Need Veteran Linux User's advice on Slackware 12.2 Minimal Install 4 Writer!
 

Good Morning Gang!
Well, I got Slackware 12.2 onto my Toshiba Laptop last night, then discovered there's alot of stuff I don't need crammed in there.
Basically, If you read my other posts, you'll see my situation-an old Toshiba 7000CT Portege' 160MB RAM/4GB HD -the 4GB HD is the limiting factor here-but I just checked and it was only using 35MB of RAM running XFCE4-so very good!
Now, I want to reinstall fresh and just add enough stuff so that I can write fiction, lite (HTML/XML) Web Development, and some lite programming (Python/Gambas2/Scripts).
I don't need any printing support/wireless/imaging stuff(except for web dev/programming).
I want to have Abiword/Gambas2/Writer's World Maker/Web Browsers,etc/and only 1 or 2 dev platforms(notepad++/netbeans/eclipse/etc
I assume that I need most all libs, but don't want Kdevelop/Kweb-develop-just the libs maybe...?
Also-can I only install the Xorg-Neomagic driver and uncheck the rest?
And I need only dial-up/broadband support through Xircom 10/100 Ethernet card-no server stuff..
So, does anyone know what to install or not install??
Appreciate it!

Install A packages only, then adapt to your needs. This can consumes times, but the install will fits perfectly to your needs.

I don't see how you're going to run Eclipse with 160 MB RAM (or any contemporary browser, for that matter).

The "server stuff" is the very least of your problems and doesn't take much space in terms of disk space.

Strictly speaking, it's perfectly fine to run a Slackware (or any other Linux distribution) on 4 GB HD and with 160 MB RAM - but anything GUI-related you mentioned beyond the window manager WILL need more RAM today.

The RAM is your limiting factor - the HD is plenty enough, if you really carefully just install what you need.

OK-how can I update all packages at once-like with Kpackage-which I didn't install?
Basically It's just gonna be a glorified typewriter-that is a $20Ebay special-Toshiba 7000CT-typewriter+free Linux OS!$20!
MMMM, well I'm sure with 160MB RAM I could run some programming stuff-no?
What's a good low-ram setup for HTML/XML/Python/Gambas2-type programming-as in IDE/compiler,etc?
Gambas2 comes with it's own IDE,etc-so can't I just use Notepad++/Geany/Bluefish/etc? without blowing up the RAM?
I'm not trying to create 3D animation type stuff, just learning programming-the basic's.

Of cource you can do plenty programming an nearly any programming language available under Linux - but not just the way you'd like to.

All this modern GUI stuff just takes and usally needs more RAM - or you accept it being painfully slow. I don't see something like Bluefish really working with 160MB.

If you accept programming the old school way with vim (or something similar) and no GUI, you'll be perfectly fine - an entire testing webserver and mysql included.

And you can't really use Firefox with 160MB RAM - this isn't really working.

There are several extra-small and fast browsers (dillo for example) out there which will work.

I have an old Sony Vaio with a Pentium 333, 6 GB HD and 265 MB RAM with Slackware and fvwm as GUI (any other small footprint window manager will do) for writing and programming and so on working perfectly fine - but even Firefox 2 is a real pain. 4 Tabs and you can wait for the webpage an a pace I write a new one faster.

And as neither Python nor HTML really needs a GUI to be programmed...

Actually firefox runs pretty fast, just takes a minute to open.
Big problem now is that when I open terminal (Bash) it is grainy, unfocused and doesn't respond to keyboard-although Konsole/others do-WHY?
I was hoping Slackware was the solution to this laptop, as I have already had Debian Lenny w/LXDE, GoblinX and Wolvix-they all ran great-but Debian had issues installing Writer's World Maker (WWMKR)-a GUI for mapping out fiction stories, etc.
Writer's World-Maker was made with Gambas2 and depends on it.
Neither GoblinX/Wolvix can run Gambas2 'cause their Slackware 12.0 or 12.1 based-12.2 can run Gambas2/WWMKR-that's why I wanna use Slackware 12.2 on this machine-And that Slackware is arguably the Best Distro for learning Linux!
I would consider other distro's, but I have tried sooo many!
The only distro's that are really NOT like Windows are the ones I want(Debian/Slackware)-and their both having issues!
Hopefully I can get this going-I would like to try out the new GoblinX-3.0 when it comes out-cause it will be 12.2 based-so hopefully Grobsch will have it ready soon!
Any advice on the Bash problem-as Bash is essential...

I suspect you're having memory/swap issues slowing things down. What GUI are you using and what terminal program are you using?

OK-I'm in either fluxbox or XFCE4-goto menu-top of menu terminal-Bash#-just the regular terminal...
As I said-Konsole and rxvt work fine-so what could it be??
free -m results in about 25-30MB of RAM used/) Swap-0 that's sitting idle.

The distribution in itself simply doesn't matter so much.

In your case you've got to tweak the distribution, add an intelligent amount of swap space and use every application in the tiniest possible variant - smallest editor, low fat browser, small window manager and so on. (fvwm, awesome, fluxbox - all good choices).

