 cds:

But could I suggest the dvd instead? If you have the bandwidth, a friendly linux group, buy it from reseller or pay up to Slackware it is well worth the extra effort.

No disk swapping for one thing but especially valuable is access to the source and scripts used to make the Slackware 12 packages. Much easier to modify things if you can get easy access to these.

If you lived in Australia I would send you a copy.

Andrew

I think it's high time that Slack move on to GRUB with the rest of the world.

Perhaps the following might help:

Installing GRUB

You already have GRUB installed, but the how-to might help you configure menu.lst to boot Slack.