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trademark91 · 15/01/2011 05:04 PM

yes, i know some of the pictures may be out of order. but the text should be more than enough to get you by.

first, with any OS installation, you need to make a partition. the easiest way to do this is to use a partitioning tool, such as the gparted live cd: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/ for this walkhrough, i will be using a fresh hard drive, if you want to install alongside another OS, just shrink a partition on your drive and then follow these steps with the newly created unallocated space. This is the first thing you see when booting into gparted live. it is a partitioning tool.

Spoiler for skip this step if you are planning to use a pre-installed bootloader or will be using slackware's LILO:

the next step will be to create the OS partition. i like to use an extended partition, as wee can make those have more partitions inside them as wee need. select the leftover unallocated space, and once again, select "new". make the options look like here.

now wee are going to create the partition inside of the extended partition wee just made. if you notice, the new extended partition did not take up space, rather, it wrapped the existing space inside of it. in here, wee can create countless partitions. for this installation, wee are going to include all the space in one large partition. some people like to split up their linux installs, making a separate partition for /home, /usr, and so on, but i find this to be pointless. when i want to share stuff with another OS, i use a large ntfs partition so that i can mount it from any OS, even windows. that way, all the operating systems can share vital files, without having to make duplicates.

ok, now that wee have set up how our drive is going to look, wee click apply

you should see this shortly afterward

write down the name of the partition you created (e.g. /dev/sda5, in this case) youll need it later.

Spoiler for skip this if you are planning on using an already existant bootloader, or want to use slackware's LILO. follow these steps to install burg, the graphical bootloader, to a dedicated partition:

allright, now, wee are going to install the bootloader!
first, obtain an ubuntu livecd (you can do this with any live cd, but using an ubuntu one makes this a lot easier) and boot with it installed. you will see a start up menu, choose "try ubuntu without installing"

open up a web browser and navigate to this page. this is where wee are going to get the link for the burg repository. Don't FORGET TO SPECIFY YOUR LIVECD VERSION. read the text directly below the repository url for more info.

now wee are going to use the terminal to edit our sources.lst

the terminal can be found in applications, accessories, terminal. type in

Code:

sudo bash

this takes you to a root console
then type in

Code:

nano /etc/apt/sources.lst

this takes you to a text editor

scroll to the very bottom of the document and paste in your repository urls, just as shown

then, to save the changes, press ctrl + x and hit enter a few times

now wee are going to open up the synaptic package manager. it is located here: see screenshot

click the reload button

click the x in the top left of this error. it is an error about gpg keys. wee don't have to bother getting the gpg keys because wee are using a livecd

in the box labeled "quick search" type in

Code:

burg

and click the "burg" package that appears

mark for installation

accept the changes

and apply them

apply

click "forward" not cancel here, sorry the mouse is in the wrong place

forward again

now wee have installed the burg bootloader to the livecd, but wee need to install it to the hard drive, in the partition wee created earlier. to find the partition, go to a terminal, and once again open a root shell

Code:

sudo bash

and type in

Code:

fdisk -l

this will scan your hard drive and tell you what's going on partition-wise

wee are going to have to mount the boot partition, so wee make a directory to mount it in (i always use /mnt/mounted)

Code:

mkdir /mnt/mounted

and mount our partition to it. get the name for the partition from the output of

Code:

fdisk -l

(its going to be the one with the very small blocksize.)
and mount it

Code:

 mount /dev/*insert your drive name* /mnt/mounted

the terminal will take care of the rest of mounting. now if you go to the folder /mnt/mounted, you will be able to access your partition, but wee don't need to do that.

wee are now going to install burg to the boot partition wee just mounted.

