captain-sensible
Well-Known Member
well at least you have grub and can still boot up :^)
How To Get Grub Back With My Fresh Slackware Installation
- Thread starter Alexzee
- Start date
Yeah, I'm going to leave things alone as they are.
Thanks for your help captain-sensible:-
Yes, thank goodness.
Thanks for your help captain-sensible:-
captain-sensible
Well-Known Member
if you think about it (in a simplistic way) once system has done post test it hands over to boot loader. Now you removed pks lilo (legacy) and elilo (for uefi systems) but of course data would still be present. It could be 512 bytes or what ever on MBR or on a partition. When i did dual boot it was all on same drive, so probably one thing wrote over or took precidence over another. In your case there are a few more parameters. I guess if the bios boot order boots up sda then ,the lilo/elilo info comes into play. if it boots other drive then i guess what ever boot loader info on that partition will be invoked. perhaps somebody might clarify this ? for us
Had a quick look at the video you used to help install. Actually its very good because he bothers to explain how to use a slackbuild and what to do. There are other tweak he might not have mentioned . If you didn't click on menu something to start at boot, eg cups then you have go into /etc/rc.d eg if cups doesn't have permission to start. If you have cd'd into /etc/rc.d it would be :
# chmod a+x rc.cups
then
# /etc/rc.d/rc.cups start
after that it will starts auto at bootup. What about IP firewall for slackware ? Have you done that , Alien Bob has an easy answer
Had a quick look at the video you used to help install. Actually its very good because he bothers to explain how to use a slackbuild and what to do. There are other tweak he might not have mentioned . If you didn't click on menu something to start at boot, eg cups then you have go into /etc/rc.d eg if cups doesn't have permission to start. If you have cd'd into /etc/rc.d it would be :
# chmod a+x rc.cups
then
# /etc/rc.d/rc.cups start
after that it will starts auto at bootup. What about IP firewall for slackware ? Have you done that , Alien Bob has an easy answer
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I'm pretty sure that the BIOS is controlling the boot process of my distro's.
No, I haven't done anything with the IP firewall. I don't know how:-
I'm a bit confused trying to follow along too. In the post I quoted above, the output from
fdisk -l shows the "boot flag" (represented by a * character) for MX Linux at /dev/sdb1, and Linux Mint at /dev/nvme0n1p2.... but Slackware on /dev/sda1 does NOT show a boot flag, yet it still boots.All 3 discreet hard drives are shown to be set up as "dos" and I would expect in this setup that each distro would have it's own bootloader stored in MBR of each drive... that's 2 copies of GRUB and 1 copy of LILO. I didn't watch the Slackware install video (almost an hour long)... but I suspect that your Slackware installed like a UEFI system using ELILO. UEFI doesn't use MBR, and instead creates a separate partition (/efi) on the hard drive. I'm guessing that /efi is your boot partition on /dev/sda, but it isn't showing up with fdisk.
Mixing UEFI and Legacy multi-boot systems on the same hard drive is asking for trouble, but I think in your case you are okay because each is on it's own separate drive, each with it's own bootloader. I think that using your BIOS Boot Menu (F8) is probably the best way to switch between them.
Using the BIOS Boot Menu works if I want to boot into MX Linux or Linux Mint so I'm glad about that.
If I don't want Grub than I just don't hold down F8 and the machine boots right into Slackware.
I'm not sure why the partition isn't showing up as bootable. I made the ext4 partition bootable during the installation.
What's even stranger yet is I removed lilo and Slackware still boots.
In 8 years of running Linux I've never seen this happen.
I think your right the boot partition must be /efi:. It has to be because nothing else would explain how Slackware still boots.
