I'm attempting to (re)install slackware on my laptop.

Everything goes smooth, except for that the installer refuses to install KDE and GNOME. It does however install blackbox, WM and a few other window managers, but I feel more comfortable with KDE (having several administration tools within reach, etc).

So I figured I could download the kdebase-3.1.4-i486-1 package and install it, but it seems I have missed something about installing packages under slackware? When I downloaded the package and "tar zxvf" it, it created a few folders I recognized (etc/ and a few others), but I found no installation instructions. So I tried to copy the .tgz to / and re-did "tar zxvf", hoping it would make things work.

Fine, it did extract all the files, but I can't run "kdm" or any of the other commands mentioned in the package description.

So -- what to do? How do I get KDE installed?
I suspect KDE might be on CD2 or something of the Slackware installation set, but I haven't got it, and even if I had the ISO I haven't got CD-Rs to burn it on.

Any help would be appreciated!

Get the packages from www.slackware.com . Use 'installpkg' to install. If you have the iso file, you can mount it like a cd rom using the '-o loop' option. Remember, you need several packages for KDE, not just the 'base'.
Edit: see this: http://www.slackware.com/pb/?vers=slackware-9.1&set=kde
You will need kdebase, kdelibs, qt, and more. You don't need all of them, but there are several you need. I found a list somewhere on the site with what's needed, not sure where it is.

yeah, that solved it, of course ;)

thanks!

You might try running 'pkgtool', some fairly basic instructions (pkgtool is pretty intuitive) on how to use it. If you have the first CD of Slack, I think KDE is on the first CD as well (GNOME is for sure). Anyways, you can put all of the packages you want to install in an (empty, preferably) directory, run pkgtool from there and tell it to install all the packages in the current directory.

'installpkg' isn't all that much harder to use and I would reccomend using it to try and install the entire set if you feel up to it. Whichever you feel the most comfortable with (I use both depending on what's the most convenient)

Alternatively you can mount the install CD, change to the package directory that you want (/mnt/cdrom/slackware/(gnome or kde I think) and tell pkgtool to install all of the files in the current directory. There are some files that you certainly don't need for KDE and GNOME but there are so many dependencies you might just find it easier to install the whole pile. Personally I like to make it as slim as possible but for those two WMs, there really isn't much you can shave off.

You'll also need to make sure you have the right libraries installed from the 'l' set (/mnt/cdrom/slackware/l) as there are a number of dependencies needed from there as well (such as gtk and ncurses). I've done some research in the past on what's needed and what's not but I'll have to track it down and post later. Again, if drive space isn't an issue and you'd rather have something running now and research later, you might just install the whole set.

What installation method did you use in installing Slack?

How old is your laptop? If you're running a clunker, you might consider running a different WM like Ice. If KDE is installed, you can still use nearly all of the GUI tools that come with it in another WM.

Hope this helps

NtB

Seems that was the problem, there is no GNOME or KDE directory under slackware/ on my CD... Wonder where I got that CD from...

Anyway, I got KDE up and running now, so thanks for your tips both of you!

I think I will do as you suggested and try out Ice and a few others, since my laptop is fairly low on RAM; 64MB on a 550MHz PIII... It's the only thing I can complain about on this laptop, really.