Slackware Linux CD-ROM Installation HOWTO
Patrick Volkerding <volkerdi@slackware.com>
v13.0, 2009-08-25
This document covers installation of the Slackware(R) distribution of the
Linux operating system from the Slackware CD-ROM.
______________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Sources of documentation
2. Hardware requirements
3. Slackware Space Requirements
3.1 Preparing a Partition for Slackware
3.2 Booting the Slackware CD-ROM
3.3 Using Linux fdisk to create Linux partitions
4. Installing the Slackware distribution
4.1 The ADDSWAP option
4.2 The TARGET option
4.3 The SOURCE option
4.4 The SELECT option
4.5 The INSTALL option
4.6 The CONFIGURE option
4.7 LILO
4.8 Networking
5. Booting the installed Slackware system
6. Post-installation configuration
6.1 /etc/rc.d/rc.modules
6.2 Configuring the X Window System
6.3 Hardware acceleration with X
6.4 User Accounts
7. For more information
8. Trademarks
______________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
Linux is a multiuser, multitasking operating system that was developed by
Linus Torvalds and hundreds of volunteers around the world working over
the Internet.
The Linux operating system now runs on several machine architectures,
including ARMs, Intel 80x86, Sparc, 68K, PowerPC, DEC Alpha, MIPS, and
others. The x86 Slackware distribution of Linux runs on most PC
processors compatible with the Intel 486 or better, including (but not
limited to) the Intel 486, Celeron, Pentium I, MMX, Pro, II, III, Xeon,
4, M, D, Core, Core 2, Core i7, and Atom; AMD 486, K5, K6, K6-II, K6-III,
Duron, Athlon, Athlon XP, Athlon MP, Athlon 64, Sempron, Phenom,
Phenom II, and Neo; Cyrix 486, 5x86, 6x86, M-II; Via Cyrix III, Via C3,
Via Nano; Transmeta Crusoe and Efficeon. Essentially anything that's
x86 and 32-bit (with at least i486 opcodes) will do for the 32-bit x86
edition of Slackware, or 64-bit and supporting x86_64 extensions (also
known as AMD64, EM64T, or Intel 64) for the x86_64 edition of Slackware.
Linux is modeled after the UNIX(R) operating system. The Slackware
distribution contains a full program development system with support for
C, C++, Fortran-77, LISP, and other languages, full TCP/IP networking
with NFS, PPP, CIFS/SMB (Samba), a full implementation of the X Window
System, and much more.
1.1. Sources of Documentation
If you're new to Slackware, you'll be happy to know there is a *lot* of
documentation and help available both on the Internet and on the CD-ROM
itself.
A great source of general documentation about Linux is the Linux
Documentation Project, online at: http://tldp.org/
Here you will find a collection of documents known as the "Linux HOWTOs"
as well as other useful guides.
For additional help with Slackware, check out the Slackware forum at
linuxquestions.org.
2. Hardware Requirements
Most PC hardware will work fine with Slackware, but some Plug-and-Play
devices can be tricky to set up. In some cases you can work around this
by letting DOS initialize the card and then starting Slackware with the
Loadlin utility. Setting the computer's BIOS to configure Plug-and-Play
cards also may help -- to do this, change the "Plug and Play OS" option to
"no".
Here's a basic list of what you'll need to install Slackware:
128 megabytes (128MB) or more of RAM. If you have less RAM than this, you
might still be able to install, but if so don't expect the best possible
experience.
You also will need some disk space to install Slackware. For a complete
installation, you'll probably want to devote a 6GB *or larger* partition
completely to Slackware (you'll need almost 5GB for a full default
installation, and then you'll want extra space when you're done).
If you haven't installed Slackware before, you may have to experiment.
If you've got the drive space, more is going to be better than not enough.
Also, you can always install only the first software set (the A series
containing only the basic system utilities) and then install more software
later once your system is running.
If you use SCSI, Slackware supports most SCSI controllers. The "huge"
kernels support as much of the boot hardware as possible, including
several hardware RAID controllers, Fiber Channel controllers, software
RAID in linear and RAID 0 through 6 and RAID 10, LVM (Logical Volume
Manager), and kernel support required to have fully encrypted systems.
To install from the DVD or CD-ROM, you'll need a supported drive. These
days, the chances that your drive is supported by the install kernels
is excellent. But, if not, you can always use a USB stick and install
via the network. Or, use a floppy disk to install using PXE and the
network. See the docs in usb-and-pxe-installers and the etherboot
directory within for instructions.
3. Slackware Space Requirements
Slackware divides the installable software into categories. (in the old
days when people installed Linux from floppy disks, these were often
referred to as "disk sets") Only the A series category (containing the
base Linux OS) is mandatory, but you can't do very much on a system that
only has the A series installed. Here's an overview of the software
categories available for installation, along with the (approximate) amount
of drive space needed to install the entire set:
A The base Slackware system. (270 MB)
AP Linux applications. (270 MB)
D Program development tools. (575 MB)
E GNU Emacs. (80 MB)
F FAQs and HOWTOs for common tasks. (35 MB)
K Linux 2.6.29.6 kernel source. (380 MB)
KDE The K Desktop Environment and applications. (800 MB)
KDEI Language support for the K Desktop Environment. (730 MB)
L System libraries. (840 MB)
N Networking applications and utilities. (275 MB)
T TeX typesetting language. (285 MB)
TCL Tcl/Tk/TclX scripting languages and tools. (15 MB)
X X Window System graphical user interface. (290 MB)
XAP Applications for the X Window System. (485 MB)
Y Classic text-based BSD games. (5 MB)
If you have the disk space, we encourage you to do a full installation for
best results. Otherwise, remember that you must install the A set. You
probably also want to install the AP, D, L, and N series, as well as the KDE,
X, and XAP sets if you wish to run the X Window System. The Y series is fun,
but not required.
