ok
heres what i would like to do:
remove the windows XP from my laptop, and put slackware on
i was reading the help manual on the slackware install and it said i have to have a linux partition
do i have to have a linux partition even if i will only have one OS?
and do i have to have a swap partition, whatever it is?
next
i need major help taking windows off and putting linux on
i have no experience in partitioning.

S-M

1. yes, you need a linux partition. reiserfs or ext3 would be good choices. you can do that in slack install.
2. yes, you also need a swap partition. one way to think of swap is space your memory can temporarily use if it gets overloaded. your swap partition generally should be twice the amount of physical ram, e.g., 256MB ram, ~512MB swap.
3. to remove windows should be easy, you don't have to do anything special. just insert the slackware CD and follow along. i believe slack will prompt you to set up partitions, or else type cfdisk at a prompt. delete the windows partition first and then create your swap and linux partitions. a good beginner scheme is one root partition (/), one home partition (/home) and swap. if you have any more questions post back. gl

once Slackware CD boots, after going through the first few steps(mainly just hit enter), at the # prompt, u just enter cfdisk /dev/hda, it will bring up the cfdisk menu for your pationing needs. I like cfdisk more than fdisk. IMO, it's easier to use. Try it.

PS:I am assuming you are installing Slack on your first harddisk, thus hda. This link has a very good installation guide, it used fdisk for the partioning though.

http://www.bitbenderforums.com/vb22/...?postid=311808

how do i setup a swap partition
i got a linux one setup
and left room for a 256 mb space
then created it
but i went back into setup
hit ADDSWAP
but it says i still havent set one up
plz help

thanks

S-M

just change the type to 82, that's for swap

thx
that worked
i got it set up
and i rebooted
when the computer boots up
it does the normal thing
then it says:

Welcome to Linux2.4.22 (tty1)

darkstar login:

i have no idea what this is

then it asks for a password
so i typed in my root password
but i get:
Login incorrect

S-M

have you set up the root password during the installation stage? if yes, then at darckstar login: type root then follow by your password, if no then just root and hit enter, you will be at the prompt#. Once you are in it, u should adduser for the users that are going to use your pc.

I hope I am not misleading you in any way, a i am pretty new to linux and slackware myself.

k
i will try when i get home
thanks

ok
i added me as a user
and logged in
but now
im still in root
how do i get to my desktop?

type login, then your username then password(if any). you will be brought to the $ prompt. Type startx, it will bring you to the default DE. If it fail to start, then you should rerun xf86config at root. go through all the questions, answer them one by one. then do another startx, it will bring you to the default DE. You can change the default DE by using xwmconfig.

Bear in mind that my method is newbiesh, it can get the job done, but i am sure there is some other more elegant ways to do it. Cheers.

ok
new problem
lol
when i was installing
it ask what window manager i wanted to use
i didnt see KDE in there
so i chose xfce
how can i change my default to KDE in the root part because when i boot xfce i get an error

i had the same problem with xfce, but never botherd by it as i use only KDE or fluxbox.

No KDE? Pop in your cd2 and mount the cdrom. go the the directory where kde is. cd to kde then type pkgtool, the pkgtool utility will be started and you will be asked if you want to install this or that, for now, choose all of them. I remember they don't have aRts in the same directiry, it is at l directory of your cd1. Do the same for l directory and use installpkg arts...tgz, then relaunch xwmconfig. You should see kde as one of the coices there. choose ok kde, then startx, kde will be started. Good luck.

i know this is a major noobie question
but how do i mount a cd rom?

many thanks newinlinux

Assusming you have not altered anything in /etc/fstab yet, then you should su to root, and type mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom at the console. After the cdrom is mounted, you just cd to the directory where kde is(i am assuming you have not gotten to the kde directory in cd2 yet ). One way to see where the directory is to ls /mnt/cdrom. With ls command, you can see all the directories within the cd.

Hmm, SykoMachine, you do need to read up alot more, maybe you should get the very neatly written slackbook at http://www.slackware.com/book/(outdated, but still quite relevant), ls can be found at chapter 10 of the slackbook. If you can, print the whole book out(in double sided), read through them. You will sure can benefit alot from it. I love to help you to get started, but at the rate we are going, you won't get to use your Slack any sooner. So it will be better if you have a handy little guide with you. I am not online the whole day anyway. Your patience and persistence is great though.

Cheers!

when you are done installing kde, you should umount the cdrom by umount /mnt/cdrom, then eject. I cannot remember if the installer will umount and eject for you, but if it doesn't, do the above.