Converting to Slackware
 

Hello. I have been using linux for a few years. Currently I run Mageia. Before that I was using FreeBSD. I'm not a total noob, but I'm not a guru either. I have a 'spare' desktop kicking around and am going to install Slackware on it! I'll likely need help getting drivers setup for my nvidia graphics card.

Welcome to LQ!

I run several old boxes with Nvidia cards, all Slackware, couldn't be happier!

When ready, post your system major specs here, and the Nvidia chipset, you'll get lots of help!

Thank you! That sounds great. My card is a GeForce 6150se. I should have slack installed sometime tomorrow and will post better information when I tackle the issue then.

Welcome to true software freedom. Warning upfront - we don't do automatic package dependency resolution. If you can't see the advantage to that, then you might as well drift off to Ubuntu. Golden tip : do the full install ! 95% of all issues relating to dependencies come from people who don't do the full install. Thereafter, look at slackbuilds.org, which does have a 'sort-of' primitive dependency check - but luckily not forced down your throat. Also look at alienbob's site for other useful packages - especially tough builds like vlc and calibre, where his huge-all-in-one-build method just 'plain-works' !

From the machine on my desktop at the moment...

Go here, http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html, download the 304.116 driver. You will also need to install xf86-video-nouveau-blacklist-noarch-1 from the extras directory in the Slackware install tree, see the README.

Basically, you must install the nouveau blacklist package, then run the Nvidia installer, then you are good to go!

There are several recent threads here at LQ dealing with that too, so lots of help available - but it is easy peasy these days!

Wonderful. Thanks for the links. I had downloaded 304.64 instead of the newer version you suggested. If things go well with slackware and I like it as much as I suspect I may try install it my laptop too. It has intel graphics - Toshiba S55-A5295.

Yea, I don't fully understand the Nvidia numbering, but after some early pains of my own I discovered that for the GeForce6150SE, just follow the latest 304.xxx branch. From about 304.64 until recently there were some problems installing it that required a little more effort, but the 304.116 installed cleanly for me with Slackware 14.1, no hassles. Hope your experience is the same.

There is an ongoing thread here on the topic of the 304.xxx drivers, here, so you can see some of the recent history, and the current state of things.

As it happens, I am typing from a Toshiba Laptop, M45...something, with Intel graphics.

I am less knowledgable about the Intel drivers but have had no particular difficulties with this one. I am in process of upgrading the hard drive and RAM in it, and installing Slackware 14.1 (it is still running Slackware 12.1 at this time), so maybe I'll learn a few new things along the way.

Greetings and welcome to Slackware

Depending on your past experience you may at first be bothered by the fact that Slackware, by default does not boot to the desktop but rather to command line, but after awhile you likely wouldn't have it any other way. There are numerous advantages even beyond the obvious "safety net" to doing it this way. One of those advantages is in installing the nVidia driver since the manufacturer recommends that be done with no instances of X running.

Most distros squander the multi-user command line runlevel for "convenience" and perceived speed. IMHO it is a bad deal. Few people even realize we can use our "F" keys to have multiple consoles, easily switch between and do safe, deep level work all the while we are on the Internet with IRC, email, or even a browser getting real-time help from a friend or information on the process/item with which we are working.

Best wishes and don't hesitate to search this and other docs and forums or ask for help. It's a great community.

PS - While yours might not be a modern, fire-breathing beast, you did hit a beneficial milestone. One of my older boxes has an GeForce FX-5200 is considered deep legacy and has problems installing even on 2.6 kernels and requires a patch for v3 kernels, only working on some 3.7.x versions and most of those badly.

Just partitioned and typed setup!

Back in my FreeBSD days I got used to having to manually startx after booting. I also came to enjoy the ports system for simplifying software installation. Hopefully all goes well. I'll post an update when I come to a suitable break-point!

I have successfully installed. I scp'd the 304.116.run to the slackware box and I get the error about needing to disable nouveau. Where can I find the readme you mention about installing the blacklist package? Thanks.

I dl the package from: ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackwar...eau-blacklist/

and installed. Now rebooting and trying to install the NVIDIA script.

xfce is up and running. that wasn't so hard afterall. I loosely followed this link(filling in the blanks as I go): http://broadcast.oreilly.com/2012/04...lems-with.html


Thank you all for the help and the warm welcomes!

I think thats the same chip as in my laptop! The wifi is a rtl8188ee if I recall... I suppose slack has support for that in some fashion?

Installing packages will take some getting used to as it is much different than with urpm or /usr/ports.

Take a look at http://www.src2pkg.net/ and http://www.sbopkg.org/. The latter is a front-end for the stuff that you'll find at http://www.slackbuilds.org/

Thanks to everyone for the welcome and support. My Slackbox is up and running! I've installed flash-player-plugin and a couple of other small things from slackbuilds, and set up my WPA wifi connection. Is it my imagination or does Slackware seem really fast compared to other distros?

Not per se. If you compare a Slackware box with the same software (and especially background services) as is running on other distros you will hardly see a difference. But Slackware does not run services/daemons by default, you have to enable them, so usually a fresh Slackware system is much leaner than for example an Ubuntu or Mint system.