I want to appologize in advance for the long post. I wanted to explain what I'm looking for before asking my questions.

I've been playing around a bit with various distros for a couple months. I'm a Windoze admin and I'm trying to teach myself as much as I can about Linux. After a couple different distros, I installed Slackware and I think this is the distro for me. I like that everything is configured via the CLI, and it makes you learn what's going on with the OS.

In the past week I loaded up my home server. I got SSH, FTP, Sendmail and Apache running on it and finally DHCP. It's now completely replaced my Win2k server. I did a full install on this server, so everything was loaded and all I had to do was configuring. It gave me some good experience, but was the easy way.

So what I'd like to do is install a very minimal Slackware on an identical system and start building it up to this same configuration. Problem is I don't know how to install it minimally. I've only ever installed it fully and without prompting. I briefly looked around the package list during installation, but don't know what packages I need to install to have a functioning but minimal system.

I also would like to get your advise as to the path I should take to learn the most. As I'm trying to learn the inner-workings, I don't want to use the various tools out there, I want to do things the hard way.

Thanks in advance for any input.

F_M

You might want to try starting here:

http://slackbook.org/html/book.html

http://slackbook.org/html/book.html#...OFTWARE-SERIES

If you want to install a minimal system, try this link and start at the "run 'setup'" section:

http://www.geocities.com/potato.geo/minslack.html

It's for Slackware 7.1 but you can get the general idea from looking at the packages they selected. Slackware has stayed pretty consistant over the various releases.

That said, if I'm not mistaken at tiny install would be nothingmore than the [a] software section with prompting and select the ones that say "required" or something similar. Be prepared, it will be a MINIMAL, minimal install not even installing TCP/IP!

Even better link:

http://www.seanm.ca/eden/minslack.html

Now this is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for this. I'll get it installed and start "building" the system.

Any suggestions on a great training track?

F_M

you are on a right way, Fritz_Monroe . first of all a good choice (slackware). that's the best distro which can help ACTUALLY LEARN LINUX. no any other distrubutions will help you get deeper into system.
to help you get started, install webmin. yeah, some may say it's a lame thing, but it can help you know what config files every daemon, program uses, what variables are important etc. that's the way i did and it helped much.
good luck !!

Did you take a look at the Slackware book I linked above. It's more than just an install guide.

There's 'inner workings' stuff in there also.

Yep, I'm currently looking thru it. Can't read all that much, this work thing keeps getting in the way. I'm also on the look-out for some sort of exercise manual that walks you thru some of the common tasks. I've found them here and there, but not in one place.

Thanks.

F_M

Take the stuff you found "here and there" and make it into one big how-to guide. Then set up your own website, running on your home server. That's a quick way to learn a bunch. If that's too easy, start adding extra features. A mailing list, a forum, a news server, audio guides that stream from your computer, webmail, an RSS feed, etc.

Then, when anyone asks where they can find everything laid out in one place, you can point them to your website.

Easiest way to learn is by doing. My advice:

1) Install Slackware

2) Configure everything that you need to feel comfortable.

3) Think up a big project for yourself and start 'er up.

Not using Slackware, but that is pretty much what I did/am doing with Debian.

Other than the webserver part. I stuck the webpages on Yahoo. Not quite up to setting up a server yet.

suprised no one mentioned amigo. theres a nice howto buried deep in their site on a minimal slackware howto.

A Minimal Install Guide for an Optimized Linux OS=here and here

the second link is amigo's first run at trying to get to a bare minimum. both might be a bit outdated, but its interesting to read.

You may find this book interesting too:
http://www.slackbasics.org/

I'm sort of doing the web page how-to. Since Linux is totally new to me, I started a blog to keep track of what I'm doing and what I plan on doing. Once I get up to speed, I'm hoping to compile it all together into one site. That probably will be on one of the free web page sites since I don't have broad-band yet.

I agree that doing it the best way to learn. That's why I'm doing, not reading. I have a drive going bad on my main system and will be replacing that with 2 smaller drives. Then it's dual boot time until I get everything I need running under linux.

I will need to do some research on Wine. I have several applications that I really need and they don't run on linux.

F_M