a-b c.

I finished installing Slack 9.1 on an old Thinkpad 600E. I had Knopix/Debian
on it because it was such a easy, fast, and flawless install.. and I was
short of time before the convention where I needed the laptop. Now that I'm
back and since all our boxen are now on Slackware (some dual with XP) I did
the Slack install. (BTW, the old laptop runs much, much faster with Slack
than with Knoppix.)

Here are some problems I had and suggestions for the future.

1. MBR: On first attempt the installer just hung when trying to write the
kernel source files. No idea why. I started again and decided to omit that
"disk" (I think it was "K" but don't remember.) The installer gave me a LILO
error saying it could not write to the MBR. Is that because I didn't write
kernel source? I doubt it... but who knows. I tried again and this time
included the kernel source and it got through the entire install. I hope that
PV will look into the LILO problem and at least give a better error message.
I note from many posts that the LILO part of the install seems to be "weak"
in that there are a lot of failures. This needs attention, I believe. If you
can't boot the box at least to a command line in order to fix other stuff, it
makes things rather difficult in having to use a rescue CD.... especially if
there is no floppy on the machine.

2. Sound: I get some kind of error on boot-up via KDE that there is a problem
with the sound. dmesg shows a ton of messages about ALSA. The entire sound
thing is a mess with Slack 9.1, has been since day one, and should be looked
at for 10.0

3. CUPS and Lpring: The default install will include them both and this can
really mess up CUPS because of the simlinks made for lpr. There should be
some "newbie" do***entation saying to choose one OR the other.

4. httpd (Apache): If you ask for the Apache package you get it... but it is
not configured to use PHP. You have to root around in the httpd.conf file and
make some changes.... and there are no docs in the README file to tell you
this. PV should enable PHP for Apache and save us the time and headache of
having to config it ourselves.

5. mysql: The mysql install is not complete. You have to run an install_db
script and also copy or rename the "small.cnf" file to "my.cnf". There ought
to be some docs somewhere to tell you that... or maybe just default to it
during the install. Thanks to linuxpackages.net who had a good FAQ on this
subject.

6. Acrobat: While not a big deal, it would be nice if Slack included this
installer and ran it and made the links to acroread in the Mozilla plugin
folder if it exists.

7. CD ROM: If there is one thing that deserves a lot of attention it's the
install of the CD ROM. More people have more problem with this device than
anything else... and so did I. The installer should "fix" the fstab for
you... or at least prompt you. If not that, then at least include some docs
on what might need to be done. Hopefully 10.0 won't have the "only root can
use the CD ROM 'problem'."

8. Default run level and WM: The installer should prompt asking if you want to
boot to X (run level 4) and if so, change initd for you. It should also ask
what WM you want and change rc.4. If it won't do that... at least make some
notes in the docs about how to do it manually. It took me a half hour of
searching before I found a web site that pointed out how to do it.

9. Packages: Slackware should offer to install the major package managers...
slapt-get and swaret as well as the Firefox browser.

10. The routine that creates the X86Config file should default to a 3 button
scroll mouse. It seem that everyone always has to go in and add the
AxisMapping stuff... I had to also. On the laptop I had a USB mouse in
addition to the built-in "stick mouse" thingy that the machine has. Slack
found the USB mouse but not the stick thing. I had to go in and create
another "section" for a psaux thing, do the CorePointer/SendCoreValues thing,
etc. Not hard, but a PITA... and it killed a half hour of research on how to
do it.

Slackware is not hard to install because the installer is "hard," it's because
the installer does not do enough, IMO. If you ask for a "full" install, you
should end up with a fully functioning system. But with Slack you don't if
you are using a web server, sound, a CD ROM, scroll mouse, or mysql.

To fix the above "problems" would not be all that difficult and would save
users a bit of time and headache.

