Making a Slackware Installation (current)

Darx · 04-13-2004, 09:26 PM

So here's this thing... how do I make a slackware installation? I was checking Distrowatch and on a whim decided to check out Slackware, turns out it looks pretty sweet. KDE 3.2, kernel 2.6~ and Gimp 2.0 pretty much sealed the deal for me.

But, for some reason, I was under the impression that 9.1 and current were the same thing, so I ended up wasting about a third of my monthly bandwidth on something I really don't need at all... what I'm looking for right now is a self-contained, bootable set of installation cds that don't require me to download a bunch of crap (with the exception of the cds themselves) just to get started.

I don't know why, but I really like Slackware so far, so I wanna ask you folks this:

How the hell do I turn all that crap in the 'slackware_current' folder (of all the http and ftp mirrors) into a couple (or 3, or 4, whatever) cds that boot up and install just like as if I had downloaded isos?

And, just so you guys know, I might have to use another distro (probably a Knoppix distro) to download and install, so if there's some kind of special, Slackware-only way of doing this, lemme know so I can.. I don't know, force my cd drive at gun-point to burn cds in slackware.

cybrjackle · 04-13-2004, 09:36 PM

Well, you could use swaret to bump up to current, but if you want to waste more bandwith you could try these current cd's that are built once a week.

http://slackware.no/

Quote:

ISOs: Unofficial current ISOs found here. New build every Monday at 0600 CET - use at your own risk!

I just built 2 other box's today and I was up to current in under 2 hours with downloads and upgrades using swaret.org

cybrjackle · 04-13-2004, 09:40 PM

Another thought is download all the dir you want and follow this:

Code:

To make a bootable Slackware install CD, get into the top level Slackware
directory (The one with ChangeLog.txt in it) and issue a command like this
to build the ISO image in /tmp:

mkisofs -o /tmp/slackware.iso \
-R -J -V "Slackware Install" \
-x ./bootdisks \
-x ./extra \
-x ./slackware/gnome \
-x ./pasture \
-x ./patches \
-x ./rootdisks \
-x ./source \
-x ./zipslack \
-hide-rr-moved \
-v -d -N -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table \
-sort isolinux/iso.sort \
-b isolinux/isolinux.bin \
-c isolinux/isolinux.boot \
-A "Slackware Install CD" . 

Then use 'cdrecord' to burn it.  (See 'man cdrecord')

Notice that to fit the install image on one CD, you must exclude GNOME:

-x ./slackware/gnome \

or exclude KDE:

-x ./slackware/kde \
-x ./slackware/kdei \

or, leave them both off:

-x ./slackware/gnome \
-x ./slackware/kde \
-x ./slackware/kdei \

or, leave off the KDEI series (KDE translations):

-x ./slackware/kdei \

You decide. :-)

----
notes:
   The isolinux/isolinux.boot file will be created on the CD;  it's not
   supposed to be in the source tree.  I mention this only because so many
   people reported the "missing" isolinux/isolinux.boot file as a bug.

  I don't know how to create a bootable Slackware ISO on operating systems
  other than Linux, but it should be easy to burn the Linux-created ISO with
  most CD burning software on any operating system.

  UPDATE:  I've now been informed that there's a Windows version of mkisofs
  available from ftp://ftp.fokus.gmd.de/pub/unix/cdrecord/alpha if you want
  to try to make the ISO image under Windows.  I haven't tried this.

  Techincally the --boot-load-size should be a lot bigger, like 20 or so
  in order to hold the isolinux.bin boot block.  However, setting it to
  4 causes it to load on more BIOSes.  I don't know why, but I've had so
  many people report this to me that I'm inclined to believe it.  But, if
  the resulting discs don't boot in your machine and you find that using
  a more correct value here fixes it, please let me know!  If it's going
  to be broken for some BIOSes either way, I'd rather be correct.

