Slackware

Just for clarification: When you issue the slackpkg clean-system command, unselect any third party package(s) which you do NOT wish to be removed, before you continue. If you do not, this command will remove them. By default, they are all selected for removal.

Happy Trails,:D
Paul

Careful with the clean-system command!!!! The purpose of slackpkg clean-system is to remove all third party packages from your system. If you do a lot of experimentation you can use it to revert to a stock slackware installation. If you are trying to remove packages you no longer want, you will be better off with 'slackpkg remove <package name>'

'slackpkg help' will provide information on the various commands within slackpkg. I would avoid using clean-system unless your intention is to remove all thirdparty packages, because that's why it is there ;)
 


Welcome aboard, Mate:). I haven't been on much lately, because I have been working 7 days a week.:(:( Please feel free to add your wisdom to the thread to keep it going.:D

Happy Trails
Paul
 
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So,
Now that you have your new Slackware install up and running, what next? Well, you might consider, for safety, not using the ROOT login when doing everyday things like surfing the web for instance. If you are new to Linux, and even if you are very familiar with it, it just takes one OOPS, and you can do an awful lot of damage to the system. You might consider adding a "USER" for everyday operation (What shall we do with this user? Perhaps, the challenge of the grid?") This can be done easily from the command prompt using the command "adduser".

# adduser
The response would be
Login name for new user [ ] :

And you would type the name of the new user in lower case, for example:
paul

or you could use the format:

# adduser paul

Either way, adduser will then prompt

User ID ('UID')

Each user has a unique user ID number. Pick one, or let the system assign the next available one.
The next adduser prompt is:

Initial group [users] :

All users are placed in the users group by default. You can place them in another group, but we will start with the basics here.

Additional groups (comma separated) [ ]:

this is where you would add the new user to additional groups.

Home directory [ /home/paul ]

Home directories are placed under /home by default. Here you can specify another location if you wish.

Shell [ /bin/bash ]

Bash is the default shell for Slackware, but you may specify another for this new user.

Expiry date (YYYY-MM-DD) [ ] :

Default is no expiration, but if you have a visitor, you can grant temporary use to them by setting an expiration date.


After all these prompts have been completed the response will be:

New account will be created as follows:
------------------------------------------------------
Login name:
paul
UID: [ next available]
Unless specified
Initial group: users
Additional groups: [ None ]
Unless specified
Home directory: /home/paul Unless otherwise specified
Shell /bin/bash Unless otherwise specified
Expiry date: [ Never ] Unless otherwise specified

Now you need to decide if all is correct. if not press Control+C, otherwise press ENTER and the prompts will be:

Creating new account . . .

Changing the user information for paul
Enter the new value, or press return for default
Full Name [ ] :
Room Number [ ] :
Work Phone [ ] :
Home Phone [ ] :
Other [ ] :


all of which are optional. If no changes are needed, press ENTER. The prompts will be :

Changing password for paul
Enter the new password (a minimum of 5, maximum of 127 characters)
Please use a combination of upper and lower case letters and numbers.
New password:
Re-enter password:
Password changed.

Account setup complete.


I cannot overstress the importance of a strong password, so I will leave it at that.

If you wish to delete this user account just use the command
# userdel paul

The reference for this is the slackbook-2.0.pdf file available from Slackware.com

Happy Trails,
Paul
 
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So, the big secret to updating Slackware is that it has a package manager, of sorts. It does not automatically notify you of updates out of the box, like say Mint Cinnamon, but you can set slackware up to notify you of updates, by email, as they become available. I prefer to check myself periodically. The secret to updating the system is a series of commands issued from the command line, or in a terminal window. You must be logged in as ROOT.

First you must select a mirror to get the updates from. Open the file /etc/slackpkg/mirrors. This is a url list of all the mirror sites. Each line is remarked out (like the old dos days, remember:eek:?) with a # at the beginning. Find the mirror that you want, for the version that you are running, remove the #, and save the file. Oh, yeah, only select 1. This will tell the package manager where to get the updates. If you should forget to do this, you will get an error instructing you to do it.

