I have to say that these complainers just show their inability to administer. Granted, it is extremely rare that I come across some urgent need that isn't there in a Full Release, BUT when I do I haven't forgotten how to do "./configure && make && makepkg /tmp/foo.txz". Recently I did have greater difficulty making 14.2 a Pure ALSA system with full functionality, but even that came around in just a few days. I greatly appreciate the Full Releases and the care that PV puts into them but they never leave me stuck. What do these people imagine they need so badly they can't get?

1 members found this post helpful.

I have to say, I loved Slackware, but in the last week I sold my Slack Laptop and am just using my desktop. I totally fracked my system trying for days to get Slackware on it.

I wonder, why is it so difficult for Slackware to install on UEFI hardware? Every other distro makes it as easy as a regular BIOS install.

Well, poetgrant, I'm guesstimating since I avoid UEFI boot (I find it an unnecessary PITA), but I'm pretty sure there is documentation for installations that use either eLILO or Grub. I'm also pretty sure that assuming your install media did actually boot, which it seems obvious it did, the initial stop page where one can enter boot parameters will allow you to boot the installed system quite easily where you can recover by enabling Grub or eLILO. Right?

There is. I tried the eLilo approach and no matter what I did, I couldn't get it to boot. I couldn't actually figure out how to make grub work. I used to think I was pretty good at all things Linux, but now I am beginning to think that maybe I'm not.

I setup eLilo according to the tutorials I found and rebooted. When it booted, oddly enough, it loaded a grub screen! I didn't even install grub! So I'm not sure where that came from.

I had similar issues. Success relies on you formatting the EFI partition in exactly the right way, and I didn't feel this was well documented, or easily discovered from a quick google. It was by playing around with other distros that I eventually figured it all out. I can add something to https://docs.slackware.com/ if you think it would be useful (can't promise when though).

2 members found this post helpful.

Please do add something. Right now it just says something like 'skip lilo setup and proceed setting up elilo' which doesn't actually help. I did make an efi partition, but didn't really know what to do after that.

I wish there was a way to ask The Benevolent Dictator to add a whole UEFI section to the install. I would donate big time because I love Slackware more than my current Linux Mint setup.

Haven't bothered about trying an uefi setup myself, but to me it seems as if this info from docs.slackware is pretty straightforward:
https://docs.slackware.com/howtos:sl..._uefi_hardware

1 members found this post helpful.

Isn't it on the installation media (iso)?
http://slackware.oregonstate.edu/sla...EADME_UEFI.TXT

1 members found this post helpful.

It's not.
The instructions are all in there, but essentially, it boils down to this:
1. Use GPT partitioning, not MBR... ie: Use gdisk, not fdisk.
2. Create a small-ish EFI System Partition at the start of the disk (type EF00 in gdisk). The size doesn't have to be any bigger than 300Mb, and you could most likely get away with less. I like to plan for the future, so I usually allow at least 250Mb.
3. Partition the rest of the disk as you like, using type 8200 (Linux filesystem) or 8300 (Linux swap).
4. Create a vfat filesystem on your EFI System Partition.
5. Start the Slackware installer and it should work on the first try.

If you want to dual boot with an existing Windows installation, then steps 1 & 2 are already done. You've just got to shrink the Windows partition (using diskmgmt.msc from within Windows) before starting the Slackware installer.
All your hardware must be either 32 bit or very old.

7 members found this post helpful.

The answer to your question is no!
Slackware has updates almost every day.
It depends on how you prefer to use or upgrade your system.

Slackware ChangeLogs
http://www.slackware.com/changelog/c...php?cpu=x86_64

I use Slackware Current, but it's up to me when I want to upgrade.

This site for example gives you a brand new updated Slackware ISO every Tuesday.
ftp://ftp.slackware.no/slackware/sla...e-current-iso/

Or you can simply use slackpkg, And keep your slack updated every day if you prefer.

But I want to make one thing very clear.
Slackware is so good you never need to update!
Believe it!

The new generation has been deceived by the media.
Where update is synonymous with new and good stuff!
It is not! update is to make people change what works, often for something that doesn't work. It's called Marketing

And because of this nonsense, which is a circle of lies, a lot of developers come up with unnecessary upgrades just to say they are doing something.

Understand that a thing done well, lasts forever! It does not need to be changed!

The Slackware Philosophy is to work! And to perfection.
Unlike most distributions out there that in less than 3 minutes of use, give error message and freeze just like windows

I don't want to talk bad about the other distributions, but I can say that the most known and updated, can not stand 10 open windows without presenting some crazy error.

I'm a Slackware user for the only reason that:
If he breaks it is because I did shit!
Because I hate systems that break alone! Without explanation.

And I use the Current version, which is obviously less stable than Stable. However, Current is so good that in my comparison with the vast majority out there is 10 x 2

I love Slackware because it doesn't use SystemD
I love Slackware because my computer never freezes, even with 10 FIrefox windows open, 100 tabs on each, with 5 Konqueror windows with 20 tabs open on each, using Transmission, Listening to Clementine, Editing Videos, and not closing any program or window, because I stopped in the middle of work, and getting so months, ruffling all ... and my Slackware NEVER froze for my bad use!

All distributions I tested by putting more than 10 programs running froze.

Right now I have 30 applications running, and Firefox with 14 tabs open.

And my system is running on my notebook for 15 days without being shut down. But it's been almost 1 year on, never restarting!

I am a bad system user! Because I am abusing, and abusing always ...
But I'm proud Slackware can handle the nonsense I sometimes demand!

OBS This is not advertising!
Slackware doesn't need this!

It's just a simple user, explaining how I use my system.

4 members found this post helpful.

Let me just add this to what rkelsen wrote:

• Windows 10 can still be installed in Legacy mode. In this case it will set up a DOS partition table (that is the case if you install it yourself, maybe not if your machine is recent and Windows was preinstalled).
• A GPT (GUID partition table) has indeed advantages, but the current UEFI specification still allows to continue using a DOS partition table if you can and your context allows.
• fdisk can be used as gdisk to set up a GPT (not to despise Rod Smith contributions and yes gdisk offers specific features).
• The implementation of the UEFI specification by a machine's firmware may vary, depending on the manufacturer and the machine's age.
• Many machines have still an hybrid firmware, i.e. allow to boot in either Legacy or UEFI modes. If that is the case and if you want to be able to boot also in Legacy mode and use a GRUB boot loader and manager a GPT will need to include a small Bios Boot partition (1M is enough) without filesystem, to allow booting GRUB in Legacy mode.

For 14.2 it was impossible for me to install ELILO and boot the newly installed Slackware system under UEFI from the install media. Until I figured out one could boot the new Slackware partition with a usb boot disk and install Grub from within the Slackware once I got it booted up.

Well, I'll get a new laptop in a few days which will almost certainly have UEFI. I'll let you know how a new install goes.

Converting my BIOS boot to UEFI boot (using GRUB2) was pretty painless on the two systems I have with UEFI enabled motherboards.

I will try on more time. I did do this a couple of times now. Quick question about #4. I created the EFI partition, but then you say create a vfat filesystem? This must be the part I didn't do. I'm going to be honest and say that I don't really know how to get to this point. Is it done with gdisk? Also, do I just use gdisk for all of the partitioning or switch back to fdisk/cfdisk after I have my EFI partition? I hate to be the noob here, but I have never had to even worry about EFI on any other distro.

I always use fdisk for creating partitions. Here is the command list in fdisk:

I believe the option you want there is 'b'.