[SOLVED] Quick Question before install LILO and GRUB

BoydRice · 10-18-2009, 04:45 PM

Hello,

Just got my laptop back from repair and I am dying to replace Vista so I am going to install Slackware 13. I know that the default bootloader is LILO, but to be honest LILO makes me a little nervous since I had a bad install with Vector Linux recently and could not boot my system afterwards (still don't know if it was LILO or my hard drive) any I know it says in the HOWTO.txt that you can choose not to install LILO and then install it later. My question is this if I choose not to install LILO can I install GRUB after the install but before the initial reboot post-install? Could I switch to a console and run grubconfig? Sorry if this is a stupid question, I tried to scan some info before posting. Alternately if I can not do this pre-reboot post-install would I be correct in my assumption to boot from the install CD enter sata.i root=/dev/hda2 noinitrd ro at the boot prompt and then run grubconfig? Am I making this more difficult then necessary, should I just install LILO. I don't plan on using a different OS as I really want to learn more about a UNIX-like OS. Anyway thanks in advance for any help and again I apologize for perhaps missing some obvious information, having two small kids makes my computer-time limited to nap-time.

Thanks,
Mike

hitest · 10-18-2009, 04:56 PM

Hi Mike,

If you're not going to install another OS and only plan to run Slackware on the unit then I would just use the default settings and install lilo to your MBR. I trust lilo, it has never failed me.

BoydRice · 10-18-2009, 05:06 PM

Ok good point. I am curious though are my assumptions on steps to get GRUB installed accurate?

Also, I know it is recommended to do a "full install" however I don't wish to use KDE I prefer XFCE and from what I can gather the third CD is KDE, will I have a "full install" minus KDE using the first two CD's only?

Thanks for the quick reply hitest!

Mike

bgeddy · 10-18-2009, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Alternately if I can not do this pre-reboot post-install would I be correct in my assumption to boot from the install CD enter sata.i root=/dev/hda2 noinitrd ro at the boot prompt and then run grubconfig?

Personally I would do as hitest suggests and install lilo. If you don't want to do this you'll have to use the install disk to boot your system first. At the boot prompt look at the instruction for booting to an installed Slackware system. For an boot from the partition sda2 this will be something like:

Code:

boot: hugesmp.s root=/dev/sda2 rdinit= ro

Then run this as root :

Code:

mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
installpkg /mnt/cdrom/extra/grub/grub-0.97-i486-8.txz
grubconfig

I just realised you are using CD's and not a DVD so before mounting the cdrom above you'll have to put CD3 (I think - could be CD4) in to get the one with the /extra/ directory on it.

Edit: It's actually CD4 apparently.

onebuck · 10-18-2009, 05:23 PM

Hi,

The disks layout for Slackware 13 x86_32;

Code:

Slackware 13.0 x86 Install ISO disc 1 (A/AP/D/E/L/N, bootable installer, kernels, testing/, Slackbook)
Slackware 13.0 x86 Install ISO disc 2 (F/K/T/TCL/X/XAP/Y, L source)
Slackware 13.0 x86 Install ISO disc 3 (KDE/KDEI)
Slackware 13.0 x86 ISO disc 4 (A/AP/D/E/F/installer source, extra/, pasture/, old Berkeley DB packages)
Slackware 13.0 x86 ISO disc 5 (KDE/KDEI source)
Slackware 13.0 x86 ISO disc 6 (K/N/T/TCL/X/XAP/Y source, USB and PXE installers)

BoydRice · 10-18-2009, 05:34 PM

Thanks onebuck bgeddy.

hitest · 10-18-2009, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoydRice

Ok good point. I am curious though are my assumptions on steps to get GRUB installed accurate?

Also, I know it is recommended to do a "full install" however I don't wish to use KDE I prefer XFCE and from what I can gather the third CD is KDE, will I have a "full install" minus KDE using the first two CD's only?

Thanks for the quick reply hitest!

Mike

I always recommend a full install for a new Slackware user. You can still use XFce even if KDE is installed. A full install will just work out of the box. If you do a custom install then you need to know what you can safely leave out.
Unless you're short on HD space go with a full install. Just my

rkrishna · 10-19-2009, 03:35 AM

Quote:

My question is this if I choose not to install LILO can I install GRUB after the install but before the initial reboot post-install? Could I switch to a console and run grubconfig? Sorry if this is a stupid question, I tried to scan some info before posting. Alternately if I can not do this pre-reboot post-install

of course you can do this.
once installation is over don't reboot. (if you want you can install lilo )
the hack for installing grub is, chroot to /mnt where the system is mounted during installation and install the necessary packages.

1. chroot /mnt
look at the fstab
2. mount -a
install the grub package using installpkg and
3. grubconfig

this is listed in my screwed up old slackware faq
http://rkrishna.tp.googlepages.com/slackerbasics#reeb

regards rkrishna