Problem installing Slackware 8.1
 

When I put the cd in, I login as root and everything etc....I type in "P" at the command line and I see:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 4997 40138371 7 HPFS/NTFS

The top is what I have right now and that's WINDOWS. I then create a partition with "n" at the command line. The number that I created Linux was on "2." I hit enter and enter again to pass the first cylinder. Then I typed in "p" again at the command line to check and see what I have and I see:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 4997 40138371 7 HPFS/NTFS

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda2 4998 4998 8032+ 83 Linux

My question is, why is other peoples "Blocks" contains 7 and 8 digit numbers and mine is only a 4 digit number under the category "/dev/hda2." Anyway, I went along with the setup and everything, I guess I skipped some steps because I couldn't get them to work. I must be losing my mind. NOTE: To give you an idea on what steps I skipped. I skipped creating the "3" partition. When I try to create the "3" partition, it says: No space available or something like that. That's the part that I skipped and I just went on ahead typing "t" at the command line and "83" etc..etc....When I got to the installation. I selected "FULL." Then it starting to install everything, but while installation, it had "Glitches." I mean the screen was blinking 3 or 4 times every 2 seconds. After the installation was over, error popped up below.

"Setup detected that one or more of your target partitions has become full. You'll have to try installng onto another partition with more free space." So I'm guessing that it was the "block" that caused this problem, am I right? Or was it the cd?

So anyway, I exited the setup and everything and deleted the partition below just in case something would go wrong.

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda2 4998 4998 8032+ 83 Linux

So is the "Blocks" memory?. If so, how would I get 7 and 8 digit numbers just like the rest and not have only a 4 digit number? I really need some serious help from all of you, it would be greatly appreciated. Please guide me through the long process of installation, thank yous.

My regards,
luxnova

ps, I'll be contact.

im not sure on this but all linux distros ive installed all had a graphical installer but ive never tried slackware but i thought they all did

There is no space in the linux partition. It starts at 4998 and ends at 4998I don't know what program you used to partition (cfdisk?), but it looks like you didn't specify the endpoint of the partition.

Also, it would be better to install the latest Slackware (10.1) if you can get it. There have been major updates since 8.1

It looks like you are using fdisk, instead use cfdisk (it is way more userfriendly and you don't have to deal with sectors and the like).
Once you have setup your partitions, you just reboot, login, and type "setup" to get things going (at least in 10.1 you do this).
As the above poster said, really do upgrade to 10.1 (unless there is some weird reason you _need_ 8.1).

Yea I typed in fdisk. To give you an idea on what I was doing you can check it out here:
http://slackwarehelp.org/about7.html

I was just following that guys steps, but yea it didn't work out. So I'm trying to find another way. I've recently downloaded "Partition Magic 8.0" but I'm not sure how to use it. So my problem now is resizing my partition which someone suggested, but then again I don't know how to do it. Do you guys know anything about "Partition Magic 8.0?" If so, can you guide me please? thanks again.

I still don't see why you don't just use the newest Slackware 10.1.
Also, as I said previously did you try cfdisk?
Reading the replies you get helps a lot ;)

Hold oh horsey....haha...Anyway I don't want to use 10.1 because I don't want to. I just feel like using 8.1 I guess, but yea I logged in as root, etc etc....then I typed in "cfdisk" at the command line and it brought me to this:

Name Flags Part Type Fs Type [label] Size(MB)
Hda1 Boot Primary NTFS [^D] 41101.73
Hda2 Primary Linux ext3 8.23


I'm not sure what to do after that. Sorry about the list if it's kinda messy but yea...

Select the linux partition and delete it. Then select the newly made free space and click on "new". You will be asked to specify primary or logical and then to specify the size of the partition in MB. That's it. Check that everything is the way you want it and select "write".
This writes to the partition table and is irreversible.

Remember the name of the partition (eg hda6), you'll need it when installing linux. Keep in mind you need a swap partition, depending on how much ram you have, and it's good practice to have a separate partition for /home

Ok I went to "cfdisk" and selected the "linux partition" and I deleted it. I then clicked on "new" and I was asked for "Primary or "Logical." I pick primary. Where it says "specify the size of the partition in MB" how much am I suppose to put in? The default is 8.23mb. I don't know much to enter so I put like 12000.23mb and hit enter but nothing happened...hahah, but yea it didn't work. I tried enterying 9.23 or 10 and yea it did work but I didn't "write" it because that's only 9mb and I don't think that's enough for linux. So how much do I actually have to put in?

Type "cfdisk /dev/hda".

What is the total size of the disk? (look near the top of the result from the above command, the line starting with "size")

What is the size of the Windows partition? (/dev/hda1)

How much free space is on the disk?

What is the total size of the disk? (look near the top of the result from the above command, the line starting with "size")
The total size of disk drive for /dev/hda is 41110142976 bytes so that's 41.1gb right?

What is the size of the Windows partition? (/dev/hda1)
The size of hda1 for windows partition is 41101.73.

How much free space is on the disk?
The free space that's left for me to create the new partition is 8.23 when I type in cfdisk /dev/hda.

If you're talking about "local disk (c:)" then the free space that's left is 36.0gb and total size is 38.2gb.

hda is completely used up by the windows partition. There is no more space to make a new partition on that disk. Your options are to resize the Windows partition to make space for Linux or to add a second hard disk.

I've never resized a Windows partition, but there are plenty of tutorials on the subject. My advice would be to get another disk - it's the better option in the long run.