Slacked my Netbook

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Lately, I've felt like a few things have been running strangely on my Arch installs. Not totally sure if it was from inherent Arch Instability or something I did wrong.

For some reason, the Slackware USBboot did not like my HP Mini and would freeze even though it worked fine on my old Laptop. Fortunately, I read that there was Unetbootin support for Slackware so I just used it to stick the DVD ISO image onto a USB. I would recommend this method for any beginners trying to install Slackware and having issues.

I have had FreeBSD on this Netbook in the past and Slackware seems similar but is much more friendly with hardware detection. I also like Slackware's Network Manager over FreeBSD's WifiMgr package. It was much simpler getting the finicky Broadcom Wireless up.

I also followed a trick on the documentation for getting Chrome from the latest stable .deb file on Chrome's website. So I'm not sure it's fair to say everything in Slackware is fossilized but stable. So far, it's running steady :).
 
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Still find myself using Slackware on this Netbook. Again, I'd like to suggest any fellow noobs try Unetbootin with the DVD / ISO image if you have any trouble with the installer. Also, you can use another Live Linux to do your partitioning with Gparted if you don't want to mess with terminal based partitioning (though that is a useful learning experience).

Also, for noobies looking for a convenient way to install packages, I'd recommend trying sbopkg (Download the file and follow directions to install: http://www.sbopkg.org/downloads.php )

I did run into a minor issue where Xscreensaver which said it needed to be updated and there was no convenient Slackbuild for it. I download the source file from the Xscreensaver's website and just followed the README instructions to install from source. Building it from source actually wasn't that big a deal or to time consuming. After a reboot that also restarted Xscreensaver, the warning to update went away.

A faster boot would be nice, but that's just a nitpick. I think it is possible to modify the Kernel or put a Generic Kernel to boot faster. I might try that later.

In general, I think having already worked with Arch and FreeBSD helped make Slackware feel like a comfortable environment. It reminds me of FreeBSD in a way, but with less Hardware Headaches or it has easier fixes to get hardware running like my finicky Broadcom wifi.
 
Decided to run Arch on this netbook, but ran into system breakage after an update. I'm now looking at the Slackware world and and I'm going to roll with Vector Linux Light for a while.

With no CD Rom, I had to use some work arounds and found this tutorial quite helpful for making a bootable USB for my Netbook.



EDIT: maybe I spoke to soon. The USB is bootable but getting a missing Vmlinuz error or missing the Kernel. Might just do Slackware again lol.
 
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Lately, I've felt like a few things have been running strangely on my Arch installs. Not totally sure if it was from inherent Arch Instability or something I did wrong.

For some reason, the Slackware USBboot did not like my HP Mini and would freeze even though it worked fine on my old Laptop. Fortunately, I read that there was Unetbootin support for Slackware so I just used it to stick the DVD ISO image onto a USB. I would recommend this method for any beginners trying to install Slackware and having issues.

I have had FreeBSD on this Netbook in the past and Slackware seems similar but is much more friendly with hardware detection. I also like Slackware's Network Manager over FreeBSD's WifiMgr package. It was much simpler getting the finicky Broadcom Wireless up.

I also followed a trick on the documentation for getting Chrome from the latest stable .deb file on Chrome's website. So I'm not sure it's fair to say everything in Slackware is fossilized but stable. So far, it's running steady :).
Broadcom is the Devil..... :( I swear, when helping a Bartender replace XP with Mint on his old Inspiron, EVERYTHING worked fine..... Except Broadcom..... D': I'm sure some of you don't believe in God, but that night..... I prayed, just threw worry to the Wind, and..... Out of nowhere, it worked. O.O I think I was so Happy at the end of it, that I was freaking DIZZY..... :D He has trouble getting the Repositories to work in Mint, but maybe I should direct him here.....?? After all, you guys have been there for ME..... :3 Oh, and needless to say, he LOVES it..... :D (He DID buy another Laptop with Windows, because I had trouble fixing the Repositories to download Wine the night I installed Mint for him, so he could run Magic Jack, but he couldn't believe how secure Linux was..... :D)
 
Broadcom is the Devil..... :( I swear, when helping a Bartender replace XP with Mint on his old Inspiron, EVERYTHING worked fine..... Except Broadcom..... D': I'm sure some of you don't believe in God, but that night..... I prayed, just threw worry to the Wind, and..... Out of nowhere, it worked. O.O I think I was so Happy at the end of it, that I was freaking DIZZY..... :D He has trouble getting the Repositories to work in Mint, but maybe I should direct him here.....?? After all, you guys have been there for ME..... :3 Oh, and needless to say, he LOVES it..... :D (He DID buy another Laptop with Windows, because I had trouble fixing the Repositories to download Wine the night I installed Mint for him, so he could run Magic Jack, but he couldn't believe how secure Linux was..... :D)
But on the PLUS side, we shared some Pizza..... :3 It was for me helping him out, and so I wouldn't starve to death while fighting with Broadcom Diablo..... :(
 
Well this is strange, my Broadcom doesn't seem to want to work on Slackware now. This is odd, because this has worked before following Slackware's simple Wiki instructions.

Oh well... not a big deal. Just felt like trying something else since I seem to keep getting breakage on Arch after updates.

Maybe I'll even give Gentoo another try lol. I did get it installed to the command line once but wasn't sure how I should proceed to get a desktop.
 

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