I'm trying to install Slackware 15.0 on an Acer laptop. Secure Boot is disabled.

This laptop had no problem booting and installing Ubuntu and Manjaro, but I do much prefer Slackware.
I would add that Debian variants also have trouble with the laptop (well, many laptops).

I installed Slackware with ELILO, and definitely not LILO.

When I boot the computer I get to the EFI boot menu, I select Slackware. From there ELILO starts and it loads vmlinuz and initrd, but then freezes indefinitely.

Attached is a screenshot.

Is this symptomatic of any particular misconfiguration? Maybe I need to just edit a config file?

Attached Thumbnails

 

Hi,

I had issues with efi on a computer. I switched to legacy bios and use lilo. It works this way.

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Bumped into some good motherboards recently, all built in 2020, not going to say who made them but:
EFI optional, Secure Boot optional, PSP optional, SMP optional, Legacy Boot fully supported.
No GPT partition scheme required, MBR fully supported.

So, having seen that with my own eyes, I think the only thing which may require EFI is MS windows.
So I guess if you buy a laptop designed for MS windows, it's not distribution fault your laptop may be locked.
Not trying to be difficult, but one should really pay more attention at what passes as personal computer these days.

Video issue? I seem to recall something similar happening with newer nvidia cards.

Are you sure that is it is not just booting blindly? I don't use elilo I use Grub, but when I did use elilo I had the same issue with my RTX 3060ti. The computer may look to be frozen but it is actually booting. Passing nomodeset to the kernel boot line might allow you to boot the machine properly with a working screen. However I do not know how to do this with elilo, with grub it is simple to do before you boot.

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This is a Core i5 1240P system with no discrete video card, but yes maybe the kernel is not updated for some small change to Iris Xe that's in 12th gen Intel.

It hangs in that state for many minutes.

Regarding the nomodeset idea, I just tried adding it to the elilo.conf that is in EFI/Slackware and it has no effect.

No that is not a bios thing. And yeah that is one reason I don't like elilo, there is no way that I know of to edit the boot parameters before booting. With grub it is as easy as pressing "e" then adding the nomodeset option then ctrl-x to continue booting. I missed garpus post when I was making mine, but he is correct in that a lot of us had this same problem as you when the nvidia cards came out. Basically the hardware was too new and there was no framebuffer driver to support it, so adding the nomodeset option or disabling nouveau was the only way to get the newer cards to boot correctly. I can't say 100% that this is your problem since I don't have your hardware, but I would guess it could very well be.

It appears that many Acer laptops these days don't have legacy bios mode anymore. In the settings there is no way to change the boot mode.

You should be able to set it in elilo.conf as a boot option. I forgot the exact syntax. I think you can also hit tab and do boot=blah, then the kernel.

Worst case scenario you could try...

1) install slackware-current and see if it works.

2) ssh into your Slackware 15.0 install from another computer and edit elilo.conf. However unless you create a user during the install process you won't be able to do this. Slackware disables ssh root login by default.

3) reinstall 15.0 and don't use elilo and use grub.

None of these options are ideal, others here that are more familiar with elilo will probably be able to help you better than me.

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Yes that's what I just tried. Maybe I did it wrongly. I put nomodeset before the root= part. I saw there was already a vga= expression that forces textual output. I can try again. Maybe a verbose mode would help too.

Someone was suggesting knowing about what you're buying, however this is a just-released laptop. It would be a great pity to have to return it. Here's the actual item: https://www.costco.com/acer-swift-3-...100973090.html

On the other hand, one could argue there may be better laptops coming quite soon, like the M2 Macbook Air, although that one will only run Arch Linux in the near term.

When I installed 15.0 I didn't see an option to install grub. Maybe it's only in current?

I have actually never used grub before. I've always been lucky enough to use laptops that do have Legacy boot. If necessary, I can learn grub.

It's there, you just have to manually "enable" it. This video explains the process perfectly, it is very easy to do. Skip to 25:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZeJd5JPQro

Keep in mind though that grub won't magically fix this. But I just find it easier to work with in these type of situations than elilo. But that doesn't mean I am right. Many users on these forums despise grub. It is also worth pointing out that theoretically if disabling modesetting fixes the issue you may be stuck in a situation where you have a very low resolution display with no acceleration. Again I can't confirm any of this since I don't have a 12th gen intel system.

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updat --

Will it boot with a LiveSlack USB ?

If LiveSlack 15.0 does not work, does Current work ?

I ask because I've always had to start with Current on a new Laptop then switch over to Stable when it's ready ...

You can build-n-burn your own Current LiveSlack USB Drive via Alien Bob's tools: https://download.liveslak.org/source/

-- kjh