Hello, is it just the mirror I chose or is there no DVD version yet for 10.2 ? (I'm pretty sure it's just the mirror but I also want to introduce myself ^_^)

I'm downloading the .iso's for disks 1 and 2 as I read thas all I'd need - and I'd rather 2 CD-R or 1 DVD then 4 CD-R. I hope not to have any problems with the 2.6 Kernel or my cheesy hard drive controller. Debian GNU/Linux, Spinix Linux, NetBSD all had problems /w it. So far only FreeBSD and PC-BSD have actually supported all my hardware...

I'm no stranger to editing text files, working with users, shells e.t.c (I also live in a virtual terminal along side Vim) but I'm new to Linux, I've used BSD for a good while now, but trying to install Mandriva One's Live+Install CD kinda ran AmaroK on my PC-BSD install & who knows what else with it's GRUB. so I can't reinstall my beloved FreeBSD..... So maybe this is all in vein. And a little Linux is better then no BSD !! So heres mud in ya eye! (I'm not able to low level format my HDD since I can't find my RvS Key = cannot afford to reinstall Windows)

Slackware was the only distro that looked good when I started looking for a Unix like system, but BSD won out. So I thought I'd give it a shot now.

Operational Self Check List:
Slackware Linux 10.2 Disk 1/2
Slackware Linux 10.2 Disk 2/2
boot with 2.6 kernel
fdisk into (hopfully as good as fbsd's fdisk)

1 ext3 primary partition
1 swap partition within a logical drive.

Ensure boot loader goes into Linux partition not MBR
install/configure
keep GAG boot-CD ready.
setup/install/find software as needed
Update system libs e.t.c..
_____

If all goes well with trying to set up slackware, and my sister can get me that laptop for my birthday maybe I'll even dual boot Slackware with PCBSD on it.

I'm used to compiling software via ports in FreeBSD, and to a lesser degree via untaring source balls & configure/building programs but how would I go about getting all the general codecs needed for playing allot of media files (such as wmv/wma) ? I doubt it's as easy as cd to a directory && make install clean to get all the codecs I'll ever need on my desktop.

Again Greetings Ok done with questions and introductory commenting, hope to be up and running tomorrow: Thank yall for ya time. I'm off to programming studies while this downloads.

PS: Lynx users forgive me if this WYSIWYG editing mode does produces problems in your browser, but there was no option labled Vim in the forum setup

PPS: The spell check option does not format perfectly in my Fire Fox 1.5.0.3 browser.

Well the installer was good. Skipped installing LILO for safty reasons.

GAG (my boot manager since the loss of PC-BSD) detects slackware fine, the problem is it gives some sort of sector boot not found or something. I don't have a floppy in this system, so inless I can use the floppy boot disk files to make a cd rom instead I can't use that. Tried booting off the install disk to run configure stuff - no luck. Even a minmalist reinstall as ext2 instead of ext3 & no go. So I intend to try a reinstall later with a standard kernel rather then the test26.s

It seems that I may truly be forced to wait for a laptop before I may get a decent operating system. (Windows XP MCE does not count as decent)

Why not install lilo to the mbr?

I do it on all my systems, and as long as you use 'expert', never had an issue.

And, BTW, Welcome to Slackware!

TerryP,

You can use with some good reads first, rather than making assumptions:

http://www.slackware.com/
http://slackbook.org/html/index.html
http://www.slackbasics.org/html/slackware-basics.html

I always like to have The Fine Manual around so I can Read it at work I came to the conclusion I should try a reinstall and install LILO and rely on it to get Slackware booting, then reGAG the system. However your Fine Manual has confirmed the installer would allow me to preserve my MBR Sorry Mandriva kinda bit my nerves for boot loaders being installed with an OS as I'm kinda touchy about that (Master Boot Record).

Do all Linux Distro's require a boot loader in / to load as part of installation? As I've said I'm familer with BSDs but not Linices. I know that the BSD boot loader uses the BIO's to find what it needs then hands it off to the FreeBSD Kernel so the bootloaders (in the MBR) a tad independant of the actual OSes.
And if it wasn't for an issue of only one primary partition being marked bootible for BIO's (according to cfdisk) would having a boot loader to run lilo to boot slackware even be needed?

Please pardon my additional question, and thank you for pointing me to the manual

For Linux, no partition is needed marked as 'bootable'

And, as I stated earlier, use the 'expert' lilo install option, and install to the mbr. I have three different versions of windows and slackware on one system , and lilo handles them all with no issue

Adding to cwwilson721's advice, I use Slackware on all 6 computers in this home. And any Linux system I build gets Slackware. They all have LiLO installed in the MBR -- dual boot with Windows -- triple booting with Windows XP English, Windows XP Chinese, and Slackware. The old warning about installing in the MBR is no longer applicable with modern hard drives.

Let me show you the output on this dual boot so you know about the parts:
You might not realize what's mounted, but can see that only Windows has a bootable partition.

If you don't want LiLO to be your bootloader, you can use NTLDR and let Windows do it. Some of us, like me, are against Windows doing anything unecessary. In fact, I no longer need Windows, as I run the software I needed Windows for in QEMU in Slackware. Just too busy to format and repartition the drives yet -- still behind on backing up that old one.

Slackware is going to have a steep learning curve, but if you stick with it, you'll have a system customized the way you want it one day.

Installed LILO to / and set it up in GAG so I now have a puggy tux sitting on my monitor when I boot up:-)

Getting a feel for the diffrences, exspecially the /etc directory but thats whats documentation is for. Although I didn't like not being able to use a capital letter when I created my personal user!

Sitrep: Mouse not working, Internet Not Working, All else is Green. (Well I didn't check gcc but I'll trust you there) and there's an ALSA driver for my audigy 4 so I here.

I'll use disk1 to reconfigure and get my mouse working (KDE/Blackbox/Windowmaker are kinda lonly without it.) As for setting up my internet I'm just going to have to see if these old "Self-Study Course" Linux books from SmartCertify Direct of mine are not to too out dated (printed 2000, and I'm on Networking any way). Then see if I need to go ahead with toying around with ALSA or not.

In the mean time I'm going to copy the vim source over from my shared partition so I can compile my beloved editor and do some home work. An X Server I can live without easy as long as I'm not using GUI based app, it's just like one huge xterm!

The only thing that concerns me is why is my hard drive activity light always steady while Slackware is booted?

(For reference to space between root and swap) Drive layout is:
4.34GB unused | 180GB NTFS WinXP | 80.69GB unused | 67.52GB ext2 Slackware | 32GB FAT32 Shared Files (Logical) | 3.89GB FAT32 Linux Swap (logical) | 97.21GB + unused space in exended partition.


Maybe I might even fiddle with a custom kernel after my feet dry off a little more, I never wanted to on my BSD System since it came with a SMP kernel option and didn't want to fiddle over my head when I was learning that system.

Thanks for all the help & advice, off to reboot / fix my keyboard so I can hit a few games (why I run windows) before I get back to my programming study.