When I have more time I'll read the BIOS manual.
captain-sensible
Well-Known Member
the good news he has Slackware installed and other stuff i've never heard of, do you think we will have another Slackware convert?
captain-sensible
Well-Known Member
Just for clarity, where and what is your grub setup . Did you have to do any manual edits ? From memory on some OS there is a function grub-update, i think that didn't work for me last time i had grub. What do you have on the partition that is set as first to boot in boot menu. Here's another question, i hear Slackware 15 will come out sometime maybe next year. Do you think Pat V will stick to Lilo ,( its still being used current) or make a quantum leap to GRUB?
captain-sensible
Well-Known Member
ps Since this thread is a lot about slackware started "anatomy of a slackbuild script" i'm not going to rush it https://docs.slackware.com/howtos:misc:anatomy_of_a_slackbuild Not sure what their copywrite rules are, but for me I don't mind if my content is 1) other slackers chip in 2) its cleaned up and presented here maybe as something like "understanding a slackbuild script" or similar ...
I didn't have to do any manual edit's.
Linux Mint currently has the boot in the Grub Menu.
I suspect that Pat will stick with LILO as that's what he has always done.
A quantum leap to Grub would be nice. We'll see what happens.
Linux Mint currently has the boot in the Grub Menu.
I suspect that Pat will stick with LILO as that's what he has always done.
A quantum leap to Grub would be nice. We'll see what happens.
captain-sensible
Well-Known Member
in the past when there was a new Slackware release I basically backed up data, then just installed new release- and put back data in home ,tedious I admit.
Now however I think current at this stage after 3 years should be close to that which will be 15 stable. Thus i will start to read up on updating whole system. It would be easier if Pat V sticks with same kernel as current which is 4.19.75 , although more of a challenge it would be great if it can be 5.4
Now however I think current at this stage after 3 years should be close to that which will be 15 stable. Thus i will start to read up on updating whole system. It would be easier if Pat V sticks with same kernel as current which is 4.19.75 , although more of a challenge it would be great if it can be 5.4
When Slackware 15 is out does that mean we can upgrade or will it require a fresh installation?
BTW I did some reading about Slackware-current and I couldn't find any documentation that specifically said you have to run slackpkg update to update the system.
Running slpkg update works just fine on my system and all is well.
Also, I downloaded Clonezilla. I plan to clone the Slackware-current install that I have in case anything goes wrong.
Having kernel 5.4 for the new up-coming Slackware-current would be nice.
I'm off to install Steam and find some games.
BTW I did some reading about Slackware-current and I couldn't find any documentation that specifically said you have to run slackpkg update to update the system.
Running slpkg update works just fine on my system and all is well.
Also, I downloaded Clonezilla. I plan to clone the Slackware-current install that I have in case anything goes wrong.
Having kernel 5.4 for the new up-coming Slackware-current would be nice.
I'm off to install Steam and find some games.
captain-sensible
Well-Known Member
i have re-visited this thread since i have some new info. I installed the slackware current in September when it had kernel 4.19.75 there's been some recent updates if you look at the change logs and the kernel is now 5.4.12 So i raised my conscious from my usual gino d'acampo (minimal effort maximum satisfaction) and forced my self to look into things.
Firstly i had a look if i was actually booting from the EFI or from MBR . When i looked at config files there were entries for both. As with everything else there are simple ways to find out without having a stroke. I went about by simply editing /etc/lilo.conf what would be seen on splash. To make double sure i also edited /boot/efi/EFI/Slackware/elilo.conf renaming initrd.gz to initrd_old.gz and making adjustment to :
chooser=simple
delay=1
timeout=1
#
image=vmlinuz
label=vmlinuz
initrd=initrd_old.gz
read-only
append="root=/dev/sda3 vga=normal ro"
on shutdown and start I could see initrd_old.gz was evoked.
the point here is that once new kernels have been installed and update done then you have to run either eliloconf or liloconf depending and which is being used BEFORE you shutdown PC
Firstly i had a look if i was actually booting from the EFI or from MBR . When i looked at config files there were entries for both. As with everything else there are simple ways to find out without having a stroke. I went about by simply editing /etc/lilo.conf what would be seen on splash. To make double sure i also edited /boot/efi/EFI/Slackware/elilo.conf renaming initrd.gz to initrd_old.gz and making adjustment to :
chooser=simple
delay=1
timeout=1
#
image=vmlinuz
label=vmlinuz
initrd=initrd_old.gz
read-only
append="root=/dev/sda3 vga=normal ro"
on shutdown and start I could see initrd_old.gz was evoked.
the point here is that once new kernels have been installed and update done then you have to run either eliloconf or liloconf depending and which is being used BEFORE you shutdown PC
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captain-sensible
Well-Known Member
now then the way to upgrade kernel and packages.
