I just got Mandrake a little while back because I wanted to try Linux out and learn my way around it a little. Well, I'm through that part of the learning phase. I want a distribution that doesn't hold your hand as much through everything. That's one of the reasons I wanted to try Linux over Windows in the first place.

So naturally I decided to try Slackware.. I dont really know where to start, being pretty close to a total newb. Obviously I have to burn the ISO's to disk, but there are a few things I'm going to need to know.

First of all, I need to format the partitions that Mandrake installed, I'm assuming, so I can install Slackware over them. Is there any kind of tool or method of doing this during the Slack installation? Also, how automated is the installation? Second of course is hardware. Is there any kind of autodetection, and if not, how do you go about installing and configuring hardware in Slackware, since I had no part in doing this when I installed mandrake.

Last but definately not least, is this a completely stupid idea for a newb such as myself to try? I just assumed that it would help me learn the OS better.

Any and all help is welcome.

Do you realize that in the time you posted that message you could have been..

1. Reading the documentation on www.slackware.org

2. Downloading the slackware 9.1 .iso



just kidding....

Just go read up at the slackware site. It will answer your questions and even answer questions you didnt even think of right away.

And instead of constantly changing distro's like alot of linux "users", (im not assuming you are). Start reading. The biggest problem that I see is that people get thier system all nice n configured the way they want and don't know what to do next. SO what do they do? Reinstall another distro. There is nothing wrong with that if your reinstalling over a distro you weren't happy with. But there are alot of other things you can learn about. Find a distro that your confortable with and stick with it. Get a book on tcp/ip and learn some networking skills, dowload Blender and learn how to do 3D modeling, or play around and actually get good at using Gimp, make a webpage, build a server get someone you know into linux and play around with ssh.

Im jsut saying that there is more to linux than playing with the OS. Its kinda sad how many people I have met at local Linux User Group meetings that dont actually USE linux for anything but something to add to thier CD library.

Just go for it

Sorry for the winded banter, but I dont have the free time I once did, and I wish I would have done more when I had more than 10 minutes to myself

Too much handholding? In Linux? We should have such problems!!

The whole reason I moved to Linux was to get out of the upgrade-a-thon, license renewal treadmill. On Linux, I can get it installed, get it configured and it's STABLE. I don't really have to do anything for years. It isn't going to bloat past my hardware capacity! What a concept!

I'm too lazy to work that hard as my own sysadmin. I don't pay myself enough!

"First of all, I need to format the partitions that Mandrake installed, I'm assuming, so I can install Slackware over them. Is there any kind of tool or method of doing this during the Slack installation?"

fdisk and cfdisk. cfdisk is easier to use as it is ncurses-based but does the job just as well as fdisk, so I'd say use cfdisk.

"Also, how automated is the installation?"

It depends on what installation type you select, but it ranges from some to almost no automation at all.

"Second of course is hardware. Is there any kind of autodetection, and if not, how do you go about installing and configuring hardware in Slackware, since I had no part in doing this when I installed mandrake."

Again, some. The Slackware installation program is called "setup" and it will guide you through various parts of the installation, which will include configuring things like your mouse, keyboard, and net connection. It will also try to set up your various drives and your soundcard for you. Whether it works or not depends on your hardware. In particular, if you have a cd-rw drive, you'll probably need to tinker with it post-install. Also if your mouse has a wheel you'll need to get that working yourself. The good news is the fixes are well documented and easy to do.

Your monitor and video card will work after your install, to a degree. To get them working at their full potential you'll need to go through xf68config, and for cards like nvidia will also need to download and install drivers.

"Last but definately not least, is this a completely stupid idea for a newb such as myself to try? I just assumed that it would help me learn the OS better."

I went straight from Windows to Slackware. Going from MDK to Slack shouldn't be too big of a jump for you.

Why change? You don't have to use any of the gui tools that mandrake provides. Why not use the cli exclusively?

carlywarly:
VOX AC 30 by any chance?????

Is it a top boost?

---------------------------
Matchless HC-30
Trainwreck Liverpool
ToneKing Imperial
Blackface Bassman 50
----------------------------

No, we're talking hi-fi. 4 EL34s in parallel single-ended mode to give 1 amp of music (so 4 watts into 4ohm speakers 8 into 8 ohms up to a maximum of 11 watts). I do strongly endorse the use of valves in PA amps, too

May have missed it but I didn't se the format question answered.

During the slack install you will be given the opportunity to format your linux partitions. That's also an opportunity to wipe what is currently on them.

If you have linux partitions and swap already there's no need to do it again unless your were not happy with what you had in mdk.

Swap size depends on your hardware. After that you could get by with one partition for everything. At least 2, one for / and one for /home is acceptable. Better still /, /usr, /usr/local/ and /home.

With /usr/local and /home on seperate partitions, you won't lose what you have on them in a reinstall, etc. Some people put /var on a parttion by itself but it's not necessary unless your generating allot of log entries.

My first distro was Mandrake and I thought it was great for a while. But then I went to install software that needed to be compiled and ran into a whole bunch of problems. It was a long time ago, but it seemed that anything I needed to compile just wouldnt work.

I went to slackware and it was way easier. Slack dosnt have as many things pre installed as Mandrake but when you need to compile something, most of the time it will actually compile. I may be wrong but it seemed to me that Mandrake had too many conflicting 'systems'. For example, you go to compile a program and it says you need a newer version of something, but another program that is already installed needs the version you currently have installed.