@H_TeXMeX_H: Seems like a "dialogue de sourds" as we say in French. OK, let's say it's my fault as I speak and write English poorly. Case closed on my side.

Hi,

I'm going to flip this as a lot of users seem to miss a lot by not reading the great documentation that is provided for the Slackware install. If everyone would follow the lead from the docs then a lot of problems would be alleviated. Most of the problems that I notice here on LQ would be not sticking their heads up if the OP had just read a doc such as: 'CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT' or associative text files.

Another big problem is that most users default to the huge kernel when PV & Team suggestion is to use the generic kernel for daily use with a initrd. Which if the user reads the suggested file '/boot/README.initrd' to know how to implement thus having a bootable system. I could continue with examples but it would be better for everyone that is interested to peruse the Slackware Forum.

I do like the idea or philosophy behind Slackware of open information and functionality! Not hidden nor is it difficult to learn how things are implemented. OPEN!

My point is 'RTFM' or 'RTFD' that are available to assist in the Slackware venture to hopefully have a working Slackware system without too much effort. But when you have a problem then be sure to post it with relative information to the Slackware Forum.

So I guess that my 'something that you do not like about slackware' is that a lot of new users don't prepare themselves for a new install. There are responsibilities on everyone to know what's necessary to have a good functioning system. Again 'I don't wanna hold your hand'... What's the next chord or is that chorus? I gotta read the sheet when I can find it!

1 members found this post helpful.

Sigh. No, one -generic, one default filesystem. Not using the default filesystem? Build an initrd, exactly like you have to now. Using more than one filesystem? Build an initrd, exactly like you have to now.

Don't care to get fancy with the filesystems? One filesystem for everything fine? Then you wouldn't have to fool with mkinitrd.

Add the following line to /etc/rc.d/rc.6:

Make sure you put it in before the filesystem unmounts. Works for me.

As for whoever was complaining about Nvidia drivers, the packages at Slackbuilds.org work fine. I installed Slackware for the very first time early last week and had 3D acceleration working within 30 minutes of booting up.

Complaints about Slackware? I have one. I don't like the full install. Yes, I know, disc space is cheap and I have a lot of it... but I like simple, clean menus that aren't chock-full of applications I don't use.
Other than that i think Slack is pretty much flawless... and I've only been using it for a little over a week.

Hi,

You have the option to tag it. Or do a minimal and add to suit your install. I agree that a full install may cause the lose of time but a recommended install type for a new user. Plus the Slackware distribution is used world wide to multiple user types. So some people wants are totally different than others. I think PV & Team do a wonderful balanced install and a good methodology to allow user selections.

Welcome to our forum!
I'm happy to hear you like Slackware. I was a Debian user before (nice distro). Now that Slackware is up and running you could use pkgtool to remove the applications that you never use.

# pkgtool

2handband;
there are so many options with Slackware, the most simplistic (perfect) distro ever.
Tagfiles

thats the key to any minimal reproducable slack install
tagfiles

http://www.bilbos-stekkie.com/tagger/tagfiles.html

http://www.flaterco.com/kb/slackware.html

http://www.slackbook.org/html/packag...-tagfiles.html

http://chelskov.org/node/4

http://connie.slackware.com/~alien/tools/tagfiles/

http://mysticalgr.awardspace.com/?p=353&page=2

EDIT: LOL why did it doublepost?

2handband;
there are so many options with Slackware, the most simplistic (perfect) distro ever.
Tagfiles

thats the key to any minimal reproducable slack install
tagfiles

http://www.bilbos-stekkie.com/tagger/tagfiles.html

http://www.flaterco.com/kb/slackware.html

http://www.slackbook.org/html/packag...-tagfiles.html

http://chelskov.org/node/4

http://connie.slackware.com/~alien/tools/tagfiles/

http://mysticalgr.awardspace.com/?p=353&page=2

That's what I've been doing. Next time I do a Slackware install (I'm going to slowly migrate the rest of the computers in the house from Debian to Slack) I'll cherry-pick through the packages... I had no idea it was going to install so much stuff. I've got this one cleaned out pretty good at this point; I've probably got some orphaned libraries lying around but whatever. Glad to be here!

Actually, the installer already should know what filesystems you intend to use for your partitions. It asks you fairly early in the process.

How many disk drive controllers are you going to build into the generic image? The installer doesn't know about that.

I think you'll end up with what we already have: a kernel with everything in it so that you can do an initial install and a generic kernel with the bare minimum to boot with which you use an initrd.

Unless someone can write a script that would troll through /sys to figure out what minimum set of modules should be loaded by initrd to allow you to boot into runlevel 3.

The script /usr/share/mkinitrd/mkinitrd_command_generator.sh does just that.

Eric

I use the huge kernel for a first boot on a clean install, then I compile a custom kernel before all else. Today, I compiled 2.6.34 and that replaced 2.6.32. Compiling kernels is getting very complex with each new release, and I am no kernel expert.

Also today, I experimented with an initrd on the stock generic kernel. It worked just fine, but it was a bit slower to boot than my kernel. That said, we are only talking about ~10 seconds. Later, when I have more time, I am going to give the above script a run and see what happens. Curiosity killed the cat!

The generic kernel is about 2.4mb and my kernel is about 1.9mb. Not a big difference anymore.

Cool. Does the installer ask if you want to run this? (I haven't done a full install in quite a while.)

For that matter, why isn't this in root's standard path? It Would Be Nice (TM) if tab-completion of "mkinitrd" offered "mkinitrd_command_generator.sh" as a possible completion.

Okay, another issue... it was a mistake to package Firefox 3.6. It's crash-prone. I'm going to remove it and install 3.5.

No, but internally, the team had this working end of 2008 already. It's just never gone public.

Not everything needs to be that obvious. Reading documentation in the Slackware DVD's root-directory is what reveals the existence of this script.

Eric