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seeking advice regarding Slackware
Hi,
I have been using Linux for nearly three years now, but please consider me a newbie. I have used RedHat, Fedora, Mandrake and Debian. I want to try Slackware. However from what I have heard from others, I have come to a conclusion that Slackware installation is slightly more difficult. Hence I seek advice of users of Slackware regarding its installation. Especially on what type of installation media is available, whether graphical install is available or not, what issues must be kept in mind during installation, what is the default package manager, etc., besides their experience with Slackwar vis-a-vis other distros like Debian. Is there any major performance difference in Slack and Debian in terms of responsiveness of common applications like OpenOffice and FireFox. I have a P4 system with 256 MB RAM. Awaiting your advice, |
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Just try to install it and you shall see how easy it can be, following up the on-screen instructions shall make it easier. As long as you have already use other linux distros, it won't be as hard as if you were coming directly from windows.
Slackware does not have any graphical installer, just boot from the CD, set up your partitions, and type setup so it can configure the filesystems and packages to install. Slackware doesn't have a proper package manager neither (though pkgtool could look like it), so you don't have to worry for dependencies. I have not used Debian, so I can not tell you about any performance differences. Give it a try and you shall love it forever ;) Peace :cool: |
Slack has a reputation for being difficult to install simply because some people are terrified to use anything other than a graphical installer. The Slack install is actually very straight-forward and no more difficult than installing any other distro.
After installation there are some additional configuration steps you have to go through, including configuring alsa and xorg, but it really isn't difficult. Best advice would simply be to give it a try. As for performance, I have found Slack to be among the fastest of distros. |
If your familiar with the command line, are comfortable with manually editing text configuration files and your first course of action when you stuck is to read man pages or use google then you will not find a distro simpler nor easier to use than Slackware.
Keeping Slackware updated is a little different than other distros, it entails reading the changelog, then manually downloading the appropriate packages and upgrading them rather than have a package manager do it for you. There are some third party package managers about but many slackers will not rely on them for system updates From time to time I try another distro but I always decide they are too complex, Slackware encourages the user to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty, but other distros seem to try and keep you away from the system, and the System V init system seems unnecessarily complex, I always end up coming back to Slackware. |
I think the only hard thing about the installation (at least for me) was the lack of tolerance for mistakes (in a sense). If you choose an option you didn't mean to choose, you can't just go "back" to the previous page and redo it. You have to start the whole thing over (unless there is something I am missing). Overall it definitely wasn't difficult to install, I just found that to be a little annoyance more than anything. Good luck with the Slack. Prepare to be addicted. ;-)
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Slackware Linux Essentials
Read it, know it, get to love it. ;) |
SLW install
I found reading Simply Linux by jzblack(downloadable) chapters on SLW10 install and config. very instructive. This book includes install/config guides for for many linux versions. I follow the guide on every SLW install, along with the SLW Handbook.
But the install is pretty straight forward--simpler to me than installing debian 3.0. |
Thank you all for such prompt replies, non-graphic based installer is not a big hinderence as Debian too doesn't have a graphical installer (as far as I know) and I was fairly successful in installing Debian.
I shall give Slackware a try as soon as I get hold of an istallation medium. In the meanwhile I will read as much as I can about Slackware installation and maintenance. Thank you all once again. |
slackware install
Slackware rocks! It is the fastest of the non-source distros, and the most stable. Configuration is dead easy--unless you prefer the "click and pray" gui method. Also, if you install software from source, slackware is the most likely for your compile to work, as the libraries are where they're supposed to be.
The installer is not hard to use and hardware detection is quite good; just read up on fdisk first, as you will probably have to partition your disk by dropping from the installer to the shell. When you finish, just type Code:
setupHave fun |
Just to add my two cents worth. The Slack install can be broken into a few steps.
1. fdisk- set up root and swap partitions. 2. Run setup install slack, (choose full install) 3. Set-up networking, choose DE, and some other stuff. 4. Re-boot into your new slack system 5. Log-on as root, create users, set-up alsa, set-up x windows run xorgconfig. 6. Log-out of root, log-in as regular user. 7. startx Note: I am also a Debian user. I really like Debian, but, I think Slack is faster. Your P4 should be blazingly fast running Slack. Slack rocks!! |
Slack isn't particularly difficult to install, it just gives you a *lot* of options. In my own experience, I've found that it's helpful to know as much as possible about your hardware, though.
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When you run xorgconfig you will be answering a series of questions about your keyboard, mouse, video card, etc. If you know the information setting up x windows is easy in slack. |
Configuring X, sound, etc may not be very difficult. I am worried about partitioning. I have a 40 GB h/d on which reside Windows, Debian, Mandy and Xandros. I have no other option but to install Slackware over one of these. I hope fdisk gives me a way of selecting already existing partitions (logical or primary).
Anyway the best way of finding it out is by doing it. I hope to get my slackware CDs today. I will go about installing it as soon as I get them. Thanks guys for your invaluable advise. |
slack install
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You will need at least two partitions, / and swap. If you have other linux installs, they can all share the same swap partition. You could actually share one home partition between many linux distros, but I would advise against trying to use the same user with each. Other distros heavily customize kde (even if you have the same version) and the rc files may not play nicely with slack. cheers |
Yes, further to the previous post if you've got partitions you can install over one of them, you don't need to partition your drive.