3.1 Preparing a Partition for Slackware
If you plan to install Slackware onto its own hard drive partition
(this offers optimal performance), then you'll need to prepare one or
more partitions for it.
A partition is a section of a hard drive that has been set aside for
use by an operating system. You can have up to four primary
partitions on a single hard drive. If you need more than that, you
can make what is called an ''extended partition.'' This is actually
a way to make one of the primary partitions contain several
sub-partitions.
Usually there won't be any free space on your hard drive. Instead,
you will have already partitioned it for the use of other operating
systems, such as MS-DOS or Windows. Before you can make your Linux
partitions, you'll need to remove one or more of your existing drive
partitions to make room for it. Removing a partition destroys the
data on it, so you'll want to back it up first.
If you've got a large partition that you'd like to shrink to make
space for Slackware you might consider using GParted, a partition
editor that allows resizing and moving of existing partitions.
They have a Live CD and USB image that allows running the program
on a minimal OS, as well as versions to boot from PXE or the hard
drive. Bootable images with GParted may be found here:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/index.php
There's also the regular version of GNU parted that does the same
thing from the command line. It is included in the installer, and
as a package in the L series.
If you plan to repartition your system manually, you'll need to back
up the data on any partitions you plan to change. The usual tool for
deleting/creating partitions is the fdisk program. Most PC operating
systems have a version of this tool, and if you're running DOS or
Windows it's probably best to use the repartitioning tool from that OS.
Usually DOS uses the entire drive. Use DOS fdisk to delete the
partition. Then create a smaller primary DOS partition, leaving
enough space to install Linux. Preferably this should be more than 6GB.
If your machine doesn't have a lot of RAM, you'll want another
partition for swap space. The swap partition should be equal to the
amount of RAM your machine has, but should in any case be at least
128MB. If you don't have that much drive space to spare, the more the
better to avoid running out of virtual RAM (especially if you plan on
using a graphical desktop). You'll then need to reinstall DOS or
Windows on your new DOS partition, and then restore your backup.
We'll go into more detail about partitioning later, and you don't need
to create any new partitions yet -- just make sure you have enough free
space on the drive to do an installation (more than 6GB is ideal), or
that you have some idea about which existing partition you can use for
to install on.
3.2 Booting the Slackware CD-ROM
If your machine has a bootable CD-ROM drive (you may need to configure
this in the system's BIOS settings) then you'll be able to directly
boot the first CD-ROM. If not, then see the files in the
usb-and-pxe-installers directory for information about alternative
methods of booting the installer. Also, don't neglect to read the
CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT file, which is probably the most accurate piece
of documentation to ship with Slackware (thanks Robby!).
Now it's time to boot the disc. Put the Slackware installation CD-ROM in
your machine's CD-ROM drive and reboot to load the disc. You'll get an
initial information screen and a prompt (called the "boot:" prompt) at the
bottom of the screen. This is where you'll enter the name of the kernel
that you want to boot with. With most systems you'll want to use the
default kernel, called huge.s.
To boot the huge.s kernel, just enter huge.s on the boot prompt:
boot: huge.s
(actually, since the huge.s kernel is the default, you could have just
hit ENTER and the machine would go ahead and load the huge.s kernel
for you)
These are the kernels shipped in Slackware:
huge.s This is the default installation kernel. If possible,
you can save a bit of RAM later (and some ugly warnings at
boot time or when trying to load modules when the driver is
already built-in) by switching to a generic kernel. In this
case that would be the generic kernel, which is similar but
without filesystems and many of the less common drive
controllers built in. To support these (at the very least
your root filesystem), an initrd (actually an initramfs)
is required when a generic kernel is used. Previous
versions of Slackware used an ext2 filesystem for this, but
now a filesystem-less dynamic kernel-based directory
structure is used. A big advantage of this is that the size
usable by the initrd is only limited by the amount of RAM in
the machine. A disadvantage is that the generic kernels no
longer include *any* filesystems besides romfs, so old
initrd.gz files are not usable (they would have needed new
modules anyway), and it is trickier to get a custom binaries
or modules or whatever into the installer for guru-install
purposes. It's not impossible though -- think tar to/from a
device such as a USB stick, or leveraging ROMFS.
speakup.s This is like the huge.s but has support for Speakup and all
the SCSI, RAID, LVM, and other features of huge.s. There is
no corresponding generic kernel for speakup.s, but the vanilla
linux sources may be patched with the speakup sources in
source/k (this will probably work on any recent kernel).
After that, whatever customizations are needed should be
easily adjusted. The speakup.s kernel is used to support
hardware speech synthesizers as well as software one like
festival (though these require additional programs that are
not yet shipped with Slackware).