The Knoppix installer does a much better job... but it does not deliver httpd
or mysql... so it has an easier task of it. I think Slack has a bit of
catching up to do in the installer area... but not a whole lot. Since it has
been about 10 months since the last release I hope that PV might have spent
some time on the installer. I guess we will all find out soon enough.

ANC

brian

It didn't hang - it just takes a long long time.
Open another console <alt><F2> and watch the filesystems fill up...
df <enter>


It is hard to comment when I have no idea what proceeded this failure.

Perhaps it is an 'alsa' problem and completely out of Pat's hands.

Without specifics about the alsa installation and KDE error messages, it is
again impossible to comment.


Just use lprng for all your printing needs, both local and network. Learn to
configure '/usr/share/apsfilter/SETUP' and all will be well. YMMV.


PHP can be an enormous security hazard - that is why it is not enabled by
default. The thinking is that anybody who read enough about PHP should pick
up a few clues about it's security issues and precautions.


But that is how it is done. You have a problem, you find the doc, read up
and learn all kinds of interesting facts and procedures, and then you
emerge a better administrator - and less of a luser (no offense intended -
that is the term for an ordinary Linux User).


There *may* be issues concerning the distribution of Acrobat Reader - it is proprietary software.

There are a number of ways to solve this problem - perhaps you should do
just a little more reading... 8^)


erm... Well done!

I am sorry but you do have to learn this technology no matter how painful
your believe it to be.

It sounds like you are more than capable of locating and installing said
packages yourself.

Further, when the time comes, you will be baking you own custom Slackware
install disks - then you can include all the packages you want. You can
even start building your own packages to suit your particular needs.

Believe me, you may curse and kick at every step but eventually you will be
a - *Slackware* *Administrator* - able to install desktop, kiosk or network services cluster.

Well done!

I am not being facetious - I mean it.


I am sorry you are not enjoying yourself.

What you suggest is not unreasonable on the surface however Pat has elected
to do it this way, often clinging closely to the design of each application
- Apache and X for example are packages more or less exactly as found, the
differences being the location and arrangement of files.

X.org sends X out the way you found it - without ZAxisMapping and Apache
does not enable PHP in it's default condition.

Consider the alternative - Windows 2000 and XP shipped with dozens of
services enabled, many of which became security breaches and cycle-****ing
loads!

There are other reasons behind this methodology that are not obvious now but
which should become clear as your experience and knowledge grows.

I can see into the future - there will be more spitting and hissing in the
future but then will come a day when it just all just starts to make sense.

Lot's of luck, you sound like you may be learning stuff despite your best
efforts.

Best regards,

Brian

two ravens

Knoppix is a Live CD which you can install onto a hard disk. Its
intended to be easy, fast and flawless, that's the whole point of Live
Linux Distributions. On the other hand it doesn't give you a choice of
what you install.


In what way is it "weak", without a detailed diagnosis of what the
'problem' might be, one would have to assume operator error.


There is nothing wrong with ALSA if you were to use a text log -in you
would have seen the messages telling you how to set up ALSA and save
the settings. Again this problem seems to be due to operator error.

What deafualt install? To the best of my recollection, to install, one
is offered a series of options. To exclude one of the two printing
systems, one chooses the menu install.


Why?

Then Linux packages solved your problem, so there is no problem.

This would seem to imply that every one wants to use Acrobat with
Mozilla which is not the case.

Why should the installer fix /etc/fstab, there is nothing wrong with it.
As I understand it root should be the only one who can use either CD or
Floppy, it stops users on a network introducing anything that 'Root'
doesn't approve of. As for Do***ents the entire Slackware book/manual
is on the third disk.

As far as I can remember the installer does ask you what WM you want to use as default.

The installer gives you a basic mouse as thats... well basic, there are
dozens of others, if you have one then you add it to your config file.

You have to realise that others don't see the above as problems so much
as allowing total control over what gets installed and who is allowed
to use it. That is why people buy, download and use, and continue to
buy, download and use, Slackware.