If you want to look at your partitions just type this after you've booted from the 1st slack install CD and logged in as root fdisk /dev/hda (type enter) then type p That will give a display of all existing partitions. btw, http://www.slackbook.org/ is an excellent resource |
Slapt-get
Get Slapt-get from here:
http://www.linuxpackages.net/download.php?id=7419 then open terminal su password installpkg slapt [hit tab twice or so] slapt-get --update slapt-get --upgrade slapt-get --install [package = foo] slapt-get --remove foo slapt-get --clean more stuff on man pages man slapt-get add more repos /etc/slapt-get/slapt[hit tab twice or so] SOURCES= Can anyone recommend some good repos? |
I was pleasantly surprised about the Slackware installation, and how the setup program deals with partitions. It shows you the existing partitions, and asks you which ones you want to use, and where you want them to be mounted in the filesystem.
These may not be unique to Slackware, but here are some areas where I ran into problems with installing or configuring Slackware.
I agree with the comment about knowing your hardware configuration. If you have a SATA or RAID disk controller, make sure you know exactly which one, and check if Slackware has a standard driver. Some SATA or RAID controllers can be supported by drivers from the manufacturer's web site (Promise FastTrack RAID). The drivers for SATA controllers were a bit confusing to me, because there are two different drivers that will work "piix" and "ata_piix". The "ata_piix" driver is preferable. If you have a chipset or controller that supports both SATA and PATA drives, it wasn't clear how that is supported, or if it is supported. The ALSA web site is a good resource for setting up your sound card. Different sound cards each have their own set of peculiarities and requirements. A mouse with a wheel, and extra buttons may require some rearranging of button code numbering in the configuration. Otherwise the wheel or the extra buttons may not work. Make sure you know exactly which graphics adapter you have, and also the type of graphics chipset on the adapter. You may have to use either one of those to select a graphics adapter for X-Windows. Also, the cards and chipsets are not strictly in alphabetical order. The nVidia GeForce is hard to find in the list, but it is there. On some of the newer Intel chipsets, you may have to force the GART driver to load, since it doesn't recognize the hardware. Trying to generate the KDE application manuals search index results in the error, "htdig failed". So far as I know that is a bug. I had problems with the linux font in KONSOLE. I had to install some of the kDE fonts manually. That corrected the problem. The KDE KICKER program has bugs that cause it to crash on logout. Some people reported system crashes, but I've only seen KICKER abort without causing other failures. Disabling the "System" menu in the extra menus makes the problem less frequent. |
Hi! If you are wondering about using slackware I will tell you a couple of things..
I consider myself a linux newbie, started using win95,98,me,2000,xp.. as you see I've used all windows versions there is, and gone deep into how it works. But all of the time I didn't seem to come deep enough of what I would like to do! Then I tried linux from a friens adwise. Started with mandrake 8.0. At the beginning everything saw very hard and difficult.. Reinstalled windows over and over again.. The main thing for me was the lack of games and multimedia programs for linux that made me go back to windows! Then when the intrest of using servers, linux got back strong. Then I used a linuxserver sharing files to winclients using samba. This works great, viruses and that sort of stuff is nothing to worry about! I'm very pleased with that.. After trying many distros for desktop use I downloaded the 4cd-set of slackware 10.2. Looks great with kde 3.4, though it is a text install, unlike fedora and mandrake, it installs fast and all works.. Partitioning my harddrive was done quickly and easily! Took only a couple of minutes before it was up and running.. Sometimes its all about the command-line, but this is learned very fast.. I am used to the "click&pray" method coming from windows, but command-line isn't that hard, you can read your way through it! AMD ATHLON 64 3200+ 2.2 GHz 1024 MB RAM CDROM&DVDROM 200GB DISC NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256MB Windows XP PRO Client AMD ATHLON 2100 1.7 GHz 512 MB RAM CDROM 80GB NVIDIA GeForce 5700 SLACKWARE 10.2 Client Compaq Armada M700 P3 750 MHz 128 MB RAM DVDROM 15GB DISC Ati Mobile Graphic (8MB) SLACKWARE 10.2 Client AMD DURON 1300 1.3 GHz 256 MB RAM CDROM 15GB+160GB+160GB DISCS Linux MANDRIVA 2006.rc2 DHCP SERVER, SAMBA, SQUID, Router/Firewall Server This setup works great for me, wanting to learn more of linux, uses it on two clients! |
Slackware rocks!
I got my Slackware CDs yesterday evening.
Installation was not difficult at all. I installed it over my xandros installation. Everything went on smoothly. I had some problem getting my wheel mouse to work. It works now but the scroll-wheel is not working. Thanks to anonymo, I have installed slapt-get successfully. I am now into slapt-get --update. My only growse is I am running kernel 2.6.12 on my Debian install but it is still 2.4 in Slack. There is one more issue that has to be sorted out. There seems to be some problem with display because the display is shaking. Even in text mode, the display is shaking. Thanks to all of you to have helped me out in installing Slackware on my system. You people have been very cooperative, friendly and knowledgeable. |
adityavpratap, welcome to Slackware!
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<I had some problem getting my wheel mouse to work. It works now but the scroll-wheel is not working.>
In /etc/X11, edit xorg.conf, Input Device Section by adding the lines Option "ButtonNumber" "5" Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" |
Re: Slackware rocks!
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And congratulations to installing Slackware :) |
Thanks guys, I finally got the mouse to scroll and upgraded to 2.6.10 available on the second CD.
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Well done! Welcome to Club Slack!
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