For more information about speakup and its drivers check out:
http://www.linux-speakup.org.
To use this, you'll need to specify one of the supported
synthesizers on the kernel's boot prompt:
speakup.s speakup.synth=synth
where 'synth' is one of the supported speech synthesizers:
acntpc, acntsa, apollo, audptr, bns, decext, decpc,
dectlk, dtlk, dummy, keypc, ltlk, soft, spkout, txprt.
A serial port may be specified with an option like this:
speakup.s speakup.synth=decext speakup.ser=1
Note that speakup serial ports are numbered starting with
one (1, 2, 3) rather than the more typical 0, 1, 2 numbering
usually seen on Linux.
Once you've entered your kernel choice and hit ENTER, the kernel and
install program will load from the DVD or CD-ROM, and you'll arrive at
the Linux login prompt. (You're running Linux now. Congratulations! :-)
To log into the system, enter the name of the superuser account and hit
Enter:
root
Since there is no password on the install CD, you will be logged in right
away.
3.3 Using Linux fdisk to create Linux partitions
At this point, you should have a large chunk of unpartitioned space on
your hard drive that you'll be making into partitions for Slackware.
Now you're ready to create your root Linux partition. To do this, you'll
use the Linux version of fdisk.
To need to partition a hard drive, you need to specify the
name of the device when you start fdisk. For example:
fdisk /dev/hda (Repartition the first IDE hard drive)
fdisk /dev/hdb (Repartition the second IDE hard drive)
fdisk /dev/sda (Repartition the first SCSI hard drive)
fdisk /dev/sdb (Repartition the second SCSI hard drive)
NOTE: If you prefer, you may also try a newer menu-driven version
of Linux fdisk called 'cfdisk'. Rumor has it that MOST people do
prefer cfdisk, and "newer" has to be taken in context. cfdisk has
many years of testing behind it.
Once you've started fdisk, it will display a command prompt. First look
at your existing partition table with the 'p' command:
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 2423 19462716 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
Here we can see that there is one DOS partition on the drive already,
starting on the first cylinder and extending to cylinder 2423. Since the
drive has 4865 cylinders, the range 2424 - 4865 is free to accept a Linux
installation.
If the FAT32 partition were using the entire drive, you would have no
choice but to delete it entirely (this destroys the partition), or go back
and use some kind of partition resizing tool like GNU parted or Partition
Magic to create some free space for the installation. If you need to
delete a partition, use the 'd' command. You'll be asked which partition
number you want to delete -- check the partition size to make sure it's
the right one.
Next, you'll want to use the 'n' command to create a primary partition.
This will be your root Linux partition.
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
You'll want to enter 'p' to make a primary partition.
Partition number (1-4): 2
Here, you enter "2" since DOS is already using the first primary
partition. Fdisk will first ask you which cylinder the partition should
start on. Fdisk knows where your last partition left off and will suggest
the first available cylinder on the drive as the starting point for the
new partition. Go ahead and accept this value. Then, fdisk will want to
know what size to make the partition. You can specify this in a couple of
ways, either by entering the ending cylinder number directly, or by
entering a size. In this case, we'll enter the last cylinder. Here's what
the screen looks like as these figures are entered:
First cylinder (2424-4865): 2424
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (2424-4865): 4700
You have now created your primary Linux partition with a size of 18.7 GB.
Next, you'll want to make a Linux swap partition. You do this the same
way. First, enter another "n" to make a primary partition:
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
Enter "p" to select a primary partition. Partition 1 is in use by DOS,
and you've already used partition 2 for Linux, so you'll want to enter "3"
for the new partition number:
Partition number (1-4): 3
Since this is the last partition we plan to make on this hard drive, we'll
use the end cylinder this time. Here are the entries for this:
First cylinder (4701-4865): 4701
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (4701-4865): 4865
Now we need to set the type of partition to 82, used for Linux swap. The
reason we didn't need to set a partition type the last time is that unless
otherwise specified Linux fdisk automatically sets the type of all new
partitions to 83 (Linux). To set the partition type, use the "t" command:
Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-4): 3
Hex code (type L to list codes): 82
Now you're ready to save the updated partition table information onto your
hard drive. Use the "p" command again to check the results and be sure
you're satisfied with them:
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 1 2423 19462716+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda2 2424 4700 18720732 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 4701 4865 1317332 82 Linux swap
This looks good, so we'll use the "w" command to write the data out to the
drive's partition table. If you want to exit without updating the
partition table (if you've made a mistake), then you can exit without
changing anything by using the "q" command instead.
When you exit fdisk using the "w" command, fdisk recommends that you
reboot the machine to be sure that the changes you've made take effect.
Unless you've created extended partitions, you can go ahead and run setup
without rebooting.
Note: Sometimes fdisk will give you a message like "This drive has more
than 1024 cylinders" and warn about possible problems using partitions
with DOS. This is because MS-DOS suffers from a limitation that only
allows access to the first 1024 cylinders on a hard drive. At one time,
LILO used the standard BIOS routines to read sectors, so this was a
limitation of LILO, too. Luckily modern versions of LILO use the LBA32
method of accessing sectors, so this limitation no longer applies. If you
see the warning from fdisk, you can safely ignore it.
