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Old 05-15-2010, 10:58 AM   #31
saulgoode
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Quote:
Originally Posted by barjac View Post
If I run liloconf as root it appears to be broken. The screen for selecting the root partition will not scroll down to reveal the partition I need.
On that screen, you do not scroll down to select the partition; you must type it into text box.
 
Old 05-16-2010, 12:28 PM   #32
barjac
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Location: Rossendale UK
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Quote:
On that screen, you do not scroll down to select the partition; you must type it into text box.
Thanks, I re-installed after checking the md5 and although I had not seen your post at that time it still seemed to be broken, however I did manage to select the correct partition.
I tried to install lilo following your advice, but after configuring it carefully it failed, complaining that I was not installing to the first drive, so I made a boot stick.
There were also errors related to some of my partitions on drive 0 which are sda16 and sda17.
The installer also decided that my video card (nvidia FX 5600u) could not handle vesa and defaulted to text only install.
I have managed to install the nvidia173 driver from nvidia site and can now run kdm after a text login.
So,
Where is it best to put the kdm command to launch a graphical desktop automatically?
and...
Just what is needed in my grub to launch this installation without the boot stick?

TIA
 
Old 05-16-2010, 02:39 PM   #33
colorpurple21859
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To automatically log into a graphical display change the default runlevel from 3 to 4 in the /etc/inittab file
this is a good grub entry:
Quote:
title Slackware 13
root (hd1,9)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-huge-2.6.29.6 root=/dev/sdb10 ro

Last edited by colorpurple21859; 05-16-2010 at 02:44 PM.
 
Old 05-16-2010, 04:46 PM   #34
barjac
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Registered: May 2010
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Distribution: Mandriva
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Quote:
Originally Posted by colorpurple21859 View Post
To automatically log into a graphical display change the default runlevel from 3 to 4 in the /etc/inittab file
this is a good grub entry:
Many thanks for your reply.
I just realized that inittab would be set to RL 3 and have already changed it to 4 ( I almost set it to 5 which would be the Mandriva setting, until I read the notes ).
I have also managed to get grub to work using :-
Code:
title Slackware 13
root (hd1,9)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdb10 ro vga=788
Since the root (hd1,9) has already been specified, why is it necessary to use root=/dev/sdb10 on the kernel line?
Can that be replaced with a UUID, as I don't like using sdxx etc. in grub, as these assignments can change if the partition table changes.

Does a kernel update in Slackware (however that happens - I have yet to discover!) automatically update vmlinuz to point to the new kernel?
If it does am I not better off leaving just vmlinuz in my grub entry?

One other question - why does the Slackware installer insist on re-formatting my swap partition and changing it's UUID? I now have about six other systems to repair because the UUIDs for swap in fstab, menu.lst and the initrd.img are all wrong. :-(
 
Old 05-16-2010, 05:13 PM   #35
colorpurple21859
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Quote:
root (hd1,9)
tells grub what partition to look for the kernel in
Quote:
root=/dev/sdb10
tells the slack kernel where the slackware root partition is located. They may be on different partitions in some setups. I don't know about using uuids in slackware or why the installer wants to format swap.
 
Old 05-17-2010, 09:07 AM   #36
saulgoode
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Quote:
Originally Posted by barjac View Post
Since the root (hd1,9) has already been specified, why is it necessary to use root=/dev/sdb10 on the kernel line?
"root (hd1,9)" instructs GRUB where to find the kernel image whereas "root=/dev/sdb10" is an argument passed to the kernel instructing the kernel where to find the filesystem it is to use. If the kernel has no "root=" argument then it would default to the device upon which it was originally compiled.

Quote:
Originally Posted by barjac View Post
Can that be replaced with a UUID, as I don't like using sdxx etc. in grub, as these assignments can change if the partition table changes.
The kernel understands UUIDs and thus you can certainly pass it an argument such as "root=UUID=7fead33e-163f-419f-b999-779acae48f1".

I do not know if GRUB understands UUIDs as I do not use GRUB; but be mindful that GRUB's "root" command specifies something completely different then the kernel's "root=" argument (GRUB's "root" is akin to the PATH to an executable whereas the kernel's "root" is like specifying a working folder for that executable to use). While they can be -- and often are -- the same device, they do not have to be. You could, for example, have GRUB load a kernel from a floppy and then have that kernel use a harddrive partition for its root device.

Quote:
Originally Posted by barjac View Post
Does a kernel update in Slackware (however that happens - I have yet to discover!) automatically update vmlinuz to point to the new kernel?
Yes, IF you are updating your kernel by using 'upgradepkg' with a Slackware package. If instead you are compiling your own kernel from source then you need to use the '/sbin/installkernel' script to update those links (or do so manually).

Quote:
Originally Posted by barjac View Post
If it does am I not better off leaving just vmlinuz in my grub entry?
If you only want one Slackware kernel available in your GRUB menu then: yes, let GRUB use the vmlinuz link (though my personal preference in such a scenario would be to chainload to LILO on the Slackware partition).

Quote:
Originally Posted by barjac View Post
One other question - why does the Slackware installer insist on re-formatting my swap partition and changing it's UUID? I now have about six other systems to repair because the UUIDs for swap in fstab, menu.lst and the initrd.img are all wrong. :-(
Good question; there probably should be a "cancel" option when SETUP asks about formatting a specified swap partition. However, you don't have to specify your swap partition during SETUP; if you already have a swap partition shared with other OSes then just skip the ADD SWAP step and later edit your /etc/fstab (this should be easier than having to repair your UUIDs in all of your other OSes).

Last edited by saulgoode; 05-17-2010 at 09:11 AM.
 
Old 05-18-2010, 02:21 AM   #37
barjac
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Distribution: Mandriva
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@: saulgoode
Many thanks for taking the time to give clear informative explanations.
 
  


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