I'm a complete newbie and have been having a go at installing Slackware. I've downloaded the files ("a", "f" and the xfce files from xap) from the internet and booting to do the setup using a flash drive. The downloaded files are on the hard drive.

I get to the point where I choose "newbie" mode for the installation. It then just scrolls quickly through something, saying it's loading <a>, etc. then it says "Setup complete. System config. and install is complete. You may EXIT setup and reboot your machine with ctrl=alt-del".

I've found some instructions online that indicate that there should be various configuration prompts, which I'm not getting. If I select "Configure" from the menu, it doesn't open anything, just jumps to the top of the menu.

Can anybody enlighten me as to what I am doing wrong/what I should do next? Thanks.

Slackware will not work with just the "a" "f" and part of "xap" package sets. Why do you try this as a newbie? A full install would be more advisable, you can trim your install later.
At least also install "ap" and if you want to use XFCE, you will at least also need all of the "x" series too. Still, that will not give you a decent system either.

Eric

I've tried this because the Slackware site says that "A" is "The base system. Contains enough software to get up and running and have a text editor and basic communications programs." So, is that wrong?

This is a learning exercise - I'd read that Slackware was a good way to learn.

Hi,

I would suggest that you look at 'Slackware® Basics' or 'Slackware® Essentials' to help you with the exercise.

These links and others are available from 'Slackware-Links' .

I had already - that's where I found out that configuration options were to be expected.

It's not wrong, but a bit terse. Series A packages are enough to boot up with command line and basic *nix commands but no X and almost no network utils.

Absolutely! As Alien Bob said, doing a full install is easiest, but you won't learn much.

Recently, I just installed A and then added bits from N to get some network utils and a web server (LAMP) going. apache wouldn't start at first, so I read its error messages and installed packages from AP, N and L until I got it all working. Took time and patience but I learned a lot.

But how do I get it to boot/install? I get to where I select "newbie" mode. The linuxbasics screenshots (thanks to author, very helpful) indicates I should then get to choose the kernel - that doesn't happen.

Where does the setup information come from? Is it on the flashdrive (part of usbboot.img?) or where? Could there be something wrong with the usbboot image and I should try a different way to install? Does anybody have any ideas? Thanks.

Ah, didn't take in this bit:

In newbie mode there should be loads of screens giving you info on packages and asking you if you want to install the non-required packages. It sounds like you might have the package dirs in the wrong place. The dir structure and names should be the same as on a mirror site or the first CD (but you don't have to have all the package dirs under slackware/ if you're not installing them):

I called them the same thing as in the directory.... It seems as if they are found, because it gives a message that it's doing this and that. It seems more to me that the "configure" part of the setup doesn't run - nothing happens when you select it from the menu separately, either. Anyway, thanks for your help. Maybe I'll have another crack at it one day, but as for now, I've declared it a dismal failure....