Slackware Trouble
 

Well I just decided to learn about Linux and decided to start with Slackware. I am trying to install it but I have run into a couple of problems. Any help is appreciated. I am going to quickly run down a list of the things I have done.

1. Created two 4GB partitions on the hard drive
2. Formatted the first partition and installed Windows XP on it. I did not format the second partition(From what I'm reading I think you end up formatting the partition you want for linux during the install. Let me know if I am wrong please.)
1. Burned the Slackware ISO properly.
2. Attempted to boot from the CD but the BIOS seems to be too old.
3. Made a bootdisk using bare.i
4. When booting using the bootdisk I get this error:

Loading Boot Record from Floppy.......OK

Loading............................
Uncompressing Linux...

ran out of input data

-- System halted


If anyone knows what I am missing or doing wrong please let me know. Thanks alot, I'm itching to get started.

root disk
 

Not only do you need a boot disk, you need a 'root disk' too. A boot disk contains the linux kernel to get your computer talking to it's hardware. The rootdisk contains the file system of the actual setup and utilities required to setup the initial linux installation.

The only problem is.. I think you need 4 or 5 floppy disks now for root disks in Slackware. Not sure where I remember seeing the root disks broken up, but with enough looking, you'll find it (I was able to.)

There's a start. And yes, you'll be formatting your linux partition during installation.

Good luck.

Re:
 

Thanks for the response, I'll go find some 3.5 disks. I appreciate it.

Here is a good resource for basic installation from floppy.
http://www.slackware.com/book/
Stupid question, did you have the cd in the drive when you tried booting from the floppy?
Welcome to Slackware:D

yo scythe, i had the same problem.

I tried downloading the files SEPERATELY and then putting them on a flop. This worked fine. I don't know why, but the bootflop ( bare.i ) on the slackware 9.0 cdrom just doesnt work ( i got same message ).

Go to the slackware site, click get slackware and then, when you have selected a mirror, do NOT chose for ISO, but just for SlackWare 9.0. You can download all the stuff you need there. Worked for me :) Hope it works for you 2 ...

Good luck

So as not to discourage any new potential Slack users, it is possible to boot into the setup program with 3 floppies. :)

I ended up using a file
 

There was a file on the slackware CD that I ended up using to get the pc to see my cdrom drive. I believe the name of the file was "bootdskmgr" it had an extention on it too. When I get home I will post the correct name but it was something to that effect. After I made my boot disk using that file and rebooted I was able to install Slackware directly from the cd. Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.

bootdskmgr.dsk or .img is the file youre talking about right ?

dd if=/home/marno/downloads/bootdskmgr.dsk of=/dev/fd0

This command will put it on a flop ( replacing location of bootdskmgr.dsk with your own location of the file offcourse )

I was able to boot from this disk, and then i didnt need those 3 floppies ( the boot and root floppies ). bootdskmgr.dsk works pretty good, the only thing i encountered was: You're CDROM Drive needs to be either SLAVE on the primary ide, where the master is a hard disk, or it needs to be master on the secondary ide.

Good luck with installing.

Welcome to linux, and lets hope you can get it working!

YEAH!
 

Thats the name of the file. I just fixed a sound problem with some help from guys/gals here. I just have to set up my network card properly and read the kernel compiling string to figure out how to recompile my kernel and I should be set. Thx for the help

good luck. let me know if you run in any other trouble!