I've just backed up all my data, and burnt Slack 1 & 2 CD's, but I'm reading that I have to create a partition for Slack. Why? I dont dual boot Win and Linux and I just want to overwrite my old distro. Should I be skipping this section then or is there something else I'm missing?

Trinity

Trinity,

Yea just skip it if you dont want to dual boot. put Slack disk one in. partition your HD and off you go.

Lotec25

thanks

I think I'm getting in over my head, but I also have 3 other questions I'm confused about....this will teach me to try to install slack when I've got a head cold :P

1. Regarding selecting a modem, do I skip that and go to Network Config? I've got a Webstar Cable Modem connected by Ethernet.

2. How do I know if I have DHCP or Static IP? I know my IP stays the same, but I don't want to choose the wrong one.

and the moronic question
3 If I have a two-button optical mouse with a scrollwheel, that's a PS/2 Intellimouse, right? I'm probably wrong, it's been ages since I had to remember that.

Thanks for anything. Just waiting on answers before I change BIOS and pop in Disc 1

Trinity

1. If you have a modem, go ahead then you can configure it if you want. You never know when you'll need a modem. And if you can't configure it then so what. You are on cable. Your network card is what is really important for the internet connection.

2. If you are on cable then it is probably DHCP. You have to pay extra for a static IP usually. If your old distro is still up then you can check the network configuration. But I would put money on it being DHCP.

3. PS/2 refers to how it plugs into the PC box. if at the end of the cord, it is rectangular then it is USB. If it is round with several pins then it is PS/2. Intellimouse is a brand name of sorts. That would mean it is a Microsoft mouse. If it is Intellimouse then it will probably be indicated on the bottom of the mouse. I don't think the OS cares whether or not it is optical or not.

Hope it helps.

May the force be with you.

1. Regarding selecting a modem, do I skip that and go to Network Config? I've got a Webstar Cable Modem connected by Ethernet.

Don't worry about that. It means a dial up modem. Just say "NO" and move on.


2. How do I know if I have DHCP or Static IP? I know my IP stays the same, but I don't want to choose the wrong one.

Depends if your cable company gave you an address that is the same....or if you have DHCP. I have RR Cable and a Toshiba Cable Modem and it's all DHCP.


and the moronic question
3 If I have a two-button optical mouse with a scrollwheel, that's a PS/2 Intellimouse, right? I'm probably wrong, it's been ages since I had to remember that.

If it's a PS/2 mouse select PS/2. If it's a USB mouse select USB. We can tell you what to put in later to get the wheel working if it don't work and etc.... My slackware box uses IMPS/2.


Peace,
Whitehat

ah much thanks. dhcp it is then (I remember seeing that in my computer line, dhcp.coos.charter something like that. as for the mouse, it isn't USB, it's the round thingy, PS/2 :P. I've taken a bunch of notes and am going to try this thing. Here's hoping my box doesn't go down in flames.

Trinity

well I'm back and appear to be SOOL. sigh. My regular CD-Rom no longer reads things right so I use my CD-R for everything (and it works fine too).

However with Disc 1 in the drive, it failes to figure out that there's a Slack CD in the drive. Some message about not being able to find the IDE/SCSI drive. Then checking for really old hardware (I resent that implication ). But it can't find anything. I... can't seem to wrap my nyquil-addled brain around that one.

Furthermore, It seems that my current install of JAMD is running on 2 partitions. I got lost somewhere between trying to pick between the two.

Can anyone explain to me how to pick between the hard drives that JAMD is currently running on? and how to get Slack to recognize that yeah, the only reason that the install screen is on my computer is because the darned disc is in my CD-R drive?

Trinity

Ok, if JAMD (I'm assuming that is Jamd Linux, the one based off RH) is on 2 partitions then it is because one partition was /boot and the other was / . If you don't want to dual boot with anything at all then just get rid of all the JAMD partitions and create you own partition scheme. If you want to clear the disk (assuming you have no personal files on there) you could create a drive w/ 2 partitions: swap and / .

As for the error in finding the device.... We'd really have to see the message. If it were me and I knew a CD rom was working incorrectly, I would disconnect the power to it to make sure that it's not causing any errors and try again

I went back and read your post again and I may have misunderstood a problem in the first reading, therefore I may not have come anywhere close to answering you questions. But I'll post this anyway.

Thanks for the response, it's just that I'm wickedly confused in the partitioning/hard drive settings. Do you know of a tutorial that goes in more in depth then the Slackware install tutorial regarding that?

As for the drive, yeah the CD-Rom is down, but like I said, I've been using the CD-RW drive with no problem (installed several different distros using the drive). There is no way that I'll go into my tower to unplug anything......I'm reticent enough just to go in there once a month and blow out the dust bunnies.

Trinity

I don't know about any specific tutorials about harddrive partitioning. I learned a lot from trial and error. Mostly error. If you give me some more info I would be more than happy to help. What exactly do you want to have after the install (Example: one partition for Slack, one partition for swap and one partition for personal stuff). What do you have on it currently? Do you still have personal files on there?

If I remember correctly the slack guide said to make your first partition a swap that is 2 times you amount of memory. Then the rest could be the operating system and whatever else. That is the simplest way to do it.

Also remember, everybody has their own way they like to partition. You'll probably get 101 different ways to do it, all of which have their +s and -s.

EDIT: unplugging your cdrom is no big deal. Just unplug the power cable. You don't really have to touch anything else. The power cable has 4 different wires leading into a white plug that pulls out the the cdrom unit. But maybe you should wait until the nyquil has worn off! :) That goes in line with my rule: "Once the bottles open, the computer gets closed". That rule was developed because of bad experiences....

Hello I am pretty new to all this myself,

But i am up and runing fine with a triple boot system. XP, slack9.1(to screw around with), and Slack 9.1(use to get stuff accomplished!) Anyway, i have quite a few partitions on the drive and i use bootitNG to do all the partitioning and as a boot manager. Search for the title at google, and you will see it.

Anyway, i know that others use more thatn 2 partitions for different filesystems to reside on. But i just created a swap partition to share b/tw the 2 slack installs and one large root partition that are hidden from each other in the boot config for bootitNG. Then i back up my /home/<user> i cause i tear something up.

Hope this helps. There are some partitioning related tutorials for installing dual boot systems etc at the bootitNG web site. I like the software because it can create a huge number of different types of partitions and doesn't have to run on windows. You can run the partition tools from a floppy or install it to it's own 8meg primary partition and use it for part/boot purposes.

Peace,
Boutros

ps-as mentioned before, if you don't need to dual boot. Just boot off of the slack 1 cdrom(may have to change boot order in your bios) and when it comes time to set up your partitions in the install make at least 2 partitions--1 swap and one for root.