I used HTTP://slackbuilds.org/mirror/slackware/slackware-14.1/ because I installed 14.1

These three commands are issued from the command line, or in a terminal window (as root).

slackpkg update. This updates the package information on your computer to match the info on the mirror. If there are no updates, you will get the prompt "No changes in ChangeLog.txt between your last update and now. Do you really want to download all other files (Y/N)? To which you should answer N, and it will stop. If this happens, you do not need to issue the rest of the commands in this list.

slackpkg install-new. You will be prompted to decide which of these new packages you wish to install, and it takes some time to complete, so don't get in a hurry:D.

slackpkg upgrade-all. This is the actual upgrading of the packages, and it will also take some time. If you have just done a new install, like I just did, you may want to go get a cold beverage of your choice while this runs.:D:D (or 2, or 3, ...):p



That is it in a nutshell.

P.S. 2/3/18 I edited this posting to remove the clean-system command. I will explain in a later posting.

Happy trails,
Paul :D:D//

Okay, Now I will explain the removal of the slackpkg clean-system command. As @Pithium stated, it should only be used to return your system to a normal (right Stan?:eek:) install, by removing all the extra goodies that you have added . For instance, the screen shot below shows the results of issuing the command on my system. As you can see, I have added one or two goodies to the mix. If I continued from this screen, without un-selecting all the programs that I wished to keep, all the additional programs which I had installed would be lost, and I would be back to a baseline install. My intention with the previous posting was to make it easier for newbies to upgrade Slackware, not to blow up their system,:oops: so I decided to remove this command from the previous posting, and put it here.
I hope this stops someone from causing themselves problems, and thanks to @Pithium for the input:D.

Happy Trails
Paul
snapshot1.png
 
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If you have installed any 64 bit version of Linux, you will find that 32 bit software will not run in it. If there is a piece of software that you can only find in a 32 bit version, you would normally be out of luck. :(Fortunately, there is help. You can set up Slackware to run both 64 and 32 bit software. The screenshot below is from the Slackware web site, and describes, in detail, just how to do it.:cool:

Happy Trails,
Paul
Slackware Multilib capability.png
 
Okay,
Back in June of last year, I think it was, I mentioned compiling the kernel to make it more compact and editing out the unneeded parts. There are various X based configuration tools available to do this. First, you must first be logged in as root. Open the file manager, and navigate to /usr/src/linux, then right click on that folder and open a terminal window.

If you actually wish to compile, instead of just poking around, check out the "Linux Kernel Compilation instructions on page 52 of the Slackbook 2.0 PDF file available from Slackware.com. My aim with this posting, is to allow you to look at the menus. Don't change anything, or save anything, unless you read the above mentioned information first, and Understand just what you are doing!

Issue the command make menuconfig. After a couple seconds the terminal will show a listing like the screen shot below
kernal config 01.png


This is the first of many menus you will encounter during your exploration of the setup. if you move the curser down to highlight General Setup, with the Select highlighted at the bottom, and press enter, you will get the next screen as in the screenshot below
kernal config 02.png


But this shows only about half of the menu. Scrolling down, shows the rest of this first sub menu
kernal config 03.png

To return to the initial menu, highlight Exit, and press enter. The nice thing about this, is that you can explore the variables, to get an idea of what choices you need to make. Help screens are available which explain various parts of the kernel. I am still investigating this. The source for this idea is the slackbook 2.0 file on page 52,

Happy Trails,
Paul
 
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Well, it has been a while since I posted on this thread, so here goes. While I am by no means an expert on Slackware, I like to pass on information which I find to be helpful. This time it is about upgrading to a newer version. While it is a weeee bit more involved than say Mint Cinnamon, If you follow the proper steps, it is doable. The following set of screen shots show the information needed to accomplish the upgrade (note the URL for the information is displayed):

Screenshot 1.png


Screenshot 2.png


Screenshot 3.png


Screenshot 4.png


Screenshot 5.png


Screenshot 6.png


As you can see, it is a bit involved, and practice makes perfect. I STRONGLY suggest using a "scratch" drive to practice this procedure, until you get it right. That way, you will not be up the creek should an OOps, or an Aw shit!o_O occur during the first 100 or so tries (never mind how I came up with that number:D:D). In any case, it will certainly be a learning experience, but that is half the fun, right?