4.0 Installing the Slackware distribution
Now that you have one or more Linux partitions, you are now ready to begin
installing software onto your hard drive. To start the Slackware install
program, enter the command "setup" and hit enter:
# setup
The installer will start up with a full-color menu on your screen with the
various options needed to install Slackware. In general, you'll want to
start with the ADDSWAP option. Even if you've already created and
activated a swap partition manually, you'll need to run this so Slackware
adds the swap partition to your /etc/fstab file. If you don't add it,
your system won't use the swap space when you reboot.
Installing a typical system involves running the following options from
the setup menu in this order: ADDSWAP, TARGET, SOURCE, SELECT, INSTALL,
and CONFIGURE. You may also start with KEYMAP if you have a non-US
keyboard layout, or with TARGET if you don't want to use a swap partition.
For the rest of this section, we'll walk through a typical installation
process.
4.1 The ADDSWAP option:
First, we select the ADDSWAP option. The system will scan for partitions
marked as type "Linux swap" and will ask if you want to use them for swap
space. Answer YES, and the system will format the partition and then make
it active for swapping. Once it's finished, setup will display a message
showing the line it will add to /etc/fstab to configure the swap partition
at boot time. Hit enter to continue, and setup will go on to the TARGET
section of the install.
NOTE: If you created a partition to use for swap space, but setup
doesn't see it when it scans your drives, it's possible that the partition
type hasn't been set in the partition table. Use the Linux "fdisk"
program to list your partitions like this:
# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 1 2423 19462716+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda2 2424 4700 18720732 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 4701 4865 1317332 82 Linux
In this case, if /dev/sda3 is meant to be a Linux swap partition, you'll
need to start fdisk on drive /dev/sda:
# fdisk /dev/sda
Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-4): 3
Hex code (type L to list codes): 82
Command (m for help): w
This will change the third partition to type 82 (Linux swap) and write the
partition table out to /dev/sda.
When you run setup again, the ADDSWAP option should detect the Linux swap
partition.
4.2 The TARGET option:
The next option on the setup menu is TARGET. This lets you select which
partition(s) you'd like to install Slackware on, and will format them
using a Linux filesystem. Depending on which kernel you chose to boot
with, your filesystem choices may include ext2 (the traditional Linux
filesystem), ext3 (a journaling version of ext2), and Reiserfs (the first
journaling filesystem written for Linux; it stores files in a balanced
tree).
When you select the TARGET option, the system will scan for "Linux"
partitions on your hard drives. If it doesn't find any, you'll need to
make sure that you've created partitions using the fdisk program, and that
the partitions are labeled as type 83 (Linux). This is the same process
shown above. If you've created one or more partitions for Slackware using
Linux's fdisk program then you shouldn't have any problems, since Linux
fdisk (and cfdisk) sets all new partitions to type 83 (Linux) by default.
You will see a menu listing all the Linux partitions. Use the arrow keys
to select the partition you'd like to use for your root (or primary) Linux
partition and hit enter. The setup program will then ask if you'd like to
format the partition, and what type of filesystem to use. If this is a
new installation of Slackware, you'll need to do this. Otherwise, if you
are installing software onto an existing Linux system, you don't need to
format the partition. For example, the partition might be used as your
/home and contains home directories that you want to keep. If you choose
not to format a partition, you'll see "partition will not be reformatted"
on the top of the screen as you confirm your choice, so that there can be
no question about it.
There are a few options you need to know about when you format Linux
partitions. First, you'll need to decide whether or not you'd like to
check the partition for bad blocks when you do the format. This is
usually not necessary unless you know the drive in question has problems.
Checking takes quite a while longer than a normal format (and most IDE
drives do self-checking anyway), so you'll probably want to just go ahead
and use the "Format" menu option to format the drive without checking.
If you have drive problems later on (and can't just replace the hard drive
with a better one), then you might want to go back and try again using the
"Check" option to map out the bad sectors on the drive.
You'll notice that the partition you just formatted is now listed as "in
use." If you made some other partitions for Slackware, you'll need to go
through the same process of formatting them, selecting whether or not to
check for bad blocks, and setting a reasonable inode density. With these
partitions there will be an additional step -- you'll need to select where
you'd like to put the partition in your directory tree.
MS-DOS/Windows assigns a letter such as A:, B:, C:, etc, to each device.
Unlike DOS, Linux makes your devices visible somewhere under the root
directory (/). You might have /dev/hda1 for your root partition (/) and
put /dev/hda2 somewhere underneath it, such as under your /home directory.
When prompted for a mount location, just enter a directory such as /home,
and hit enter. As you format each additional partition and place it in
the filesystem tree, you'll be returned to the partition selection menu.
When you've prepared all of your Linux partitions, you'll go on to the
SOURCE option.
4.3 The SOURCE option:
The next menu option is SOURCE, where you select the source from which to
install Slackware.
SOURCE displays a menu offering the choice of installation from CD-ROM, a
hard drive partition, NFS, HTTP/FTP, or a directory (mounted manually).
You'll want to make sure your Slackware CD-ROM is in your drive, and
select the first option:
"Install from a Slackware CD-ROM"
Next, the system will ask you if you'd like to scan for your CD-ROM drive
or pick manually from a list. (unless you're trying to show off to your
friends, go ahead and let setup scan for the CD-ROM drive automatically).
