Just installed Slackware v13 and it is different!

Was used to Suse Linux v10.0 and "things" are not in the same place, file wise, as I was used to with Suse and for that matter, the old Mandrake v7.0, my introduction to Linux from years ago.

As for Slackware v13, while not a novice with Linux, I sure feel like it at the moment and could use some help regarding getting the software to recognize both my modem and the printer. Anyone here know how to go about this; step by step?

Also if I may ask, as I am a firm beliver in KISS, in which primary directory and which subdirectoy will I find the program for "Mousepad?" I want to change the background color from white to black and the foreground color to either yellow or light green. While Kedit doesn't come with this version of Slackware, which does surprise me, Mousepad will do the job just fine but that white background has got to go!

By the way, KPPP is giving me trouble as well and I'm used to going into "opt/kde3/bin/kppp" and using "chown" and "chmod +s" to get my modem working; only there's nothing, and I mean nothing in Root's /opt/ directory!?

tyc

For me the easiest way to set-up my printer is to use the CUPS web interface:

http://localhost:631/

In slackware, most applications live in /usr/bin. This the case for mousepad; "which mousepad" would have told you that.

After a little Googling, I'm afraid you won't be able to change background or foreground colour for mousepad.

Generally speaking, all system-wide configuration files live in /etc. In particular, see the /etc/ppp directory.

To know more about Slackware, you could read the book. Though it may be slightly outdated you'll find a lot of useful Tinformation in it.

I never had any trouble to run kppp as any user under Slackware. No need to manually chmod or chown stuff. However, I'm not using KDE 4 now and I can't confirm it. "Mousepad" is the text editor that comes with XFCE. I'm pretty sure there must be another one native to KDE 4.

Hi,

Welcome to Slackware & Slackware LQ Forum!

Slackware isn't a hold your hand distribution. Most configuration setups initially should be done from the 'cli' as 'root'. So you should look forward to learning the 'cli'.

I don't use mousepad but it is available in KDE under utilities.
'Slackware Essentials' (Slackbook) is dated but useful. A revised version is soon to be available, release date was mid 2009 but we're into fall now. Old version is still a good reference along with helpers here on LQ you should be able to get things up an running.

You will have to provide more detail whenever you are wanting assistance i.e; Brother printer should be something like 'Brother HL-2140 Printer'. Or modem would be Zyxel 660e instead of just modem.

The 'man command' will soon be your best friend! If not your going to be asking a lot of redundant queries which may not be too satisfactory as to the answers you recieve.


Just a few links to aid you;

Slackware® Essentials
Slackware® Basics
Linux Documentation Project
Rute Tutorial & Exposition
Linux Command Guide
Linux Newbie Admin Guide
LinuxSelfHelp
Getting Started with Linux
Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide

These links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

While I'll have to it seems dl "the book", the old Linux I'm familiar with is it seems considerably different than this Slcakware linux, which by the way appears to run much faster - or is it my immagination?

In the case of just the printer, I have a PSC HP F4440 and it ran beautifully, almost as fast as my laser printer if you can believe it; never got it to scan though. As for the Apple/Cups software to install a printer, I'm still amazed at how those folks at Apple managed to make a mountain out of a molehill in that regard - just unbelievable! With the old Suse, one simply brought up root, then brought up Yast, selcted hardware, then printer, selected from the list of printer manufacturers and the one you had or one closest to it and you were in business but not here or did I miss something when installing this software?

Same with the modem. I have a Dell Inspiron 5100 with a pcmcia type card installed in the back. When using Suse, the problems I had with KPPP were interesting and "educational" to say the least; i.e., there was no /opt/kde directory as the instructions called for, where one would find the kppp file but as it turned out there was an /opt/kde3 directory with a kppp file and that's the one the owner/operator had to employ "chmod +s" with, as well as set SUID if you wanted a given user as opposed to root, to dial out. In an on and off manner it took several weeks of persistance to discover that little "trick" but once up and running KPPP dialer worked fine.

I appreciate your suggestions so far and thans for the time and interest.

Damn shame about that Mousepad program, like Kedit it's excellent if you're the type who does research or is in busines and keeps computer logs; essentially no "bells, whistles and chrome" just straight forward performance.

Again thanks people, it's appreciated.

tyc

Welcome to Slackware it can be a bit daunting at first, but will improve your google-foo beyond belief!

kedit doesn't ship with kde4, basically. After some googling around it seems like it was only kept around because of bidirectional language support, which is now included in kate/kwrite. From my understanding it seems as though kwrite is a stripped down version of kate, aimed at being a drop-in replacement for notepad-esque needs. It doesn't contain a lot of the programmer bells and whistles, so you might want to give it a shot. It should be installed by default in kdebase.

http://packages.slackware.it/search....0&t=2&q=kwrite

While I'm touting replacement apps, take a look at nedit. It's not pretty, but it works so well and adore it.

- Piete.

In my experience, Slack is generally leaner/faster than a lot of other distros. It may take more "hands on" work than others, but that's also one of the benefits, although you may not realize it yet...

Regarding you HP PSC printer, you might give HPLIP a try. It's an HP open source project providing drivers and administration tools (including a nice Qt GUI) for HP multifunction print devices. A quick check seems to indicate, that the 4400 is not explicitly mentiioned in the list of supported printers, but that doesn't always mean that it won't work. Might be worth a try.

Regarding your modem: I haven't had the need to try it with Slackware 13.0, but with former releases I had sometimes to find out whicht device file represented the physical connectiion (usually /dev/ttyS1 or similar) and created a symbolic link /dev/modem to it. Then kppp worked fine.
If you still have trouble after trying this, you might also try wvdial. It is very smart in detecting your modem automatically. In case you want to try it, I recommend that you use the SlackBuild script to compile it from source and create a Slackware package. See here: http://slackbuilds.org/result/?search=wvdial&sv=13.0

Regarding speed: Slackware is well-known for using resources efficiently. But in principle, if you turn off the many background services that are running in SuSE by default, and without the many bells and whistles, you'll see that SuSE is a very fast system, too.
However, the system architecture of SuSE and most other distros forces you to have several services running in the background, that aren't needed on Slackware. On the other hand, depending on your scenario, this also means, that for certain tasks automated in other distros, you have to invest a little more manual effort in Slackware to get the required fuctionality.
Over the last four years or so, I found that most of the time Slackware is more economic for me, although I still think the OpenSuSE is a really great distribution.

gargamel

I confirm that HP PSC 4440 is not officially supported by hplip nor directly by CUPS as of now. BTW, HPLIP is already included in Slackware-13.0

If your printer works with Suse I would try to find the driver (probably a .ppd file) and use it in Slackware.

When using Suse v10.0 I had the printer working very well, as HP Deskjet 2500, so I guess that's the driver I'll have to "cut and paste." Never got the scanner part to work though but that's always been a "thorn" for me when it comes to Linux.

As for that "cut and paste" work, digging out the driver from the old Suse DVD, it'll be intersting to try; kind of like root canal work! :-)

Again, thanks for the tips. They're appreciated.

tyc

There is a CUPS driver for HP Deskjet 2500 included in Slackware 13.0.

So once cups is launched ...
--> reminder: /etc/rc.d/rc.cups should be executable (as root: chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.cups); then it will be started at next reboot, meanwhile you can start it with following command (as root): /etc/rc.d/rc.cups start.
... launch firefox, go to localhost:631 and choose "add printer". When asked for the model, choose HP Deskjet 2500 or 2500CM.

HTH,