Code:

burg-install --root-directory=/mnt/mounted /dev/sda

this is telling burg to install itself to /mnt/mounted (the boot partition) and telling it to tell the computer to look for it there.

you should get the following success message.

one step i forgot to take a screenshot of, there is one more code that you have to put in:

Code:

update-burg

this will generate the initial burg.cfg file, which is needed for a graphical login. otherwise, it just looks like ugly old grub.

so here is the screen you get when you boot from the slackware install cd. it doesn't look as friendly as the ubuntu one, is it? don't let it fool you, while it may be confusing at first, its actually a very useful installer, and a powerful tool as well, it just takes some getting used to.

this is a prompt as to what you want to boot. you can actually use this prompt to boot into a broken install, if you need to. but for the setup, you can just use the default option. so go ahead and press "enter"

see, if youll notice, the slackware install cd is a working linux environment, its just a CLI (short for Command Line Interface) instead of a GUI (Graphical User Interface) like ubuntu's. youll be dealing with the CLI a lot in slackware, so if you are put off by that, you might want to consider a different distribution.

this is prompting you to login to the setup's environment, so just follow it's directions, and type the username "root" root is the superuser in a unix based environment, and is capable of deleting/editing/running every single file on the computer. this is too much power for a normal user, so it is generally considered a BAD IDEA to operate your system entirely as root.

for the install its fine, however, so type root, and press enter.

you can use a lot of linux commands from here, but the only command wee need is the one to initiate the setup. type "setup" and press enter.

welcome to the super-user friendly graphic based slackware setup program!

you already chose your keymap and such, and with most modern computers, its not necessary to create swap (if you need to create swap, you most likely already know how to do this, so just go make it already :p)

you want to choose, TARGET, so select it with the arrow keys, and press enter.

do you remember what your partition you made was named? this time you are going to choose the large partition you created, not the boot partition. here you are telling the OS where to install itself to.

if you created the ext4 partition as was specified in one of the first steps, you don't need to format it, as it was formatted when it was made, choose "no"

if you have a partition on another OS you want to be able to access, you can select it here. the installer will prompt you to enter a mount point, i usually use /media/shared for a shared storage partition, and /media/fedora for a fedora partition, etc, etc.

after you are finished with linux formatted partitions, you will have the option to select windows formatted partitions. they are set up in the same way as linux partitions, except they have to have rules set. i always choose "all users read/write status" but choose how you want it setup.

you ARE using the dvd/cd, right? this is pretty self-explanatory

auto will find the drive you have the dvd in pretty quickly.

don't use manual unless you know the /dev/ address of your installation disk.

this is where you choose packages to install. I always just choose everything selected by default, it helps with dependencies later on. but, do what you will.

full, for gods sake, full , and did i mention to choose full? the others will prompt you about every package to install (over 1000) and require you to answer every single one of them. full you just select, and it goes and takes care of itself.

you should see a lot of items like this going across your screen. that's slackware telling you what it's installing, instead of just showing you a progress bar.

if you have an extra usb lying around, you can choose to format it and turn it into an emergency boot tool. i don't usually, but they can be useful for the first boot.

if you followed the "install burg" procedure above, or are using your own bootloader, then do'nt install lilo. slackware will make no effort to add itself to your boot menu, and you have to add it yourself (don't worry, im going to cover this too)

i don't know what kind of mouse you have, answers may vary. imps2 is usually a safe choice. if that doesn't work, reinstall and try ps2 instead. but it should put the selector at the type you need anyway, so you could probably just press enter without making a selection if you are confused.

not if you're using a laptop you don't! if you are using a wired connection, go ahead. it works great for that.

no is the recommended choice here.

well, this is up to choice. KDE and XFCE are full desktop environments. the others are window managers. if you ever decide you aren't happy with the choice you made here, you can run

Code:

xwmconfig

from the terminal in your installed OS to bring up this menu again.