Setup will then try to access the Slackware CD-ROM. If this is
successful, setup will tell you that it found and mounted a CD-ROM on a
Linux device such as /dev/hdc. If the CD-ROM was successful found, you
may skip ahead to the SELECT section below, otherwise read on for some
CD-ROM troubleshooting tips.
If setup is not successful in accessing the CD-ROM drive, you'll need to
figure out why before you can go on. The most common reason for this is
that you used a kernel that doesn't support the CD-ROM drive. If that's
the case, you need to restart the installation CD-ROM and specify a kernel
that contains a driver to support your CD-ROM drive (if the drive is
connected to a SCSI card, for example, you'll need to use a kernel with
support for that card). You can also try switching to a different console
with Alt-F2 and mounting the CD-ROM drive manually and then installing
from a pre-mounted directory (if you prefer a hands-on approach).
If you have no idea which device an IDE CD-ROM drive is connected to, you
should have the system scan for it. You also can look at the messages
generated by the system as it boots -- you should see a message that
Slackware detected your CD-ROM drive along with information about what
type of drive it is. You can look at these messages by using the right
shift key together with the PageUp and PageDown keys to scroll the screen
up and down.
For the network options, you'll need to have a network card that's
supported by one of the installer's modules, and preferably a DHCP server
running to make the network setup easy. The network install options are
to use as your source an NFS server, an FTP server, or an HTTP server
(along with an optional port). If you use DHCP to set up, odds are
you'll have working name resolution and won't need to enter an IP
address to specify the server (but you can if you wish, of course).
The network installation feature is intended primarily to facilitate
installing to many machines on a local network. Please don't use it to
bog down the Slackware mirror sites.
Thanks to Eric Hameleers for finally bringing FTP/HTTP installtion
support to the Slackware installer. :-)
4.4 The SELECT option:
The SELECT option lets you select software to install.
When you start the SELECT option, you'll see a menu where you can choose
which categories of software you're interested in installing. The first
series (called the A series) contains the base filesystem structure and
binaries that are crucial for your system to boot and run properly. You
must install the A series. Make sure that at least the selection for
series A has an [X] next to it. Most of the other choices will also have
an [X] next to them, and while you can use the cursor keys and the space
bar to unselect items to save space (see the space requirements above for
details), you're better off with a complete installation if you have the
space for it.
Once you've selected the general categories of software you wish to
install, hit enter and you'll go on to the INSTALL option.
4.5 The INSTALL option:
This option actually installs the selected packages to the hard drive.
The first question the INSTALL option will ask is what type of prompting
you'd like to use during the installation process. A menu will show
several options, including "full", "newbie", "menu", "expert", "custom",
"tagpath", and "help". The help option gives detailed information on each
of the choices.
Most people will want to use "full". Others might want "menu", "expert"
or "newbie" mode. We'll cover each of these in detail now.
The first option to consider is "full". If you select this mode, then
setup assumes you want to install all the packages in each selected series
and installs them all without further prompting. This is fast and easy.
Of course, depending on which software categories you've chosen, this can
use a lot of drive space. If you use this option, you should be
installing to a partition with at least 6GB free (and hopefully more like
20GB or so) to insure that you don't run out of drive space during the
installation process. Because Linux allows you to split your installation
across multiple partitions, the installer cannot know ahead of time
whether the packages you've chosen to install will fit your partitioning
scheme. Therefore, it is up to you to make sure that there is enough
room.
The "newbie" mode (which was formerly known as "normal" mode) installs all
of the required packages in each series. For each of the non-required
packages (one by one) you'll get a menu where you can answer YES (install
the package), NO (do not install the package), or SKIP (skip ahead to the
next series). You'll also see a description of what the package does and
how much space it will require to help you decide whether you need it or
not. The "newbie" mode is verbose, requires input after each package, and
is VERY tedious. It certainly takes a lot longer to install using newbie
mode, and (in spite of the name), it is easier to make mistakes in newbie
mode than by simply doing a full installation. Still, using it is a good
way to get a basic education about what software goes into the system
since you actually get a chance to read the package descriptions. With a
full installation most of the package descriptions will fly by too quickly
to read.
If you can decide which packages you want from less information, the
"menu" or "expert" options are a good choice, and go much faster than a
"newbie" mode installation. These options display a menu before
installing each series and let you toggle items on or off with the
spacebar. In this Slackware release, the "menu" and "expect" install
modes act the same, and both options are kept only for consistency.
The "expert" mode lets you toggle packages individually, allowing the user
to make good or bad decisions, like turning off crucial packages or
installing a package that's part of a larger set of software without
installing the other parts. If you know exactly what you need, the
"expert" mode offers the maximum amount of flexibility. If you don't
know what you need, using the "full" mode is strongly suggested.
The "custom" and "tagpath" options are only used if you've created
"tagfiles" for installation. In the first directory of each disk set is a
file called "tagfile" containing a list of all the packages in that
series, as well as a flag marking whether the package should be installed
automatically, skipped, or the user should be prompted to decide. This is
useful for situations where you need to install large numbers of machines
(such as in a computer lab), but most users will not need to create
tagfiles. If you are interested in using them, look at one of the
tagfiles with an editor.
