slackware linux installation guide
I wrote this for all the people who'd like to give slackware a try, but think its hard....
Tell me what you think, and feel absolutely free to addon to it if you want
Ok, I'm writing this help file because a lot of people seem to have problems installing Slackware Linux. It's really simple to install, but I suppose people seem to get intimidated by the fact its a text-based installation. So before you begin, BACK UP ALL YOUR IMPORANT DATA ON A CD, OR COMPUTER.
So lets start out from the beginning, Turn on the computer, and stick the Slackware Linux installation CD in the drive. Most computers will boot directly from the CD, and you'll have a prompt asking you what kernel you want to boot. Most people can go with the default kernel, but there are circumstyances where you may want to consider the others.
usb.i – Use this if you have a USB keyboard or mouse
scsi.s – This is for use with scsi systems
adaptec.s – This has support for most Adaptec SCSI and RAID controllers
jfs – This is the default kernel (bare.i) with support for the JFS filing system
speakup.i, .s, 2.s – These are kernels with Speakup speech support, the .i is for ide based systems, the .s is for scsi based systems, and speakup2.s is for older scsi systems
raid.s – This has support for a veriety of raid controllers
xfs.i bare.i with support for the XFS journaling file system
If I missed any, you can press F3 at this prompt and get a complete list of them, and a short description.
Now lets move on, assuming we're using a standard ps/2 mouse and keyboard, and we can just hit enter for the default kernel.
It will now decompress the kernel and load it, and shortly you should be prompted for a keyboard map. If you're in the US, and using a qwerty keyboard (look at the first row of letters starting in the first row on the left, Most will spell qwerty) you can just hit enter here, If you're out side of the US, press 1, and it will bring you to a list of many different countries for dvorak and qwerty keyboards.
Now it will ask us to login as root, so we can begin the installation process. So type root, and hit enter.
Ok, here comes the trickiest part of the installation. Partitioning your hard drive. Now, its really not that hard. If you already have the partitions set up (you'll know if you do), you can skip this step.
So lets type cfdisk at the prompt it gives, as it's the easier of the two to use. Now if you're converting from windows, you'll likely see 1 partition, called hda1. If you're switching from another linux distribution, you should have skipped this step.
So starting out, use your left arrow key to highlight delete, and press enter, It will ask you for confirmation, answer it with a yes. Now, here you have to plan your swap disk. The less ram you have, the bigger you want your swap partition, and the more ram you have the smaller it can be. So lets make a swap partition of say 350mb. That's a good size for pretty much all computers.
Heres where you really need to pay attention
At the top of your screen, it will say the size of your hard drive, first in bytes, then in MB. Take the size in MB, and subtract 350 from it. Now highlight the '[ New ]' button by using your left arrow key, then select primary, It should now ask you how big you want the drive. Put in the difference you got when you subtracted 350 from the total amount of MB. This will be your main partition.
Now you should be back at the main screen, and you should have two entries now. One being hda1, being listed as a primary partition, with a filesystem type as 'linux'. The second being free space. There should be 350mb of free space. Scroll down to it, using the down arrow key, and then once again select new, primary, and put in 350 (it should already be there for you). Now you have your swap partition. Now for Slackware to know which partition to boot, and which is the swap, we need to tell it that, So with the partition hda1 selected, press enter with the [ Bootable ] button selected.
Once again, use the down arrow to select hda2, now you have to use the left arrow key a lot to get over to 'type', hit enter and you'll be brought to a list of different file system types. You'll want to use 82, for a linux swap, so type 82, then press enter.
Ok, we're done with making the partition, so move with the left arrow key over to write, and press enter. It'll ask for confirmation, type yes, then press enter, it will write it. Now you can select quit, and hit enter.
We're ready to begin the actual install process. So lets type 'setup', and press enter, and begin. You can scroll down to ADDSWAP, as we've already done the keymap step. So select addswap, and press enter. It should detect your swap partition as /dev/hda2, and ask you if you want to install it as your swap partition. Press enter for yes, and it will format it, and add it. When its done, it will prompt you saying that it will be added to your fstab (A file used to control mount points).
