I'm getting ridiculously slow speeds downloading packages with slapt-get.

I've already edited the /etc/slapt-get/slapt-getrc file and changed the EXCLUDE to:

EXCLUDE=kernel-ide,kernel-source,kernel-headers,kernel-modules,kernel-ide-as,kernel-source-as,kernel-headers-as,kernel-modules-as,lilo,.*-[0-9]dl$,devs

I've also added SOURCE=http://www.audioslack.com/packages/10.1/

I then ran slapt-get --update
and then slapt-get --upgrade and the process begins.

"129 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded."
"Need to get 532MB/620MB of archives."
"After unpacking 173MB of additional disk space will be used."

(I had reset networking and rebooted as a test)

It's been running for over 4 hours now. I typically get transfer speeds in excess of 500kbps yet files less than a meg in size are taking 10 minutes to download.

Did I miss a step or did I do something wrong?

are you dling straight from the slack ftp?, if so pick a mirror.

Well the config file reads as follows after editting:

# See /usr/doc/slapt-get-0.9.9m/example.slapt-getrc
# for example source entries and configuration hints.
WORKINGDIR=/var/slapt-get
EXCLUDE=kernel-ide,kernel-source,kernel-headers,kernel-modules,kernel-ide-as,kernel-source-as,kernel-headers-as,kernel-modules-as,lilo,.*-[0-9]dl$,devs
# EXCLUDE=kernel-.*,alsa-.*,glibc.*,.*-[0-9]dl$,devs,aaa_elflibs,x86_64
SOURCE=ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-current/
SOURCE=http://software.jaos.org/slackpacks/current/
SOURCE=http://www.audioslack.com/packages/10.1/

I visited the www.slackware.com site and there is apparently a new SLP testing zone, http://slackware.it/en/

I tried pathing to the patches page and copy/pasting it into a new SOURCE= line but...

root@localhost:~# slapt-get --update
Retrieving package data [http://slackware.it/en/pb/browse.php...ent/slackware/]...Done
Failed to parse package data from http://slackware.it/en/pb/browse.php...ent/slackware/ <======= here is the fail
Retrieving package data [ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackwar...kware-current/]...Cached
Retrieving patch list [ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackwar...kware-current/]...Done
Retrieving checksum list [ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackwar...kware-current/]...Cached
Reading Package Lists...Done
Retrieving package data [http://software.jaos.org/slackpacks/current/]...Cached
Retrieving patch list [http://software.jaos.org/slackpacks/current/]...Cached
Retrieving checksum list [http://software.jaos.org/slackpacks/current/]...Cached
Reading Package Lists...Done
Retrieving package data [http://www.audioslack.com/packages/10.1/]...Cached
Retrieving patch list [http://www.audioslack.com/packages/10.1/]...Done
Retrieving checksum list [http://www.audioslack.com/packages/10.1/]...Cached
Reading Package Lists...Done

Still experimenting but no luck.

http://slackware.it/en/pb/browse.php...ent/slackware/ is a web page whose content is generated dynamically, it can't be used to fetch packages with a automated tool.
You've to point the SOURCE to one of these mirrors http://www.slackware.com/getslack/ along with the version you want to stay tunned with. Like: http://ftp.scarlet.be/pub/slackware/slackware-current/ or ftp://ftp.scarlet.be/pub/slackware/slackware-10.1/

here is mine

go on the site slackware.com, then get slack then pick a country then pick a mirror. And use that one as your 'SOURCE'.

Thanks guys. Both those links worked. I added them both since slapt-get will check for redundant redundancies...
Much faster. I can only image that the official Slack FTP is bogged down since that's the default config.

Thanks again. BTW, is it a good idea to automate a --update and --upgrade? Maybe make a Cron schedule for it?

No, actually, that would be an extremely bad idea.

Doing a full distribution upgrade with an automated tool like slapt-get is already a risky proposition, automating it and letting it run every day would be very bad.

Yeap, as slackware-current is keeping software to the latest version, when something changes like it happened with X.Org move from Driver "Keyboard" to Driver "kbd" your software will "broke" until you notice that.
The best thing you can do is to always read the slacware-current ChangeLog.txt and then when you're sure about the changes, run slapt-get --update && slapt-get --upgrade.
I did a simply alias en my bashrc to issue those command using one, I type: slapt-check and it does update and upgrade. But I use it manually, I get the changelog first.

If all slapt-get does is parse ftp directories and compare packages (either version or date I'm assuming) and then upgrade what's outdated, how is that a bad thing? Why wouldn't you want the latest available packages? I'm not doubting you, just curious. I'm very new to linux in general.

The reason I chose Slackware is because it's:
a) The most user-unfriendly so I'm forced to learn the OS, not just navigating a GUI.
b) It takes its sweet time confirming stability before it's implementd into a release.

With point b in mind, would't the risk be lessened?... Or am I still thinking too Windowsy?

You hit the nail on the second part.

There is a lot of testing and reviewing involved in a stable release of Slackware (and any distribution, really). When you update to Slackware-current, you are using untested software.

Now, 90% of the time, that might be fine. But every once and awhile, a mistake is made, or there is a conflict between two software packages, or as gbonvehi said, something may change internally.

With an automated update, you may never know what the cause of the problem was, or when it happened. It can leave you in a very difficult situation, as you try to fix a problem when you aren't even sure what happened.

So the safest ways to update are to either wait until a stable release, or manually update individual packages.

You could manually update the whole system like gbonvehi described, but only if you are sure of what will actually be updated, and if it is safe to do so (by reading the Changelogs, asking on forums, etc).

Careful, you'll get people who will argue that Slackware is the most user friendly, preference. :P

Having the current packages available isn't bad, just being blind about whats happening is horrible. Often Patrick will point out issues that must be corrected manually by you or else things are going to break and the only way to know, is to read the changelog.

Thanks again guys! As usual, a huge help!

Mmmmkay, you guys warned me and it happened...

The ALSA package upgrade from audioslack.com killed my sound. It errors out with "no device" and hints that I need to pass agruments to the insmod line (I'm assuming in rc.modules? or rc.alsa?)

Same issue with agpgart though this was happeneing even with the fresh install. I have an ATI X850 XT on the PCIE bus. I downloaded the new ATI Proprietary installer and modprobe'd fglrx but I'm still getting errors... once again hinting that I need to pass arguments.

I have NO idea what arguments are supposed to be passed and all my searches have come up dry. The patches I found posted don't work for me - "malformed at line 6" and whatnot. The modules DOES load, just with warnings. Been beating my head against the wall for 4 days now.

2 reloads
Several (I lost count) kernel compiles with both the default 2.4.29 and 2.6.12.2 sources.
Several downloaded packages, upgrades, and ATI driver installs - both manually and automated with the .run file on their site.

fglrxconfig always ends with "supported device not detected" and an incomplete xorg.conf file. Manually completing it does work but hardware acceleration craps out.

I know it's several issues in one thread and I apologize. My end goal is to have sound AND graphics pass the point2play/cedega tests, and maybe learn something along the way.

Regarding alsaconf read this thread: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=235122