If you're new to Slackware, and you have enough drive space, you'll
probably want to select the "full" option as the easiest way to install.
Otherwise, the "menu" option is another good choice for most beginners.
If you think you need (or would just like to see) the extra information
offered by the "newbie" mode, go ahead and use that. Don't say you
weren't warned about the extra time it requires, though, especially
when installing the fragments that make up modular X. Trust us, you'll
be better off selecting "full".
Once you have selected a prompting mode, the system begins the
installation process. If you've chosen "menu" or "expert" mode, you'll
see a menu of software to choose from right away -- use the arrow keys and
spacebar to pick what you need, and then hit enter to install it. If
you've chosen the "newbie" mode, the installation will begin immediately,
continuing until it finds optional packages. You'll get a selection menu
for each of these. If you selected "full", now it's time to sit back and
watch the packages install.
If you've selected too much software, it's possible that your hard drive
may run out of space during installation. If this happens, you'll know it
because you'll see error messages on the screen as setup tries to install
the packages. In such a case, your only choice is to reinstall selecting
less software. You can avoid this problem by choosing a reasonable amount
of software to begin with, and installing more software later once your
system is running. Installing software on a running Slackware system is as
easy as it is during the initial installation -- just type the following
command to mount the Slackware CD-ROM:
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
Then go to the directory with the packages you want to install, and use
the install-packages script:
cd /mnt/cdrom/slackware/xap
sh install-packages
Other options for installing packages later on include "installpkg" and
"pkgtool". For more information about these, see the man pages ("man
installpkg", "man pkgtool").
Once you have installed the software on your system, you'll go on to the
CONFIGURE option.
4.6 The CONFIGURE option:
The setup's CONFIGURE option does the basic configuration your system
needs, such as setting up your mouse, setting your timezone, and more.
The CONFIGURE option will first ensure that you've installed a usable
Linux kernel on your hard drive. The installation program should
automatically install the kernel used to do the initial installation.
If you installed using the speakup.s kernel from CD-ROM, the menu will
prompt you to re-insert your installation disc and hit enter, and then
setup will copy the kernel from the disc to your hard drive.
NOTE: If you install a kernel on your system that doesn't boot correctly,
you can still boot your system with the CD-ROM. To do this, you need to
enter some information on the boot prompt. For example, if your root
partition is on /dev/hda1, you'd enter this to boot your system:
huge.s root=/dev/hda1 initrd= ro
The "initrd=" option tells the kernel not to run the /init script on the
installer image in RAM, and the "ro" option makes the root partition
initially load as read-only so Linux can safely check the filesystem.
Once you've installed a kernel, you'll be asked if you want to make a
USB bootstick for your new system. This is a very good idea if you
happen to have a spare USB flash stick that you don't mind having
COMPLETELY ERASED. :-), so if you wish to make one, insert a USB
flash memory stick when prompted and use the "Create" option to create
a USB bootstick for your system.
Next you'll be asked what type of mouse you have. Pick the mouse type from
the menu (or hit cancel if you don't have a mouse), and setup will create a
/dev/mouse link. Most computers use a PS/2 mouse, which is the first choice.
After this, other installation scripts will run depending on which
packages you've installed. For instance, if you installed the network-*
packages you'll be asked if you want to configure your network.
4.7 LILO
LILO is the Linux Loader, a program that allows you to boot Linux (and
other operating systems) directly from your hard drive. If you installed
the LILO package, you now have an opportunity to set it up.
Installing LILO can be dangerous. If you make a mistake it's possible to
make your hard drive unbootable. If you're new to Linux, it might be a
good idea to skip LILO installation and use the bootdisk to start your
system at first. You can install LILO later using the 'liloconfig'
command after you've had a chance to read the information about it in
/usr/doc/lilo-*. If you do decide to go ahead and install LILO, be sure
you have a way to boot all the operating systems on your machine in case
something goes wrong. If you can't boot Windows again, use the DOS command
"FDISK /MBR" to remove LILO from your master boot record. (You can use
a Windows Startup Disk for this)
The easiest way to set your machine up with LILO is to pick the "simple"
choice on the LILO installation menu. This will examine your system and
try to set up LILO to be able to boot Windows (DOS) and Linux partitions
that it finds. If it locates the OS/2 Boot Manager, it will ask if you'd
like to configure the Linux partition so that you can add it to the Boot
Manager menu. (NOTE: If you use a disk overlay program for large IDE hard
drives such as EZ-DRIVE, please see the warning below before installing
LILO)
The "expert" option gives you much more control over the configuration
of LILO. If you decide to use the "expert" option, here's how you do
it. LILO uses a configuration file called /etc/lilo.conf to hold the
information about your bootable partitions -- the "expert" LILO
installation lets you direct the construction of this file. To create
the file, first select BEGIN to enter the basic information about
where to install LILO. The first menu will ask if you have extra
parameters you'd like passed to the Linux kernel at boot time. If you
need any extra parameters enter them here.
Then you'll be asked if you wish to use the framebuffer console. The
1024x768x256 console setting is a nice one to use in most cases, but you
may need to experiment to find the nicest setting for your card. Some
look terrible at modes larger than 800x600 because of the default refresh
rates, but at least ATI cards are known to look great at 1024x768x256.
