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You just need the packages directory; whatever option you take it'll be a fair old size.
The update is actually very straightforward, just follow the instructions; I wouldn't go through the hassle of a reinstall. If you're concerned about bandwith, maybe the physical media is your best option?
Thank you for the input, The more I look at this, I agree the physical media is the best option.
I will try the download first and if that fails I will buy an install CD.
There is no reason Lilo would make any changes or affect your Grub bootloader on another system or in the MBR. During the installation, you will have the options to install Lilo to the MBR, the superblock of the partition on which you install Slackware or not to install it at all. These options are available if you use the expert option of installing Lilo. I expect you are selecting the "install Lilo automatically" option. Details on installing Lilo are at the link below.
Thank you for the link. I use the expert option when installing Lilo and have only had issues
when I am multi-booting (3 or more systems) on a dual-boot setup I have never had a problem with Lilo.
I generally work around this by installing the systems that use Lilo first and install a
system that uses Grub last.
I use the expert option when installing Lilo and have only had issues
when I am multi-booting (3 or more systems)
I'm not sure why you would have problems with it. With Lilo on Slackware, I generally just add an entry like the one below to boot an OS when I have installed it's bootloader to the partition. So it basically chainloads to the other system booloader and I currently boot Kubuntu, PCLinux, Peppermint, windows 10 and Haiku operating systems. Just run Lilo as root after adding the entries to lilo.conf.
As a 20+ year user of Slackware, the original and still most headache-free way to do an upgrade is to Wipe and Install-Fresh. Since my installations aren't that complex, I don't keep much in config files since things change (especially with 2 years between 14.1 and 14.2 this time), but if yours is larger, and perhaps especially for FireFox and some other things with lots of configs and plug-ins, maybe you might. Most of the headache from this route comes from reconfiguring everything, but things mostly work out of the box--the usual suspects of GPU and wireless being the big problems, normally.
As for LILO, I've always used it. When experimenting with Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora, I've tried Grub, and it was just no fun. IMHO, LILO, like Slackware, JUST WORKS 99% of the time. This time I bought a used laptop with 2 drives, so I left the win10 drive in the primary slot and installed the SSD from my old laptop in the secondary slot. I then told the BIOS to boot that drive first. The setup scripts was the same, just remembering to mark everything backwards (sdb is primary/SSD with MBR, sda is secondary/HDD). LILO works without a hitch with this setup. I can even upload my /etc/lilo.conf, if you wish to see for yourself.
As a 20+ year user of Slackware, the original and still most headache-free way to do an upgrade is to Wipe and Install-Fresh. Since my installations aren't that complex, I don't keep much in config files since things change (especially with 2 years between 14.1 and 14.2 this time), but if yours is larger, and perhaps especially for FireFox and some other things with lots of configs and plug-ins, maybe you might. Most of the headache from this route comes from reconfiguring everything, but things mostly work out of the box--the usual suspects of GPU and wireless being the big problems, normally.
As for LILO, I've always used it. When experimenting with Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora, I've tried Grub, and it was just no fun. IMHO, LILO, like Slackware, JUST WORKS 99% of the time. This time I bought a used laptop with 2 drives, so I left the win10 drive in the primary slot and installed the SSD from my old laptop in the secondary slot. I then told the BIOS to boot that drive first. The setup scripts was the same, just remembering to mark everything backwards (sdb is primary/SSD with MBR, sda is secondary/HDD). LILO works without a hitch with this setup. I can even upload my /etc/lilo.conf, if you wish to see for yourself.
This is very helpful, thank you. I have decided on a fresh install, for the reasons you suggest, plus I have never had good success on a system upgrade with any linux system.
Regarding Lilo, I have employed my usual workaround.
I have reinstalled Slackware, Salix and Zenwalk 8. I then ran boot repair (thank you again
Yann Buntu) to repair Grub on my Debian install and I am operational again.
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