I'm trying to install Slackware64-14.2 from a flash drive on a spare laptop. I created the flash drive by downloading the ISO to my main Debian laptop and using dd to copy the ISO image to the flash drive. Every time I try to install Slackware on the spare laptop, it takes an inordinate amount of time to load the kernel and the setup program (like, 5 to 15 minutes each), lagging somewhat even in the console. I can get through most of the installation process, although it takes a while, but it invariably stops installing the system when it gets to bash, saying that the installation media may be corrupt.
Note that the flash drive is fairly new and the computer works completely fine with Debian, so it shouldn't be a matter of hardware. Secure boot is disabled and the computer runs in UEFI mode (and I can't change it to legacy BIOS mode, for no apparent reason).
Things I've tried:
- Use a different mirror to download the ISO (tried slackware.com and slackware.cs.utah.edu), in case one mirror had a malformed copy. Exact same thing happens with both.
- Use the 65 MB USB boot image with an external hard disk containing the actual source tree. This does not show up on my BIOS device selection menu, so this does not work.
- Use 32-bit ISO instead of 64-bit. This also doesn't show up on the BIOS device selection menu.
My suspicion is that the slowness may have something to do with the huge kernel being used in the installer, but I'm not sure how to fix that. Ideas?

I tried plugging in the flash drive and allowing the system to boot into RAM, then running setup and replacing the flash drive with an external HDD including the packages, and using that as the package source instead of the flash drive. It's still in the process of installing and going very slowly, but didn't stop working at bash, so I'm cautiously optimistic. I will add an update on whether it is able to correctly install and get to a normal speed once it's done.

pick your version, 32, or 64 bit then choose the slackware.ver-xx.install-dvd.iso

https://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware-iso/

try that and see if that helps

what cpu are you running? speed and type, laptop model even.

I'm already using the ISO from that site, but I tried redownloading it - no change. I was able to near-successfully install with my attempt earlier, but I irreparably broke the bootloader (which was previously only repairably broken), so I'll have to reinstall anyway.

The computer is an Acer Swift SF113-31-P5CK, which has an Intel Pentium N4200 at 1.10 GHz. It has 4 GB of memory.

you could try getting software to check your Hard Drive to be sure it is not corrupted in anyway that is preventing it from being written to. do not boot to ram just do a straight install. ie, gparted on a stick or a live distro that has gparted within its own self.

maybe try a smaller installation.
http://www.slackware.com/install/

I do not know your BIOS settings, but maybe reset it back to factory settings then re-adjust it as needed.

I've seen this problem with other N42xx processors. I did finally get it going, but did not document my solution completely.

A newer kernel is a requirement to run properly with this processor family IIRC. I would suggest you try the latest -current build. (Is there an install ISO out there somewhere? You might need to roll your own...)

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Aha, you're a genius! I'm installing it now using AlienBob's -current ISO from earlier today and it's working great. Thank you so much!