If you want to use the framebuffer console, select a mode here.
Next, decide where you want LILO installed. Usually you'll want to
install LILO on the boot drive's MBR (master boot record). If you use a
different boot manager (like the one that comes with OS/2) then you'll
want to install LILO on your root Linux partition and then add that
partition to the boot manager menu using its configuration tool. Under
OS/2, this is the fdisk program.
NOTE: If you use the EZ-DRIVE utility (a diskmanager program supplied
with some large IDE drives to make them usable with DOS) then do not
install LILO to the MBR. If you do, you may disable EZ-DRIVE and render
your disk unusable with DOS. Instead, install LILO to the superblock of
your root Linux partition, and use fdisk to make the partition bootable.
(With MS-DOS fdisk, this is called setting the "active" partition)
The next menu lets you set a delay before the system boots into the
default operating system. If you're using LILO to boot more than one
operating system (such as DOS and Linux) then you'll need to set a delay
so you can pick which OS you'd like to boot. If you press the SHIFT key
during the delay, LILO will display a prompt where you can type a label
(typically Windows or Linux) to select which OS to boot. If you set the
delay to 'Forever', the system will display a prompt at boot time and wait
for you to enter a choice.
Next, you need to add entries for each operating system that LILO can
boot. The first entry you make will be the machine's default operating
system. You can add either a DOS, Linux, or Windows partition first.
For example, let's say you select "Linux". The system will display your
Linux partitions and ask which one of them you'd like to boot. Enter the
name (like /dev/hda1) of your root Linux partition. Then, you'll be
prompted to enter a label. This is the name you will enter at the boot
time LILO prompt to select which partition you want to boot. A good
choice for this is "Linux".
Adding a DOS or Windows partition is similar. To add a Windows partition
to the LILO configuration file, select the Windows option. The system will
display your FAT/NTFS partitions and ask which one of them you'd like to
boot with LILO. Enter the name of your primary Windows partition. Then
enter a label for the partition, like "Windows". Once you've added all of
your bootable partitions, install LILO by selecting the "Install" option.
4.8 Networking
Another configuration menu allows you to configure your machine's
networking setup. First, enter a hostname for your machine. The default
hostname after installation is "darkstar," but you can enter any name you
like. Next, you'll be asked to provide a domain name. If you're running a
stand-alone machine (possibly using a dialup link to an Internet Service
Provider) then you can pick any name you like. The default domain name is
"example.net". If you are going to add the machine to a local network,
you'll need to use the same domain name as the rest of the machines on
your network. If you're not sure what this is, contact your network
administrator for help. Once you've specified the hostname and domain
name, you'll be asked which type of setup you would like: "static IP",
"DHCP", or "loopback".
Loopback
--------
This is the simplest type of setup, defining only a mechanism for the
machine to contact itself. If you do not have an Ethernet card, use this
selection. This is also the correct selection if you'll be using a PCMCIA
(laptop) Ethernet card and want to set up your networking in
/etc/pcmcia/network.opts. (you could also configure a PCMCIA card using
the "static IP" or "DHCP" options, but in that case will not be able to
"hotplug" the card) Finally, this is the right option to use if you have
a modem, and will be connecting via dialout and PPP. You'll select
loopback now, and then set up your phone connection later using pppsetup
or kppp.
Static IP
---------
If your machine has an Ethernet card with a static IP address assigned to
it, you can use this option to set it up. You'll be prompted to enter
your machine's IP address, netmask, the gateway IP address, and the
nameserver IP address. If you don't know what numbers you should be
using, ask the person in charge of the network to help. After entering
your information, you'll be asked if you want to probe for your network
card. This is a good idea, so say yes. Confirm that the settings are
correct, and your networking will be configured to use a static IP
address.
DHCP
----
DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, and is a system where
your machine contacts a server to obtain its IP and DNS information.
This is the usual way to get an IP address with broadband connections like
cable modems (although some more expensive business-class broadband
connections may assign static IP addresses). It is very easy to set up a
DHCP connection -- just select the option. Some providers will give you a
DHCP hostname (Cox is one that does) that you'll also need to enter in
order to identify yourself to the network. If you don't have a DHCP
hostname, just leave it blank and hit ENTER. After entering your
information, you'll be asked if you want to probe for your network card.
This is a good idea, so say yes. Confirm that the settings are correct,
and your networking will be configured to use DHCP.
Once you've completed all the configuration menus, you can exit setup and
reboot your machine. Simply press ctrl-alt-delete and the kernel will
kill any programs that are running, unmount your filesystems, and restart
the machine.
5. Booting the installed Slackware system
If you've installed LILO, make sure you don't have a disk in your floppy
drive -- when your machine reboots it should start LILO. Otherwise, insert
the bootdisk made for your system during the configuration process and use
it to boot. Also, make sure to remove the CD-ROM to avoid booting it, or
disable your machine's CD-ROM booting feature in the BIOS settings.
The kernel will go through the startup process, detecting your hardware,
checking your partitions and starting various processes. Eventually you'll
be given a login prompt:
darkstar login:
Log into the new system as "root".