Now i've been told to back up as much as you can. So i did a complete backup
of /etc . i just did it by first CD'ing to /etc then using this command :
ls | cpio -o > /home/andrew/Desktop/etc_bk/etc.cpio
it created a single file called etc.cpio
copied /home same way.
I also used fsarcher to make copies of /dev/sda3 to be honest i'm not sure if i would have been completely able to restore using the above.
Anyway next i went to https://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware64-current/slackware64/
the kernel packages and mkinitrd-1.4.11-x86_64-14.txz are in "a" directory. Note i swent for the generic kernel only not the huge.
kernel-firmware-20200114_9c340bd-noarch-1.txz
kernel-generic-5.4.12-x86_64-1.txz
kernel-modules-5.4.12-x86_64-1.txz
mkinitrd-1.4.11-x86_64-14.txz
So i used a combination of manual using : upgradepkg mkinitrd-1.4.11-x86_64-14.txz
(cause the old one is present) and
installpkg kernel-generic-5.4.12-x86_64-1.txz
the rest i used slackpkg. I made sure i had the most up to date.
So i read https://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware64-current/README.initrd
and a few of other files just to be "aware" of possible gotcha. After that i followed Alien Bob "system upgrade" page at:
docs.slackware.com
So now using kernel 5.4.12
Desktop files etc still there . and a lot of packages not touched and still working because i used blacklist
Now i've been told to back up as much as you can. So i did a complete backup
of /etc . i just did it by first CD'ing to /etc then using this command :
ls | cpio -o > /home/andrew/Desktop/etc_bk/etc.cpio
it created a single file called etc.cpio
copied /home same way.
I also used fsarcher to make copies of /dev/sda3 to be honest i'm not sure if i would have been completely able to restore using the above.
Anyway next i went to https://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware64-current/slackware64/
the kernel packages and mkinitrd-1.4.11-x86_64-14.txz are in "a" directory. Note i swent for the generic kernel only not the huge.
kernel-firmware-20200114_9c340bd-noarch-1.txz
kernel-generic-5.4.12-x86_64-1.txz
kernel-modules-5.4.12-x86_64-1.txz
mkinitrd-1.4.11-x86_64-14.txz
So i used a combination of manual using : upgradepkg mkinitrd-1.4.11-x86_64-14.txz
(cause the old one is present) and
installpkg kernel-generic-5.4.12-x86_64-1.txz
the rest i used slackpkg. I made sure i had the most up to date.
So i read https://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware64-current/README.initrd
and a few of other files just to be "aware" of possible gotcha. After that i followed Alien Bob "system upgrade" page at:
howtos:slackware_admin:systemupgrade - SlackDocs
So now using kernel 5.4.12
Desktop files etc still there . and a lot of packages not touched and still working because i used blacklist
captain-sensible
Well-Known Member
see below or it seems above !When Slackware 15 is out does that mean we can upgrade or will it require a fresh installation?
BTW I did some reading about Slackware-current and I couldn't find any documentation that specifically said you have to run slackpkg update to update the system.
Running slpkg update works just fine on my system and all is well.
Also, I downloaded Clonezilla. I plan to clone the Slackware-current install that I have in case anything goes wrong.
Having kernel 5.4 for the new up-coming Slackware-current would be nice.
I'm off to install Steam and find some games.
captain-sensible
Well-Known Member
just going to say if you upgrade 14+ current , and keep doing it then the day before or on same day that 15 is released 14+ == release15
At that point you have a choice because the cycle starts again or you edit your configs and "switch: mirrors etc from current to stable
At that point you have a choice because the cycle starts again or you edit your configs and "switch: mirrors etc from current to stable
captain-sensible
Well-Known Member
Must say i can see improvement against older version!
