General Slackware Questions

[Urza9814]

Ok, ever since 'Mandriva' went 10.0 and stopped working for me for some reason, I've been searching for another distro that works perfectly and is nice to use, and I have found that in Slackware. But I've got a few general questions about it, and I don't know anywhere else to ask them, so...

1) Is there any specific Slackware forums or anything like that?

2) Does Slackware have any kind of Urpmi/Apt-get tool?

3) I can't seem to find any config tools for slackware (like MCC)...does it even have any??? I found a few on their website, but those don't seem to do anything...specifically I'm looking for hardware and tools...stuff like that...

4) It came in 4 CDs...but only used 2...and I tried going through the package installation prog a few times and could never figure out what those other two CDs are for....lol

Edited September 26, 2005 by Urza9814

[willisoften]

Edited - badly put! 1. Yes there are forums and mailing lists.

You'll have to go to the slackware site and look about to get instructions for subscribing to a slackware mailing list - I haven't subscribed - I've no idea if it's working.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/fo....php?forumid=14 is the approved slackware forum but it's not part of slackware it just has Patrick Volkerdings approval.

 

2. Not as such. Take a look at swaret http://swaret.sourceforge.net/index.php

3. Config files! and a few scripts and utilities like netconfig

4. Two of the cds are source. So you've installed from the other two. Good :)

 

If you installed KDE or Gnome or both you should have the various configuration options that come with the desktop(s).

 

Book: http://www.slackbook.org/

 

I like slackware - but it can be a bit intimidating. I've been moving a lot of stuff over to slackware on the 2.6 kernel ( a pain to get working on my box) as Debian has really disapointed of late. Sarge is a year behind where it should be and seems to be a bit shy of modern hardware support, while Etch is a bit wobbly. If you need a machine for working-on rather than recreational experimentation - I'd encourage you try Ubuntu or Mepis. Both very competent distros. I'd lean towards Ubuntu as it's more true to Debian and has much more community support. Hardware support is very good. The Mepis community annoys the hell out of me. Can't help it I'm old and cranky.

Edited September 26, 2005 by willisoften

[arctic]

1) No. Slackware has no "specific forums" but relies on using the documentation, man pages and such stuff. The Slackware Book Project and the Slackersbible are a good source of information on Slackware. (links can be found here https://mandrivausers.org/index.php?showtopic=27486)

The only kind of "global Slackware Forums" can befound here:

LinuxForums.org and LinuxQuestions.org

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=slackware shows a lot more of forums that are available in certain countries although they are not as much frequented afaik.

 

2.) Yes. For Slackware there exists slapt-get and swaret. Both are similar. Swaret is imho way faster for Slackware than Slapt-get. Both handle the dependencies, so you don't run into serious trouble.

 

3.) Not really. Slackware only uses the config files and an editor like nano or vi to do system administration. There are no GUI tools or something like that for Slackware. This is why Slackware is considered a purist, an "unbloated" and a "geek" distro by many. You need to know what you want to do, otherwise you might get frustrated soon. But the Slackware Book Project and other sites have some "easy guides" for those who have no clue about Slackware. Just check them at distrowatch. ;)

 

4.) I always downloaded only two CDs... I guess it is some extra software that you need to download from the mirrors otherwise. Just take a look at the CD and you will find out. :)

[Urza9814]

I'd encourage you try Ubuntu

...yea...I tried it, and it wouldn't install :S

I've got 4 OSes on this comp (well, space for four, I believe one of the partitions is currently empty), and two other comps, so if it dies, it dies, no big deal :-P

 

I tried the config programs that come with KDE...but it doesn't appear to have what I need...it's using the wrong soundcard by default and I can't figure out how to change it :S

I'll have to dig around in the config files...

*opens up find box, types .config* :-P

I'll figure it out...or break the comp trying, but hey, it's not too difficult to reinstall :-P

 

And I can't get Swaret to work. They say to just use installpkg...but it won't work because it's a .tgz.tar and installpkg wants just .tgz. I tried renameing it but then installpkg says it's corrupt. I tried opening it with ark and re-saving it, but Ark keeps adding on the .tar. I tried running tar -xzvf but that says it's not a gzip...and I can't find anything on the site explaining what to do!

