I am trying to get started with Slackware with the purpose of using Audacity and Rosegarden.

My previous experience with Slackware consists of having been using Slackware Live (Matte) on a persistent usb and on a full install in my HP Probook 4510s for a couple months and last week I finally managed to install Slackware 14,2 on the Probook, multibooting with Slackware Live and some other distros.

I have yet to build and install a package in Slackware - still reading and googling about it.

In order to prepare myself to try building audacity in a favourable environment, today I prepared (via command dd) two usb sticks, with fresh downloaded Slackware Daw Live and Studioware.

They both boot nicely on the ProBook, which with only a Core 2 Duo and 2 GB ram is way too slow for Plasma ( I suspect it is Plasma on Studioware but I was not able to confirm it).

So I tried to boot the sticks on my mac-book 2010, which is also Core 2 Duo, but has 16 GB ram, and can run Mint, Manjaro, UbuntuStudio and Slackware Live Matte - all from usb sticks - confortably.

Slackare Daw Live boots on the mac, though only after i hacked a bit with its Grub which would not present me with a menu, but only a grub prompt. I used the boot prompt to navigate around the content of the usb, and copied the last menu entry of its grub.cfg since it was the only promising entry showed when I used command cat - which showed only a small part at the end of the file.

It booted fine at runlevel 3 - as stated in the menu entry I copied.

I could not start the desktop though, probably due to my ignorance, so I duckduckwent and found many many threads offering "new" versions of commands to boot kde and Plasma, but none worked.

The only option I could think of then was to use the same menu entry, but with runlevel 4 instead of 3, and then i got this message

So I tried Studioware on the mac, which did present me with a Grub meny, but when it booted it froze with the splash screen in the background and and a black square in the foreground in place of the Grub meny.

Will it suffice to install XDM from the Slackware Live Daw command line, in order to boot the Slackware Live Daw at runlevel 4 or at least to be able to start its desktop from command line ?

If that is the case that would be the first time I try to install a package in a Slackware environment, so I would be thankful for any guidelines, I am still having trouble with simple things like checking if XDM is part of the official Slackware or if I must look up for it somewhere else.

Or have I missed something and the point is that the dd-made usb is meant only to set-up Live Daw on a persistent usb stick, from command mode?

To quote the Kerryman when asked for directions:"If I was you, I wouldn't start from here at all!"

If you're not game for a hard disk install, and want usb, get this script:
http://bear.alienbase.nl/cgit/livesl...ckware_live.sh

Run it, and it does all the heavy lifting and gives you a current and up to date install. You can add packages, configure your system and have it built You need a base system with xz, tar, mkisofs, and squashfs_tools

I have one, with wine, and 32 bit compatibility libraries, and I could install a windows library/database/video player thing and it works like an installed system should. It's updatable. Far and away it is the best usb linux system I have used.

EDIT: At this link https://slackware.nl/people/alien/slackbuilds/ is a large number of extra packages, including audacity and a number of sound utilities.

The DAW iso will boot to runlevel 4 by default and use the sddm display manager to start plasma once the x11 session starts up (dont select wayland, it will only give a black screen). All that is included in the iso so that should work if started properly. I checked with the latest daw iso from 2021-02-15 and that is still the case.

I have experienced booting to the grub prompt with slackware live USBs made with the 'cp' command. In that case grub was unable to locate the proper partition to boot from and had to be helped manually to get the menu working with something like the following:
Perhaps something similar happens with dd?

The reliable way to transfer the iso to a usb drive is to use AlienBob's iso2usb.sh script. You can find a copy here: https://slackware.nl/people/alien/liveslak/iso2usb.sh

The script partitions the usb drive a little differently including setting up persistence and boot partitions. I switched to using that script instead of cp and haven't had a problem with slackware live images since. The script is intended to be run from a slackware system AFAIK but youcould probably run it from another linux as long as you have all the programs referenced by the script.

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Thanks business_kid

I am a bit confused. I thought that Slackware Live would give me a current- I have that (Mate) running flawless so far on a partition on my HD.

But I read that newbies should not start w current and ought to install a full stable to beguin with. And I am afraid I might have more problems with mkisofs and squashfs_tools, never used them. Can I install the stable from a Slackware Live? And was that what you meant ?

Maybe if I succeed to add audacity and rosegarden to my Slackware Live installed on the HD I don't need more for now.

Thanks OXBF !

I installed from an USB which had been created by dd. And I am running BIOS for now, before I try with the EFI and UEFI machines.

I will, upon your hint insist on trying to find a way to solve it at grub level.

But I am beginning to wonder whether in this case of installing to an usb stick I should try a go at lilo. I usually run multiboots and my few attempts with lilo were not so well-succeeded.

Maybe I will start all over again, this has worked for me quite a few times.

do you think it would make a difference if I tried from an usb created by the script from a dd-made usb or maybe from a DVD ?

I just wiped and copied a fresh daw iso to a usb flash stick using dd. The problem with the EFI boot is still there and it just goes straight to the grub prompt. That was on my 2011 macbook pro so I'm guessing your 2010 macbook would be similar. Entering those two lines I had in my last reply still gets it working.

I also tested bios boot on another machine and that works fine, just the efi boot is broken. Note that grub is used for efi, extlinux for bios boot so if you are getting a grub prompt then you are efi booting.

If you can use the iso2usb.sh script it will make a working/booting install that works on the mac. It only fails when the iso is copied directly to the usb using cp or dd. The basic usage is pretty simple E.g: "./iso2usb.sh -i ~/slackware64-live-daw-current.iso -o /dev/sda"

At least then it should boot normally. I'm not sure why you had problems starting a graphical session but perhaps starting with a properly made stick will be enough to get it working.

2 members found this post helpful.

Thanks again OXBF !

I have not yet tried your suggestions, but I sure will.
They sound pretty good!

I have finally had the opportunity to try your suggestions above, this morning, and they worked on 1st trial.

I was able to boot both Slackware Live Daw and Studioware directly to desktop from "dd-ed" usb sticks, on my Fujitsu Lifebook(i5).

Slackware Live Daw booted to a Grub prompt in spite of the fact that I had CSM enabled. I wrote a coupple lines and booted (first trial).

I will next try them at my macbook (2010) and then will try to install then to my multiboot SSD.

Thanks once again OXBF and business_kid for your support

I did not re-read my first post and wrote my previous post under the assumption that the object of the thread was installation on pc, which is how I usually start my projects. After posting, when reviewing (and editing) I became aware of the fact that this thread was concerned with my "2nd stage", i.e. when try installing to the macbook.

So I went back and tried Slackware Live Daw, downloaded today (v 1.3.9) on the macbook. It booted without any problem. I had to write the linux and initrd lines at boot prompt, and that was all.

So the "SOLVED" is confirmed although in retrospect.

Studioware froze as before, but it was the same version i tried before this thread. It froze with a black rectangle superimposed on the Grub screen. I will download the latest version and try again.

But I maintain the "Solved" as Slackware Live DAW is working and I can proceed to my next "stage", i.e. installing it. I intend to install it in a few internal and external devices, but haven´t yet decided where I will start.