OK! YOU ARE INSTALLED! but its not just going to boot on its own at first! theres a little configuring. remember I told you the install dvd was a great tool? well here you go, you get to use it in action.

if you boot up now, you are not going to boot slackware at all. if you have a preconfigured system, it won't be added to the boot menu. and if you installed burg, slackware won't be there.

so load up your install disk again, its TIME FOR SOME CONFIGURING!

this installer can be used to load up a generic linux kernel contained in the install disk and use that to help boot a broken system. that is what wee are going to do now. the command you want is:

(hope you remember where you wrote your install disk's /dev/ address)

Code:

huge.s root=/dev/sda* rdinit= ro

see, that first pic was a typo. this is the correct one.

after that, you are booted into your slackware system! no its not a broken system spitting you out at the command line, the default runlevel for slackware IS the command line. (you can still launch a desktop, but more on that later)

log in with the username "root"
and the password you made during the installer.

ta daaaa!

what you have before you is the linux shell, in all its pure, unadulterated glory. with the right user, this thing is dangerous. with you, the not very experienced, its pretty harmless at this point. but wee still need to add your actual username DO NOT USE ROOT AS YOUR PERSONAL ACCOUNT!

the command for this is

Code:

adduser

follow the easy on screen prompts to add your user

for the initial group, just press enter. when you get to the point in the screenshot, press the UP arrow, then press enter. this will add you to all the groups needed to operate a desktop environment, without giving you the power to accidentally delete your computer.

here, you pick your user's default shell. i prefer zsh, but its all up to you. if you want to use the standard one, just press enter. i suggest choosing zsh, and downloading the .zshrc contained here: http://endlessparadigm.com/forum/showthr...?tid=25668

well, you have been added to the computer, but you still can't use the sudo command to run isolated commands as root. that won't work if you want to use a standard working environment. so type in the command

Code:

visudo

and press enter

i know i know "oh god scary command line text editing!" well, this is how a lot of linux users do basic text editing (although i prefer nano to vi, visudo is the only you're supposed to add sudoers) navigate with the arrow keys to the line right below where it says "root ALL=(ALL) ALL"

and add your username!

well, i suppose i should explain how vi works. in order to insert text, you have to press the character "i" on your keyboard. then you can start typing in the place your cursor was when you pressed it. after you are done adding yourself, press the "esc" key. this takes you out of the "insert" mode of vi, and into the "command" mode. in order to save the file, type in

Code:

:wq

which means (w)rite (q)uit.

now you can logout of root, using the command

Code:

exit

and login as yourself!
if you chose zsh, you are going to get a sinister warning. it is just telling you that you don't have a .zshrc. just press 0 and continue on your merry way.

but wait, your not done! you just set yourself up is all. isn't learning fun? don't worry, wee're almost done now, i promise!

remember, you couldnt boot from grub? that's because you did not have an initrd file. an initrd is an "initial ram disk" and pre-loads modules into your kernel.

wait wait wait.

what's a "module", and what's a "kernel", you ask?

well, the kernel is the base of the OS. in systems like windows, the kernel comes integrated with the GUI, in that case, explorer. in a unix based system, the kernel is basically what gives you the command line. not the commands that you run from it, just the line itself.

sometimes, though, the kernel lacks support for a certain action. in this case, rather than just drop everything and rebuild the kernel, people write their own code, known as modules, which they plug in to the kernel. this is an extension to the kernel, and allows it to support things that i normally couldnt use.

some things, like support for your disk format, are necessary to load instantly, before the kernel can load anything else (otherwise, it can't find the modules on the disk, can it?)

that is where the initrd comes in. it holds those particular modules that are necessary to the system. the initrd is loaded by the bootloader (grub or lilo in most cases) and then when the bootloader starts up the kernel, it gives those modules to the kernel so that it can load everything else.

how does this pretain to you? well, you're going to make your very own initrd, and im going to help you. exit the command line as yourself, and log back in as root.

Code:

exit

now type in

Code:

/usr/share/mkinitrd/mkinitrd_command_generator.sh

this will tell you what modules you need in your initrd, and give you the command to make it.
either type in the line you are given, or highlight it with your cursor (yes, in a full featured shell, you have a cursor ;p) and right click. this will copy it and put it in your command line for you. nifty, huh?

you should get a success screen like this. now wee are just going to make slackware loadable by the bootloader really quick.

do you remember where you have your bootloader installed? if you followed my instructions at the beginning, you should have it installed to a small partition. if you forgot, use the command

Code:

fdisk -l

to see your list of partitions, and find out where the little guy is.

