instead of putting block numbers, you can directly call the partitions using the "p-notation":
1p = first partition (the partition map! remember to not mess with it ;-) )
2p = second partition
3p = third partition
... and so on
Gentoo handbook has a quick and dirt howto: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handboo...ap=4#doc_chap3

About the version: go for 12.0, when 12.1 will be released we drop 11.0 support (we haven't enough man/machine power to follow more than current and last two versions).

And, by the way, thanks for choosing Slackintosh!

Oh... That's kinda cool. I told you the hard way. And I thought I remembered something about entering the size in MB or GB as compared to specifying an ending block.

That'll make it easier for sure. Still might be beneficial to do it the hard way on at least one of the computers just for the sake of learning... What's that saying about Slackers like to do things the hard way?

jong357, you heard correctly. At least on x86, you can specify "+2048M", for example (without the quotes) to specify a partition size of 2 Gb (or at least the closest it can get to 2048 Mb depending on the exact block sizes). In other words, you enter your starting block number (you can usually just press enter for the next available block) and then specify +2048M as the ending block to specify a partition size of approximately 2 Gb. (Keep in mind this is on x86 -- it may be different for mac-fdisk)

Jong357, that was not long winded, that was a good tutorial for an intermediate newbie. I appreciated it much.

I was able to delete old partitions and put in a partition map, bootstrap, swap and linux root. I used the 2p, 3p, 4p in mac-fdisk on the /dev/hda.

I used p to check it, I made a swap of 2gigs, maybe too large, I'm not sure, the whole machine has 18 gigs altogether. For the Linux root I used the remaining space. Should I have created another partition for the freespace beyond the Slackintosh root space? I know Slackintosh 12 is 4.5 gigs...these computers are going to be for student writing and research, so no big hard drives needed.


When I installed, Disk #1 went fine, when I put in disk #2 it said "could not mount (I'm sorry I forget the file name, I should have written it down)
/var....(I forget)...tar.gz I saw a small scratch on disk #2, so I burned a new one. Now Disk #1 wont boot when I hold down "c" and restart. I'll try another machine, but is there anyway to still install on the one I was working on?



Gentlemen, thank you for all the effort you have put in.
I remain still trying.

Maybe sid77 can clarify what happens during the installer process with regards to that. Don't know why it wouldn't boot with disk 1 anymore. I would think that yaboot stuff wouldn't happen until the very end of the installer.

It's a shot in the dark, but you can try clearing the pram of that machine. Sometimes that helps with boot up issues.

As soon as you turn the computer on, hold down [OPTION]+[APPLE]+[P]+[R]

You'll hear the apple chime because that makes it reboot again. Some say to keep holding down until you hear a second chime. Dunno. Can't hurt.

That'll clear the boot-device variable along with some others. May help your situation.

I don't usually mess with making more than one partition for linux. It'll be fine the way you did it. 2gb swap is a bit much but as long as your / partition is big enough for future usage then no biggie I guess.

Your getting there by the sounds of it.

that's fine

this is quite strange: setup should not touch your open firmware until you install yaboot. Zapping the OF is the last man solution but it kinda work when you've no ideas of what's going on ;-)

I'm trying this on three machines....One, I partitioned successfully, but it won't recognize disk #3 and continue the install...I've tried downloading and burning a new disk from another computer, same thing. What could be the problem there?

Computer #2 I initialized the disk using i command in mac-fdisk the print reads

/dev/hda1 Apple_Partition_map_apple 2@1 (1.0k) partition map
/dev/hda2 Apple_Free Extra 1@3 (0.5K) free space

when I attempt to make a bootstrap using b command I get "requested length and base is not within an existing partition. I get the same with the c command after it asks me how large to make the partition.

I tried the same thing on machine #3 and got the same thing...maybe I shouldn't initialize disks...I tried to delete partitions using the d command...it would'nt let me delete partition 1,said it can't delete the map, it said it did delete partition 2 but the print out came up the same as before with that Apple free extra there.

I appreciate all your help..I want the school to be on Slackware....I'm not giving up, but I have yet to see the light.

I will burn more disks from another computer just to be sure.

Robert Litt, instead of burning the disc 3000 times you could always check the md5sum of the disk after the burn and compare it to the md5sum of the Slackware .iso file (the .iso MD5s are available from any Slackware mirror). Search the forums (or the web) for instructions (or go here: http://www.g-loaded.eu/2006/10/07/ve...mage-on-linux/ ).

this is a known issue, just install the packages on disc 3 by hand at the end of the installation, search slackintosh-users on freelists for more information.
and don't forget packages in /patches, we had some broken ones fixed shortly after release.

just delete all partitions except #1 and everything is fine.

by the way, if they're all the same model, once you've one mac up'n'running don't repeat the installation process over and over: just dd the content of the whole disc to a file and from that file to any other machine you want to install, after that boot from the first cd, mount sys, proc and dev on the target disc, chroot into it and run "ybin -v" to reinstall the boot loader.

I recently installed slackintosh heres my notes

ref:

http://www.my2bits.org/?p=48


May 02
Slackintosh in stall notes
Tag: How to system — admin @ 5:24 am Edit This

##I installed slackintosh 12 to day worked well x was not recognised by default and I had to run

#xorgconfig

## answer all the questions. You need details of you monitor and graphics card so its good to source this info first. then run startx for you default desktop or type start THEN PRESS THE TAB KEY TWICE TO SEE OTHER OPTIONS

#startx

Slackintosh 12 was one of the easier installs so long as you have detail of your system its very straight forward. The hardest thing I found the first time I installed it was partitioning, but even that is very forgiving. I tend to cheat and use a debian net install cd or business card cd to partition any drive.

Slackintosh comes with kde and xfce and window managers but no gnome. Its snappy but needs some manual configuration for more things than some of the main distros. I like it.

##Personal feelings: I’m not a kde guy so it looses brownie points for being kde centric. I am biased to wards rolling releases and Debian biased systems. apt. That said I can see why other distros build of it, I like the K,I,S,S, way they set it up I was surprised that it suggested “install everything” but can see the sense for new users.

##done

If you go down the path of using the debian net install cd it take about 15 mins to install a base debian (you can quit out after formating if you want) all your partitioning will be done and recognised by your slackintosh install. You just select them and over write then very easy. of course once you see the ease speed and stability of a Debian install maybe you'll just keep it
In all seriousness slackintosh runs very well on old ppc but it is a little more work to setup and keep light in my experience.

nice one