Many slackware problems
 

OK, so Ive been using Mandrake 9 and installed slackware, all went well during the install except for a few things that I need help on, and keep in mind my command line skills are low, so details would be appreciated:

1. LILO was automatically configured, but my NTFS Windows partition was not found or on the LILO menu, so I went into the LILO config in KDE and went into probe,and it came up with my linux partitions, and then I accepted it, yet its not coming up in the actual LILO menu,even though in the LILO config, it still shows the NTFS partitions. I also tried automatically adding /hda5 (my windows part.) snd it still didnt work, same problem.

2. How can I read these NTFS partitions in Slackware, ive had no problems reading them in mandrake.

3. So I cant get into windows using LILO, so I restored the MBR and now I cant get into linux, so next questions:

If I cant get into windows using LILO, i dont mind using a boot disk to get into linux, I have the Slackware boot disk I made during install and the Slackware install CD, can I get into Slackware using these, and how? If not, what disk can I use to get into Slackware.

So any help configuring LILO or getting into slack with a boot disk would be greatly appreciated.


Next and not so important:

I have KDE and GNOME installed, and when I type in startx, it boots into KDE, how do I boot into GNOME?

THANKS FOR ANY HELP.

PS. Except for these problems, Im loving Slackware, its much faster,more stable, and more streamlined than MDK. I dont know why people complain about installation, it wasnt bad at all.

:newbie:

To answer your question about GNOME and KDE: If you have GUI login, just go to the bottom and click session, then pick which one you want. If you don't, open a terminal, then type "xwmconfig" and select KDE from the list!

My'bad, rather you would select GNOME, not KDE!

Thanks. I like gnome.

And I solved my booting from a disk problem, I figured out how to do it from the Slack CD. Sorry to bother.

Heres another question for you great people:

I thought that the linux drivers were in the kernal, so that every distro had the same drivers, but in MDK, they had both my monitor drivers, (and ive got some wierd monitors) but in Slackware, its no where to be found.

Can I somehow take the drivers from the MDK CD and get it into slack?

Question to go along with that:

How do I add hardware from a GUI in Slack?

for some wierd reason, Slackware said it recognized both of my CDROM drives, but only one shows up, and it shows up as a CDROM, not a CDRW. Both my DVD and CDRW drive worked automatically in Mandrake, so how can I get the drives working.

Thanks for the help.

about the wm's under /etc/X11/xinit/ you should have some files with names like xinitrc which is read when you type startx, there will probably be a xinitrc.kde and xinitrc.gnome you can rename either of thoes to xinitrc and then startx will boot in to that gui. about the lilo thing.. you just needed to setup your /etc/lilo.conf correctly then you are able to boot to either os at boot. and as for the hardware bit and drivers.. you might want to read up obout compiling a kernel.. its pretty easy and can usually solve problems if your hd isn't working.. modules not compiled, featured not enabled etc. For instance for a cdburner to work you have to have scsi support and scsi emulation and scsi cdroms enabled or modprobed etc even for an ide cdburner.

For the drivers, no they are not the same in all distros. Do some research on your monitor. I had to find out that mine was VESA, had a horx. sync rate of 30-70 hz and vertical of 50-160 hz. Don't worry, I am sure we can find a way to support it. Try your mafuacturor's website. What monitor do you have?

I don't think that monitors have drivers? I may be wrong. All you have to do is run 'xf86config' and enter your syncs like cclavey mentioned.

About the burner, you have to add a line in lilo to enable scsi emualtion. And if you are going to mounting CD's on that dirve add a line in your /etc/fstab.

It is still installed now even though you don't see a folder. Try putting a CD in the drive that isn't installed and run

#mount /dev/hdd /any/folder/you/like

replace hdd with wherever its located.

well,no they don't have drivers, but there is a list of standard sync rates

Remember that any changes in the /etc/lilo.conf are not really written to the disk until the command "lilo" is actually run.

Im not using LILO, i use the Slackware CD to get into it, right now im typing in:

bare.i root=/dev/hda9 noinitd ro .

What would I have to do to enable CD Burning. They give me a list of kernals to choose on the disk, which one?

Right now I cant get my dual monitors working, so im only using one.


How do I get my PCI video card working? I have an AGP and PCI one, and I dont know how to activate my PCI one.

Thanks.

OK, heres what Ive fixed and broken (thanks for the patience):

I reinstalled Slackware, and I put LILO on a floppy, and it works great.

I installed with the Slackware CD in my first CD-rom drive and thats all Linux recognizes now (same as last time, but with the opposite drive).

During Install, it asked me for Variables(?) to add, and it gave the SCSI emulation example, and since one of my CDrom drives is a Burner, I added it. But since it only recognized my DVD drive this time, it doesnt mount, so I took the line out. Once I get my burner working, how do I add scsi emulation on just one drive?

hdx=ide-scsi

do you mean literaly X or just to replace that with whatever drive letter?

The x will be whatever your drive is in the chain...hda, hdb, hdc, etc.

The IDE devices are identified as

/dev/hda - primary master
/dev/hdb - primary slave
/dev/hdc - secondary master
/dev/hdd - secondary slave

So use the designation that would be proper for the burner in the kernel append statement in /etc/lilo.conf.

Append = "hdd=ide-scsi"

Now how you change the boot floppy disk you made I have no idea. If lilo.conf is set up to write to /dv/fd0 instead of the hard disk, then I suppose you just run lilo with the disk in the drive. But since I have never used it on a floppy disk I have no idea it is just a guess. I only write boot kernels to floppy disks.

Once you get the kernel append statement working, a module should be loaded from /etc/rc.d/rc.modules called "ide-scsi". This module will provide the generic SCSI support for the drive. Use the "lsmod" command to verify. The drive device name will also change. It will no longer work on the IDE device because the IDE drivers were instructed to ignore it. The new device name would be /dev/scd0.

I actually run all of my CD drives through the generic scsi interface. It makes it easier for me. So mine use /dev/scd0, scd1, scd2. You might have to change the sym link /dev/cdrom to point to the drive you desire. And you will need to create symlinks for the names that you want to use. Something like below;

ln -sf /dev/scd0 /dev/cdrw

Would create a symlink for the device /dev/scd0 and call it /dev/cdrw.

Perhaps this will info will be of some assistance.