slackware noob can't install

chemdawg · 09-28-2005, 10:23 PM

OK, so I've got a Samsung SATA HD partitioned as follows:

sda1=windows (30G)
sda2=swap (1G)
sda3=mandriva (11G)
sda4=extended
sda5=suse (10G)
sda6=debain (10G)
sda7=FC4 (10G)
sda8=Xandros (10G)
sda9=hopefully slackware someday (10G)
sda10=hopefully gentoo someday (10G)

I have downloaded and burned all the necessary .iso images for Slackware 10.2

I want to install slackware on /dev/sda9 as stated above.

I put the first disk in the drive and boot from it, and i get as far as the part where it tells me to partition the drives. I get this:

root@slackware:/# fdisk -l
root@slackware:/# fdisk /dev/sda

Unable to open /dev/sda

why won't the thing recognize any of my drives? actually, it does see my dvd drive as /dev/hda.

so, I couldn't find any help about this - I have successfully installed other distros before but I'm new to slackware.

thanks in advance

tangle · 09-28-2005, 10:45 PM

yeah the one gbonvehi said.

gbonvehi · 09-28-2005, 10:46 PM

You've to choose the sata.i kernel when booting (instead of bare.i, the default), and later when asked which one to install to the hard disk.

chemdawg · 09-30-2005, 09:38 AM

thanks tangle and gbonvehi - your suggestions worked like a charm! I followed the how-to in this forum and it really worked well. there are three things i need to fix though:

1. when slackware boots, it boots to a command prompt, i.e. the xserver doesn't start when i boot up. i can start x by logging in and typing "startx" - then i'm off and running. I'd prefer to have x start automatically when i boot up. any ideas?

2. when i shut down, i again get the command prompt and i have to type in "init 6" in order to shut it down. I would like not to have to do this... is it a slack thing or can i change that as well?

3. installing swaret - i edited the swaret.conf file like it said, changed its name from swaret.conf.new to swaret.conf and tried to install swaret but it keeps saying that i need to edit that file and change its name, which i have already done. any ideas on that?

thanks for all your help! I've got to say that i'm really liking slackware so far.

tangle · 09-30-2005, 10:03 AM

1. As root edit the /etc/inittab and change the 3 to a 4.

# Default runlevel. (Do not set to 0 or 6)
id:3:initdefault:

2. I never ran into this problem. Try typing modprob apmd and see if it shuts down correctly. The /etc/rc.d/rc.6 (rc.0 is linked to rc.6) file controls the shutdown process. If you can, can you give the messages that is diplayed just before you have to issue the init 6?

3. Is the swaret.conf file in the /etc directory? If not, place it there. I believe that you can also pass the program a flag that tells it to look for the config file in another location. But if you place it in the /etc directory you should have no problems.

heltreko · 10-01-2005, 02:15 AM

1. tangle covered it.

2. I think you want to be able to do this as a normal user? If this is what you want you can do.

Code:

chmod a+s /sbin/halt
chmod a+s /sbin/reboot
chmod a+s /sbin/poweroff

ln -s /sbin/halt /usr/bin/halt
ln -s /sbin/reboot /usr/bin/reboot
ln -s /sbin/poweroff /usr/bin/poweroff

This is not the most secure thing to do and you shouldn't do it unless it's your personal pc sitting at your home. It allows everyone with acces to your pc to turn it off.

3. Each time you install swaret it tells you to edit /etc/swaret.conf.new like you did. To run swaret you should

Code:

swaret --update

And if you want to upgrade everything

Code:

swaret --upgrade -a

Read man swaret for more info.

Good luck!