Happy Trails
Paul
 
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During installation of Slackware, it is necessary to set up at least 2 partitions on the hard drive. One for Slackware, and one as a "swapfile" partition. To do this, the install program gives you 2 options,
the first is fdisk, which is pictured below.
fdisk.png



This is a more complex method than the 2nd option, cfdisk, which is pictured below
cfdisk.png


This is closer to the method used in distributions like Mint cinnamon.

Note that the top partition has been made Bootable, and in the far right column is type "83 Linux". The bottom partition is the swap partition, as designated by the type "82 Linux swap"in the far right column. Don't forget to write the changes to the partition table, by highlighting the write, and entering, before quitting cfdisk. If you don't, the changes will not be saved. This means that you will have to do it all over again.

Happy Trails
Paul
 
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Well, I had yet another old drive crash, so I'm in the process of rebuilding the Slackware install. Sooner or later I will run out of old drives, and be forced to buy something new. The stack is getting smaller, but I'm not there yet!:p:p:D:D

Happy Trails,
Paul
 
Got some here Paul, if you want to take a trip DownUnder

Wiz
 
All,
Well, I'm back like a bad penny.o_O I took a shortcut this time. I had a scratch install of Slack that I was using to experiment with modifying the kernel. Never mind how many bork / reinstall cycles I have been through with it, but I had just done a new install when the "normal" (right stan?:D:D) drive crashed. So I took a shortcut, and started using it online. Anyway, it's good, doesn't have all the goodies on it yet, but it works, and it will sooner or later.:p

Happy Trails,
Paul
 
Okay, I just finished doing a new install for my main slackware drive. :) After about 40 minutes of updates, I, once again, had to disable that annoying "pop" from sounding at each volume control motion. Who, in their infinite wisdom, decided that it would be a dandy idea to change MY system thusly:mad::mad:? In any case, the trick of renaming the file worked once again, so one less annoyance!:cool: Oh, and now I can try my best to Bork the other install, or just play with it until I do Bork it? What fun! I'm not through personalizing it yet, but I will as time permits. I've been working mucho overtime recently, which has not left much time for play. Just another reason to have a spare slack drive on the side.

Happy Trails,
Paul
 
When you get your installation nailed down to the way you like it, if you have the room, get a copy of VirtualBox running under Slackware and use that to try other distros or even to load another copy onto the system, and play with that without worry about borking your system.
 
Oh, It's not really a problem if I bork it, mate. I use removable drive caddies in "the lab" computer. I have a big stack of them with different distros on each of them. If one crashes, like the last time, I just slap another drive in, and carry on. When I get the chance, I replace the drive, and reload. I have to set aside time a couple times a month to upgrade each one. I even have drives for Win XP, and win 7:eek::eek:, but they see very little use, mostly for updating my Garmin GPS, or programming Basic Stamps. My other half can't seem to wean herself from Windows :eek:, as hard as I have tried to assist her. I did manage to get her to use dosbox in linux (mint cinnamon) to run a dos version of Quicken, and it runs very well, She just refuses to take the time to "learn a new operating system". Oh, well. I did try!!:p:p

Happy Trails,
Paul

P.S. Nice to hear from you again, mate!:D:D
 
Your wife and my wife, must be related, somehow. My better half refuses to learn anything new, in the world of software and cellular phones. :) She is on Windows and when Win 10 got dropped on her computer, I did not hear the end of it for months! But, eventually, she learned to live with it. Wish she would take the slightest interest in some form of Linux. <*SIGH*>
 
Your wife and my wife, must be related, somehow. My better half refuses to learn anything new, in the world of software and cellular phones. :) She is on Windows and when Win 10 got dropped on her computer, I did not hear the end of it for months! But, eventually, she learned to live with it. Wish she would take the slightest interest in some form of Linux. <*SIGH*>
Yeah, Mine calls it "That old Linux".. SIGH!:rolleyes:
 

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