Installing Slackware- two different scenarios, need to know which one will work best.
 

I'm going to be installing 12.2 on a client's machine. There are a couple of ways (among others) to do this:

1. Install 12.2 + software on a hard drive, then install the drive in the client's machine.
2. Install the drive in the client's machine, then install 12.2 + software.

Option 1 allows me to install 12.2 + software, at home. This would save the client a good bit of downtime over option 2- just install the drive and do the final tweaking.

My question is, is there a particular advantage to installing 12.2 on a drive that is already installed in the machine, or does it really matter?

If the above is too fuzzy I'll be happy to explain further if needed.

IMHO as long as the hardware is similar there shouldn,y be a problem and using the huge kernel even that shouldn't matter but I have found with fairly recent hardware that the actual install doesn't take as long as my post install tweeking these days.

The only thing I can't say: on a reasonably recent machine, a full install of Slackware 12.2 takes less than half on hour, final tweaking (here, at least) a lot more. This is particularly true if you have to deal with some exotic hardware, thus needing e.g. drivers not included in the distribution, unless you know exactly in advance what is your client's configuration. So all in all I don't see much advantage for way #1.

I would go with option #2. As mentioned a full install is accomplished quickly.

Thanks to all of you- this is just the sort of feedback I was looking for. I will install the drive, then install 12.2, software, etc.

If you want it to work with a 100% chance of success (excluding a few rare problems) go with #2. If you want a good but not perfect chance of success go with #1. Technically, chances are doing #1 is going to work just fine, but in some rare cases there may be problems detecting the HDD, or detecting various components that require disabling something, etc.

More good feedback- thank you, too!

Hi,

If your client doesn't need dual boot then Option #2.

If you are replacing the existing drive then the install will be quick with #2. If your client needs dual boot then you will need to do some tweaking with the install.