Edited September 26, 2005 by Urza9814

[scarecrow]

You might wish to try Vector Linux, which IS Slackware made easy... Very good distro.

[arctic]

swaret download:

http://swaret.sourceforge.net/files/stable....3-noarch-2.tgz

[pmpatrick]

Re #3 and just to add to what's already been said, configuration/hardware setup is basically done through editing the text config files. That's the bad news. The good news is that those text config files are extremely well commented and organized, better than any other distro IMHO. If you have some familiarity with linux text config files, you should be able to figure out what needs to be done by reading through the comments.

[jlc]

1.) Forums I go to for slackware

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/f14

http://www.userlocal.com/phorum/

http://www.linuxpackages.net/forum/

http://dropline-gnome.sourceforge.net/

http://madpenguin.org/cms/forums/viewforum...d7f73721bc8d239

http://forums.linuxiso.org/viewforum.php?f...7e2269a2ef433e1

 

2.) swaret and slapt-get

 

3.) vi

 

4.) Last 2 are source

 

Other stuff Slackware

http://www.slackware.com/

http://www.slackware.com/config/

http://slackware.it/en/

ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/sla...t/ChangeLog.txt

http://shilo.is-a-geek.com/slack/intro0.html

http://gsb.freerock.org/ <-- good gnome

http://www.linuxpackages.net/

http://members.cox.net/laitcg/new/intro.html

http://www.slackersbible.org/

http://www.slackbasics.org/

http://slackbook.org/

[Urza9814]

Woah! Lotta links there! Thanks!

Maybe this weekend I'll be able to start screwing with stuff...school just takes all the life out of me...lol

[jlc]

np,

 

work, life and fedora-test list take about 110% of my time, thats why I don't drop in forums very often anymore :)

 

I am man of many helpful links for most distros, thats why you will rarely see me asking for help, cause I can normally find the answer some were ;) Other than the rawhide mailing list cause its all un-charted territroy B) Thats probably why I run it the most, if something isn't bleeding and broke, its just not cool........

[steppenwolf1984]

Ive pawed thru the Slackbook and some Slax docs and still have a weird question.....

I just found an old cd of Slackware 7.1 and I recently downloaded Slax. Is there a chance - for purposes of experimentation - to lets say....install slax, then add on packages from the ancient 7.1 distro configured for a 2.2 (ack!) kernel?? OR to even install a 7.1 Slack at all on a new machine? (RH 7 is a no go...) I know I can load slax and download pkgs, or download the two install cds for Slack 10.....but downloading is actually more difficult so Im either slack-less or using the live slax. Am really curious as to what options if any I can use with such a bare bones , modular distro.... to see what kind of hybrid Slack system I can come up with.

 

My impression from the docs is that you cant use old slack with new. And you dont generally upgrade, you reinstall. At least 7.1 was the first real cd based install vs the old bag o floppies.

 

Would love feedback on what slack hacks are possible , at least in theory......

[arctic]

I don't think that it will be easy to downgrade any distro. Downgrading Slack might be just as problematic as e.g. downgrading Mandy. There will be dependency problems, I guess as the compilers with which the sysetms were built are different. (e.g. gcc 3.1 vs. gcc 3.3)

 

Upgrading the system is not a real problem however. I upgraded my Slackware 10.0 to 10.1 and 10.2 and now Slackware current. And everything works. (You might need a little bit of tweaking of here and there, depending on your wishes and prior made customizations)

[steppenwolf1984]

So cancel the thought of using Slax as a base for Slack 7.1 packages. Installing Slack 7 and upgrading could be interesting.....hmn. Thanks.....

[scarecrow]

So cancel the thought of using Slax as a base for Slack 7.1 packages.  Installing Slack 7 and upgrading could be interesting.....hmn. Thanks.....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Upgrading such an old disto as Slack 7.1 to current is also highly problematic, due to huge changes in initscripts, kernels etc. It's almost sure that after the upgrade the system will be unbootable, and you would have to run through tons of notes and documantation about the right way(s) to upgrade.

Downgrading is even more difficult- why don't you use Slax just as-it-is? It's a mighty fine distro.

[steppenwolf1984]

The easiest option was to download the latest....now running slack 10.2 and am very impressed....next step is either gentoo or linux rehab, i guess.....sigh...this stuff is addictive!