i was too lazy to take screenshots at the end. but what you need to do is mount the drive.
if you remember from our short trip to ubuntu, in order to mount, you have to first have a mount point. so,

Code:

mkdir /mnt/mounted

then wee mount the drive, in this case /dev/sda1

Code:

mount /dev/sda*insert your number here* /mnt/mounted

ok, wee're so close now, wee can taste it! or at least i can.

now just add your slackware to your bootloader!

in the case of burg installed the way i told you to, you want to type in:

Code:

nano /mnt/mounted/boot/burg/burg.cfg

and add the following after "### END /etc/burg.d/00_header ###"

Code:

menuentry 'Slackware x64' --class slackware --class gnu-linux
        insmod ext2
        set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
        search --no-floppy 
        echo    'Loading Slackware ...'
        linux   /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 ro quiet
        echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
        initrd  /boot/initrd.gz
}

replacing all instances of the number "5" with the /dev/sda number of your slackware INSTALLATION partition.

now reboot, and if you didnt make any typo's, you have a fully featured OS. if you did, use your install disk and boot back up using the huge.s command, edit your burg.cfg, and try again.

if you want to start a desktop environment, use the startx command, like so:

if you don't want to use the command line to log in, and want a graphical login, use the following command

Code:

sudo nano /etc/inittab

and change the number 3 after "# Default runlevel" to a 4. ctrl + x, save your changes, and when you reboot, youll have a snazzy new desktop manager. for those of you who use wifi, and want to access the internet, you have to mount the installation dvd

Code:

sudo mount /dev/sr0 /mnt/mounted

and install the wicd package.

Code:

sudo installpkg /mnt/mounted/extra/wicd/wicd*.t?z

have fun. ill post how to build your own applications later, but this has taken a lot of work, so im going to rest for a wile now.

Barcelona · 15/01/2011 05:07 PM

thank you

trademark91 · 15/01/2011 05:14 PM

its not done yet
wait for me to finish. i need to see what the post looks like to add text to it, you try posting 51 images at the same time.

lembas · 15/01/2011 06:27 PM

YAY.

gonna install it as soon as the DVD is done downloading. :D

eKusoshisut0 · 15/01/2011 06:31 PM

Perfect! Nice work trademark 

Assassinator · 16/01/2011 04:02 PM

Damn, that must have taken a lot of effort to write.

Thanks man.

Tetris999 · 16/01/2011 04:37 PM

So how long would installing the OS take before you can actually start to use it?

lembas · 16/01/2011 05:19 PM

DOWNLOAD IS DONE.

Gonna attempt it tomorrow, when I get some DVDs.

trademark91 · 27/02/2011 02:08 PM

(16/01/2011 04:37 PM)Tetris999 Wrote: So how long would installing the OS take before you can actually start to use it?

idk, it depends on what your definition of "use it" is.

technically, it works immediately after installation, but there's a bit of configuring if you want it to be what many people would consider to be a "standard system". the point of slackware IMHO is to provide a very stable, fully functional base that can be used to build anything off of. i use it to create what i think is the single greatest desktop system in existence, others use it to build ultra-secure servers, other people want to optimize it to run with almost no resources. all of those projects take work to get up and running perfectly, and depending on your level of linux knowledge/the task at hand, it can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple months. In the end, slackware provides the framework you need to make sure that your OS is going to run smooth and stable for the rest of its existence :3

Barcelona · 02/03/2011 04:51 PM

Hey david, to partition your hard drive,

Open Computer Management by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, clicking Administrative Tools, and then double-clicking Computer Management. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

In the Navigation pane, under Storage, click Disk Management.

Right-click an unallocated region on your hard disk, and then click New Simple Volume.

In the New Simple Volume Wizard, click Next.

Type the size of the volume you want to create in megabytes (MB) or accept the maximum default size, and then click Next.

Accept the default drive letter or choose a different drive letter to identify the partition, and then click Next.

In the Format Partition dialog box, do one of the following:

If you don't want to format the volume right now, click Do not format this volume, and then click Next.

To format the volume with the default settings, click Next.

Review your choices, and then click Finish.

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