I installed slackware and needed to use the sata.i kernel in order for it to see my sata drives. Now that I have it running I checked and it recognizes 1 cpu, this processor is an P4 w/HT, so I'd like smp support for it. Got help at another forum for Ubuntu, but that wasnt workign for me, though apt-get was nice for updating the kernel. I assume its not so easy for slackware.

So i need to find the kernel that supports smp and sata? Or am I way off?

Thanks.

With Slack you will need to recompile your kernel with smp & sata support.
It is not really that difficult and there are some very good guides at the top of the Slack forum.

Ya I glanced over the guide real quick, but how do I know what kernel supports sata and smp? It seems like the guide assumes I know where the kernel I want is.

It not a pre-made kernel. You download the kernel (full version), and compile it yourself.

The sata.i kernel is a precompiled 2.4.13 kernel. The one you make yourself is whatever you want to call it.

Read the sticky. YOU make the kernel. During the config portion, you make it support sata & smp

You get the latest kernel from kernel.org. I forget where it is but when you make menuconfig you have to make sure SATA is selected in the menu.

Ah! Time for some heavy reading then

Ok, in the guide, for lilo.conf do I add the .old junk after # Linus Bootable partition config ends and then add that at the bottom, or after the readonly line on the linux option do i just add image/root/label and then read only?

also how do I save in pico?

Add this to the end of lilo.conf: Edit by your needs and then run # lilo to check if you haven't made any errors, which will also put this new information into lilo.

To save in pico type control + o, then filename where to save, or ctrl + x, and then y (if you editting already created file).

What I have:

#Other Operating Systems Partitions config begins
windows crap here
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = linux
root = /dev/sda2
label = linux
read-only
# Linux config ends

Now do I add the new oen so that it looks like this:

#Other Operating Systems Partitions config begins
windows crap here
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = linux
root = /dev/sda2
label = linux
read-only
# Linux config ends
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = the new one
root = the new one
label = the new one
read-only
# Linux config ends

or this:

#Other Operating Systems Partitions config begins
windows crap here
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = linux
root = /dev/sda2
label = linux
read-only
image = the new one
root = the new one
label = the new one
read-only
# Linux config ends


Thanks, sorry for the ghetto representation, i'm not at the box to read/copy the real lilo contents.

Things after # are comments so they are not read by lilo. You can add anything you want after them.

Yes. Do it like the first example

Ok so I edited the junk with pico like the guide says, but it flies past things for me.

I'm in make menuconfig, the guide says to make the changes I want, well isnt this gonan change the kernel I already have installed?

It tells me to add the .old stuff, but hasnt yet told me to change the actaul files that lilo would load, and now i'm messing with the kernel?

I think at this point I need to rename the kernel to whatever.old and unzip the new kernel that I chose and downloaded, right?

Well I screwed it up good, never did any renaming out of pico, followed the guide and added smp that i wanted to the 2.4 core and it wouldnt load at all, the slack.old though it seems to be good, it loaded, but startx now has errors and wont load. Looks like reinstall time lol

What errors do you get now when X tries to start?

If possible post your errors here before doing anything else so we can see if we can salvage your system and get your kernel installed ok.

Peace...

Ok, trying on the "Linux" option in lilo I get:

kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k block-major-8, errno=2
VFS: Connot open root device "811" or 08:11
Please Append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 08:11




Then on slack.old that actually loads up to the logon. I dont know how to read all the stuff, its more than a page, but the last page of it is:

EE xf86OpenSerial: Cannot open device /dev/mouse
No such device
EE Mouse1: Cannot open input device
EE PreInit failed for input device "mouse1"
No core pointer

Fatal Server error
failed to initialize core devices

Please consult X.org foundation support

XIO: Fatal IO error 104 connection reset by peer on X server ":0.0"
after 0 requests (0 known processed) with 0 events remaining.