But then that's *not* *Slackware!*

Until 9.1, Slackware all fitted onto one CD, (you used to get a complete
Slackware CD on magazine covers), this was because it kept what was put
in down to a minimum, it was only KDE and Gnome getting too big that
forced it onto 2 CD's. What you're asking for is a distribution that
isn't Slackware, Mandrake, I understand, gives you what you want,
perhaps Redhat and Fedora do as well, Debian might suit your needs
wants.

There is this site which will give you all the details of the various
distributions here: http://www.distrowatch.com/ the first five on their
'hit list' would all seem to fulfill your needs/wants.

Slackware is a distribution put together by one man, it suits most of
those who subscribe to this newsgroup, some may regard it as
idiosyncratic, others just like it the way it is. The only way to get
it to change is to persuade its owner to change it, I've given you a
contact email address for him. Trying to get us to agree with you that
X, Y and Z would be a good idea will not achieve any of the changes in
Slackware that you seem to want.

--
Two Ravens
"...hit the squirell..."

mark hill

There might be a licensing problem with having acrobat, as well as an
ethical one. There are however, several PDF viewers with Slackware
already. One being xpdf(1). --
Mark Hill <usenet@mark.ukfsn.org>
GPG KeyID: 4A3B58AC

two ravens

Well there you are Al. 10 is out and available, or will be shortly. Once
you've had a good look at it, then you'll have to make up your mind if
you want to go through the reinstall again, or try something that has
the features you say you want or need. Try having a look here:
http://www.distrowatch.com/ and see if there is something that seems
closer to your ideal.
--
Two Ravens
"...hit the squirrel..."

keith matthews

Not sure about that - SuSE includes it.

check

Keith Matthews <invalid@frequentous.co.uk> writes:


The Acrobat *reader* has always been free, the Acrobat editor(or
whatever it's called) has to be purchased.

Jack
--
First, they fear you. Then they match you. Then they laugh at you.
Then they ignore you. Then you lose.

keith matthews

Neither have I since there is no connection between the MBR and the kernel
source files. I suspect you don't know what you are talking about.

Sounds more likely to be a hardware problem with your CD.

And some of us prefer sound not to work at all. Slack is primarily a server
distro - what sort of idiot wants sound (or X for that matter) on a server.

If you are not capable of looking down a list and making a slection I'm not
sure you should be using Slack - go try Fedora or something.

Never had any problem with the CD device on Slack. What did tyou screw up ?


Many sysadmins prefer that - stops idiot users adding stuff that shouldn't be there.

Swaret is not the be-all and end-all of setup tools as has been made clear
here. All such tools take control away from the person dealing with things
- I speak as one of the contributors to Autoslack.

Most of us object to giving up that control as we don't believe the software
does things better, indeed from experience with other distros is almost
invariably does not. With dependency includion packages you are dictated to
by someone else's ideas of what should happen, the most ridiculous example
I've yet come across is SuSE insisting on the installation of the
Cyrus-SASL libraries before you can run cron or smbpasswd simply because
some feature maniac thought SMTP-AUTH should always be used.

Apples and Oranges.

kai brust

Keith Matthews <invalid@frequentous.co.uk> schrieb:

SuSE includes (and _pays_ for) many prorietary software pieces. I'm not
sure about acroread, but i could imagine that it's one of them.

Anybody painstaking enough to read the license and tell us lazy ones?

sander de leeuw

Though Slackware includes some easy-setup-features, it is focused on
stability and security. Because software is included as-is (1 of many
reasons), it's also much faster compared to many other (binary-)
distributions. The disadvantage of this approach is, that installation and
configuration needs a little more attention. One relies on configuration
-files and -utilities shipped with the software. This separates Slackare
from other distributions.

If you are looking for a distribution that pre-configures your system, try
SuSE or Knoppix. Those are really good distributions, but for a different
group of users.

Success,
Sander de Leeuw

Remove the "nospam-" part from my address, if you want to send me mail.