I used to do that method my self. That can be found on any of the mirrors from

getslack @ /slackware-current/isolinux/README.TXT

which ever way you decide to go, if you already have the 9.1 cd's you might as well just use swaret. Just my thoughts.

freychef · 04-13-2004, 09:43 PM

Install swaret, change the config file to current, swaret --update then swaret --upgrade.

End of story.

Darx · 04-13-2004, 10:21 PM

Wow, thanks for all the info jackle.

Heh, time to give all this a try.

Darx · 04-13-2004, 11:46 PM

One last question... there are two ISO I'm seeing, one is about 1.2 gigs and the other is 730 megs.

I guess you can see where I'm going, what with cds only going up to 700 megs...

What now?

American Psycho · 04-14-2004, 12:11 AM

if you're in linux now, just download the iso and use cdrecord

as far as 9.1 and current, current is the last release, and 9.1 is the last release, so if you look "current" is (for the time being, until a new release) really just a link to the 9.1 folder

Darx · 04-14-2004, 12:56 AM

So... cdrecord splits the iso up into multiple cds or something?

I'm grabbing the 1.1 gig iso.

Meh, if all else fails, I'm sure there's prolly an isobuster clone for linux...

American Psycho · 04-14-2004, 01:32 AM

there should be two separate isos for slack 9.1....?

Darx · 04-14-2004, 01:46 AM

As far as I know, Current and 9.1 are a bit different... current's basically 9.1, but not 100% stable and with updated packages, like gimp 2.0 as opposed to 1.2, kernel 2.6 instead of 2.4, and KDE 3.2, which is a huge update over 3.1.

I've been doing a little reading, and I'm not sure, but I think I can mount the ISO and extract the files, then maybe make 2 new isos using Jackal's instructions above..

Unless anyone knows how to burn one bigass iso to two cds easily, heh... heh?

American Psycho · 04-14-2004, 01:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Darx
As far as I know, Current and 9.1 are a bit different... current's basically 9.1, but not 100% stable and with updated packages, like gimp 2.0 as opposed to 1.2, kernel 2.6 instead of 2.4, and KDE 3.2, which is a huge update over 3.1.

I've been doing a little reading, and I'm not sure, but I think I can mount the ISO and extract the files, then maybe make 2 new isos using Jackal's instructions above..

Unless anyone knows how to burn one bigass iso to two cds easily, heh... heh?

i think he means at the ftp mirror sites though, correct? in which case they are the same (because the current folder is just a link to the 9.1 folder)

but Darx is right, there is a "bleeding source" version that you can get by typing swaret -current i believe

cybrjackle · 04-14-2004, 08:22 AM

You are right, the only iso that is going to work is the 700mb one

NoKDE NoKernSRC

With the really large one, all you could do is mount the iso localy and upgrade that way.

Again, I would really suggest using Swaret and updateing to current from your 9.1 disk. It will be faster and you already have 9.1 installed/cd's????

Darx · 04-16-2004, 02:37 AM

Meh, I ended up extracting all the files from the giant iso and making two new ones using some commands I found somewhere on this site. It was sweet, everything worked perfectly.

And the reason I do things this way is because I prefer not having to upgrade something as soon as I install it.. I can deal with having to configure x86 right off the bat, but... I dunno, I guess I was just pissed cause I misread the packages for 9.1 as current and ended up wasting a lot of bandwidth. Call it being stubborn, I guess.

jxn · 04-22-2004, 11:48 AM

hey man,

can you post on how you extracted the giant iso and made new ones?

I plan to do the same.

Quote:

Originally posted by Darx
Meh, I ended up extracting all the files from the giant iso and making two new ones using some commands I found somewhere on this site. It was sweet, everything worked perfectly.

And the reason I do things this way is because I prefer not having to upgrade something as soon as I install it.. I can deal with having to configure x86 right off the bat, but... I dunno, I guess I was just pissed cause I misread the packages for 9.1 as current and ended up wasting a lot of bandwidth. Call it being stubborn, I guess.

BlinDlucK · 05-12-2004, 04:02 PM

wellllll

u could always burn the file to a DVD =]