It will now give you a message asking you to set up your target (install) drives, press enter for yes. /dev/hda1 will be listed, press enter to select it and continue. It will ask you to format it. Select Format, and press enter. It will give you a choice of a file system type, It doesnt matter which you use, but I prefer reiserfs, whichever you chose, it wont alter the installation. It will now format it, and promt you that it added it to the fstab.
Next you need to select your installation source. Press enter and you'll be given a list of diffeerent sources. We're using the Slackware CD-ROM, so select it, and press enter. It will give you the option of autodecting your cdrom or manually doing it. So lets go with auto. It will prompt you to make sure the disk is in a cdrom drive, and then press enter, and it will scan, and detect it.
Now we start with the catagories of software we'll want to install. Most of these will be used at some point in time, so look over the list, and then press enter. Now it will give you another prompt about package selections, press enter again, and we can chose which one we want to do. Full install is the easiest, as you dont have any menu's to interrupt it, you can do something else while you're waiting Read the descriptions for the others, but for ease of use purposes, we'll be doing a full install.
Select full, and press enter, and it will begin installation.
Next You have to select a linux kernel to install. We want one off the slackware cd. So select cdrom, and press enter. Next you'll have a list of kernels. Select the one you chose at the very beginning, for most people, it will be bare.i.
When that's done, you'll have the option of making a emergency boot disk, Its not a bad idea to do this, especially if you're new to linux. So get a 3.25” floppy and stick it in, and select yes, to make the disk.
It'll now generate some gnome documentation, then ask you if you want to try out some custom screen fonts. Select NO, and it'll save you some hassle, so select no and press enter.
Now for 56kers, this is your time to shine...You can select what port you modem is on. If you know what com port it is in windows, then you should be ok.
Next we want to install lilo, the linux boot loader. Select a simple install. Now you have a choice of installing it to the MBR, the bootable partition, or a floppy. The safest way is with a floppy, but its ok to do it to the MBR or bootable partition. Select the one you want, and press enter. Next you can decide what frame buffer you want. 1024X768x256 looks nice, but it may not be supported, so go with 640x480x256, to be safe. Next you can set up any needed lilo tags. If you have an ide cd burner, youl'l need to put in something like hdc=ide-scsi, hdc can be either hdb,hdc, or hdd, etc depending on where it is on your ide channel. If you dont know, its ok we can put nothing, and you can add it later. If you dont have a cd burner, you dont need to put anything here. Press enter when you're done, and we can continue.
Ok, we got lilo squared away, so now we select our mouse. Most people have a ps2 or imps2, if you have a usb mouse, select usb. It'll then ask you if you want to have gpm start up at boot. If you're using the X server, then this will cause problems, so select no.
If you have a network, now you can set it up. It'll give you a brief promt telling you what it's doing, so hit ok. Now you enter your host name, this can be anything you want. Next your domain. Most people will want to just put localhost here. Next you select your type of IP, you should be able to know this. It'll ask you for your IP if you go for static, then your netmask, gateway, and nameserver. If you go with dhcp, it'll ask for a host name. Press enter when you're done, then you want to have it probe for your network card. Chances are it'll find it. Select probe, then hit enter. It'll give you a messaeg saying it found one, or it didnt fine one. Hit ok again. It'll then ask you for confirmation, press ok if its good, or no to reconfigure.
Next is a simple sendmail configuration. Just select smtp and hit enter. Then it'll have you'll have to set your computers clock. Select no, then select your time zone.
Now we select what default gui we want to use when we start up the X server. Most will want to use KDE or Gnome. Select which one you want, then press enter. It'll prompt you for a root password, make one, then you're done!
Exit the slackware linux setup, then remove your cd, and reboot!
Congratulations, You just installed Slackware Linux.
