Hello.

I've played around with Mandrake 9.0 and Red Hat 8.0, and now I'm really curious about Slackware 9.0. I hear really good things, but I chicken out every time I start the installation. I want to try it on my desktop, which is dual booting and essential to my day-to-day functions, so I'm afraid to "break" it. Besides the newbie kernel compiliation guide and the documentation on the CD, what other information is available? Are those two things enough? (I'm still really new to Linux, but I'm learning fast.) I really want to get away from installation handholding, but I want to do it right.

Thanks,

--Erich

Edit: If you're a newbie nervous about installing Slackware 9.0, I would only recommend using the Slackware CD-ROM Installation How-To on the CD and available elsewhere. The other stuff confused things for me. Once I focused on that document, everything was pretty easy actually.

Installing Slackware 9.0
http://jetblackz.freeservers.com/Ins...reLinux90.html

Configuring Slackware 9.0
http://jetblackz.freeservers.com/Con...ackware90.html

Jet_Blackz's Simply Linux
http://jetblackz.freeservers.com/index.html

Try this http://www.slackware.com/book/. It is by far the best resource. Also here http://slack.thayne.us:81/

BTW, nice links rivang! thanks

One more thing...
People kept warning me about slack, but I just 'took the plunge'. I installed Slack, killed RedHat, and I really don't regret it all, once you jump in, you'll love it. PS, don't be worried, it isn't as hard as everyone makes it out to be, just...more intense

i have downloaded the 9.0.iso ... i burned it with cdrecord but when i boot to it, it just starts booting up whatever is on the hard drive im trying to install it to .. i took a look at the cd in a file manager and noticed a few folder and a few files but no 'auto-run' or anything like that ... did i somehow burn this incorectly ... or am i not booting it right toi nstall it ...?

any help would be appreciated ...

Did you set your BIOS to boot from CD first?

Sure, does your computer boot from cd? If not, here is how to fix it. When your machine turns on, hit delete multiple times. Then, it should dump you into your BIOS. Make sure that your puter is set to boot from a cd. (I can't really help you there, your BIOS is different from mine ). It seems, if your drive is reading the file that it is burned correctly, so that isn't the issue. You could try making a boot disk if you can't get it to boot from CD. Look here . Try reading the README , it should have some help. Good luck!

Ahh, you beat me to it!

Folks,

I installed without seemingly any problem (it really wasn't as bad as it sounded), but when I tried to configure it after the installation I couldn't log in as the root and no commands worked. The Simply Linux configuration guide said to "reboot to slack with the boot floppy, enter" but it would never show me a login where I could enter root and the root password. I assumed boot floopy meant the installation CD, but I also tried the boot disk and nothing whatsoever. Anyone have any ideas?

I'm sorrry if there is a really obvious solution. I'm making a sincere effort, but I'm just missing something.

Thanks,

--Erich

You couldn't log in at all?

Here's what happened: When I rebooted with the CD, it merely took me through the steps leading up to installation again. When I used the boot disk, it wouldn't let me log in. With nothing, it would load something to do with grub. The only prompt would be "grub >" or something like that.

I did some manage to trigger a kernel panic once during this process if that is any indicator...

I apologize for my ignorance. I'm reading the manuals, but I'm just having problems with this...

--Erich

Edit: I also used the partitions from Red Hat 8.0 when I installed Slackware. Is this a problem?

If you have your BIOS set to boot in this order:

a. floppy
b. cdrom
c. hard drive

and it still boots into your hard drive when the Slackware CD is in the CDROM drive, you may want to try Smart Boot Manager... http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/

Some computer's won't boot Linux CD's for some reason without some help. I had the same problem with my Dell 4100 until I tried smart boot manager.

When you get to the prompt that says:

grub>

Try typing out:

root=/dev/hda2

or whatever your actual root partition is. This will get you into the system. I know this works with LILO as the boot loader at prompt that says "boot:" so I am assuming it will work with grub also, but who knows? If it works, and you get in, you should create a boot floppy/rescue disk just to be on the safe side:

/sbin/mkbootdisk --device /dev/fd0 `uname -r`

This has to be executed by root. Additionally, notice the `uname -r`? This is NOT the same as 'uname -r'. The difference lies with the `s and the 's. Subtle I know, but the correct key to use is the same key as the ~ key. It is NOT the key just to the left of the Enter key with the double quotes on it.

Hope this helps.

EDIT: I just read a really good thread regarding a VERY similar issue you're having. Apparently, root=/dev/hda2 (or whatever your root partition is) will not do the trick with grub. You should really look at this thread regarding grub problems. Check into your BIOS as well to make sure that your drive is detected and possibly set to "normal". The thread says more than I can on the subject. Hopefully this helps you out.

At least we were thinking the same thing.

I tried reinstalling, and I realized some mistakes I had made starting when I partitioned the hard drive. Now, that I'm back on track I have another question: Where do I install Lilo?

I have four partitions:

hdb1 /boot ext2 (50MB)
hdb2 / reiserfs (5GB)
hdb3 swap (256MB)
hdb4 /boot reiserfs (the rest of my drive)

Do I install it on the /boot partition? Or where?

Thanks,

--Erich

Edit: I installed lilo on the superuser portion of the root drive.

It's up to you, but I'd install it to the Master Boot Record (MBR). I've not installed it anywhere else so I couldn't really tell you exactly where to put it otherwise. Hopefully someone who's had it installed somewhere other than the MBR will have a better answer.