Xfce comes with its own terminal called "Terminal" with entirely different dependencies than rxvt and xterm.

I suggest rxvt term or xterm orginal as a terminal application and not terminal.

And your problem sounds like a color mapping/memory problem to me - I assume your video chip also not being the hottest and latest.. ;)

Anyway - don't even think about Eclipse and change your working enviroment to low memory footprint applications and tools. Later on, make a modular, minimal kernel just including what you really need.

And buy a new chunk of RAM. Every MB counts in your case.

And after one look into this Gambas stuff, I decided not to take a second look.

You can't just throw away KDE, or Qt and a handful of other stuff Gambas obviously needs. Check the Gambas site for details.

Do yourself a favor and get a different story editor. ;)

OK-I just did a fresh install and the XFCE4 terminal is screwy-but tha's the only one-rxvt/xterm/Konsole, etc work fine...?
The Toshiba has a Neomagic integrated graphics(i.e-junk)
Update-just got Gambas2 installed-though it runs out of a terminal-then pops up a GUI-but terminal remains-doesn't do this in Ubuntu/Debian??
Anyway-running KDE-3.5/seamonkey browser, Gambas2, and Super Terminal-Memory is 78 Used--That's pretty good isn't it??
I'll try XFCE4/Fluxbox now-should be a lot less Mem used.
OK- so I got Gambas2 installed-Now I gotta install "Writer's-World-Maker-( http://www.wwmkr.com/ ).
They have it as a tar.gz (source)-so how do I get it installed??
I have already installed it's depends-Gambas2/Postgresql/etc..
Somebody help....

Consoles is consoles. If rxvt/xterm/Konsole work, just use one of those.

If you started it from the terminal, having it remain sounds fine. Unless Gambas2 isn't running right, I wouldn't worry about this one.
Yeah it is good, but it also doesn't sound right. KDE is pretty resource heavy. Is swap being used?

The absolute best way to install source code in Slackware (provided there isn't a slackbuild at slackbuilds.org) is by using src2pkg. Src2pkg will compile the source and create a Slackware package that you install like any other package.

Cool-I already have Src2pkg too, and didn't even think about it?!
Lots of LQ member's would probably say just trash Slackware and go with something "easier" like Debian or Ubuntu-but that's the fun of Slackware I think-you can't just push buttons-like in Windows...
If Sorcerer or Source-Mage were current I would try them too-but Slackware is the best of the "hands-on" distro's.
Don't get me wrong-I like Debian and Ubuntu too, but they'll make you lazy about some things-why mess with a terminal when you can just push a button?
I look at my PC just like I do my car-If something needs to be done to it-repair/mods,etc-I prefer to do it myself-that's why I need to learn Slackware and programming.
I think something is amiss with Gambas2-on my Desktop PC-in Slackware 12.2-Gambas2 operates just like in Debian/Ubuntu-just a GUI-no terminal behind it?
As for the swap-it always says 313MB available/0 used-no matter what I do(swapon/swapoff)-even cranking up as many apps as I can and waiting 20-30mins-still no swap being used??
I have just noticed the same thing on my Desktop PC in Ubuntu 8.04/8.10, Debian and Slackware!?
Neither computer seems to utilize the swap partition!!
?

right now Im running gnome,iceweasel,vlc is playing a shoutcast stream and I have qbtorrent downloading a torrent.System monitor shows Im only using 180 megs of memory.

add one more app to list..all that in last post and smplayer playing a movie..and at 204megs used Point is..If i can ran all these aps and only be using 200 megs or so..He should be able to run firefox with 160

Yep, stratotak and I were correct...Last night while (still) trying to install WWMKR, I cranked up firefox, Konsole, Kpackage, abiword, and Gambas2, while running KDE-3.5-and she locked up when I opened Konqueror.
Right before I opened Konqueror the Konsole put out "free -m"= 142used/6free!
So, it seems you can do alot w/only 160MB RAM-if I were in XFCE4 or Fluxbox the numbers would be even better.
Still trying to get WWMKR installed-I was trying to use a .Slackbuild(thanks Alien!), but it says "error at line 157"
says there is no such directory..I am writing this from Ubuntu.8.10, so when I switch over I will try again and output the terminal here for you to see.
Output from terminal for Writers-World-Maker.Slackbuild-
So-what went wrong and where is line 157??
I think I know what might be part of the problem for the distro's on my Desktop PC not using the Swap....I have been installing multiple distro's and moving partitions around. I think this is why some of the distro's are confused as to where/how to mount the swap partition.
My HD has SDA1-8 with thes distro's/partitions-starting from 1-8 -Slackware12.2/UbuntuSE8.04/SuperUbuntu8.10/Extended/Fedora10/SWAP/FAT32filestorage/and Debian Lenny on SDA8.
My swap is inside an extended partition, next to my FAT32 file storage partition-could this be a problem??
Please see screenshot and tell me if there is something amiss with my partition layout?
I have to tell it "swapon" for it to come on-otherwise it's never mounted!