Welcome to Linux 2.6.29.6.
darkstar login: root
Last login: Sun Aug 23 18:33:01 -0500 2009 on tty3.
Linux 2.6.29.6.
You have new mail.
darkstar: ~#
6. Post-installation configuration
Once the system is running, most of the work is complete. However, there
are still a few programs you'll need to configure. We'll cover the most
important of these in this section.
6.1 /etc/rc.d/rc.modules
This file contains a list of Linux kernel modules. A kernel module is
like a device driver under DOS. You can think of the /etc/rc.d/rc.modules
file as similar to DOS's CONFIG.SYS. The file specifies which modules the
system needs to load to support the machine's hardware. After booting
your machine, you may find that some of your hardware isn't detected
(usually an Ethernet card). To provide the support, you'll need to load
the correct kernel module. Note that modern Linux kernels include a
feature that allows the kernel to load its own modules, called udev.
This will load many modules automatically without any need to edit
rc.modules, and when using udev it might be better to tell it how to
load the modules you want automatically rather than loading them at boot
time with rc.modules. This is an advanced topic, and outside the scope of
this document. If you're interested in this, "man udev" is a good
place to start reading. In any case, it's best to not edit rc.modules
unless you find that the modules you want to use are not being loaded
automatically by udev. You can see a list of the modules that were loaded
with the "lsmod" command. Likewise, in the majority of cases "alsaconf"
is not required to configure sound. Rather, the "alsamixer" tool is used
to unmute the Master and PCM channels and turn up the volume, and the
"alsactl store" is used to save the sound defaults.
There's a lot more information out there about kernel modules, including
lists of module names and the cards they support, as well as extra options
you can can add to the module lines to configure the hardware in different
ways. The kernel's documentation in /usr/src/linux/Documentation has a
lot of good information, as does the information shipped with udev (found
under /usr/doc/udev-*).
6.2 Configuring the X Window System
Configuring X can be a complex task. The reason for this is the vast
numbers of video cards available for the PC architecture, most of which
use different programming interfaces. Luckily, X has come a long way
since the early days of X386, where monitor modelines had to be tediously
calculated. With most hardware, X can now be run with NO configuration
file or additional driver! But you still might want to make a
configuration file if you'll be using a third party video driver (the
installer for that may offer to make it for you), or if you just want to
have greater control over the details of the X configuration.
To try X without a configuration file, just type "startx" at a command
line. If you're satisfied with the result, then you're done. If you
would like X to start automatically at boot, see the /etc/inittab file
once you've tested "startx" to be sure that X is working.
If this doesn't work with your card, or if you'd like to take advantage of
the high-performance features of your video card such as hardware
acceleration or 3-D hardware rendering, then you'll need to reconfigure X.
To configure X, you'll need to make an /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. This file
contains lots of details about your video hardware, mouse, and monitor.
It's a very complex configuration file, but fortunately there are several
programs to help create one for you. We'll mention a few of them here:
Xorg -configure
---------------
Modern versions of X provide a simple way to create an initial xorg.conf
file that often will work without any additional configuration, or, at the
very least, provide a good base from which to customize the file. To run
this command, enter the following in a root terminal:
# Xorg -configure
The X server probes for available hardware and creates an initial
xorg.file located in the /root directory. You can then use this initial
file to test the configuration by entering the following:
# Xorg -config /root/xorg.conf.new
This will load the initial xorg.conf.new file and run the X server. If
you see the default black and gray checkered background with a mouse
cursor appear, then the configuration was successful. To exit the X
server, just press Ctrl+Alt+Backspace simultaneously. Once back at the
command line, you can copy this xorg.conf.new file to /etc/X11/xorg.conf
and begin making any manual edits necessary to customize your setup.
xorgsetup
---------
This is a simple menu driven frontend that's similar in feel to the
Slackware installer. It simply tells the X server to take a look at the
card, and then set up the best initial configuration file it can make
based on the information it gathers. The generated /etc/X11/xorg.conf
file should be a good starting point for most systems (and should work
without modification).
6.3 Hardware acceleration with X
If you've used xorgsetup or X -configure to configure for your card, and
it's one that can take advantage of X's direct rendering support,
you'll certainly want to enable this. Check your /etc/X11/xorg.conf and
make sure that the glx module is loaded:
Load "glx"
This line will probably already be in place.
6.4 User Accounts
You should make a user account for yourself. Using "root" as your
everyday account is dangerous, and is considered bad form (at the very
least) since you can accidentally damage your system if you mistype a
command. If you're logged in as a normal user, the effects of bad
commands will be much more limited. Normally you'll only log in as root
to perform system administration tasks, such as setting or changing the
root password, installing, configuring, or removing system software, and
creating or deleting user accounts.
To make an account for yourself, use the 'adduser' program. To start it,
type 'adduser' at a prompt and follow the instructions. Going with the
default selections for user ID, group ID, and shell should be just fine
for most users. You'll want to add your user to the cdrom, audio, video
plugdev (plugable devices like USB cameras and flash memory) and scanner
groups if you have a computer with multimedia peripherals and want to be
able to access these. Add these group names, comma separated, at the
following prompt:
Additional groups (comma separated) []:
Passwords and security
----------------------
When choosing passwords for a Linux system that is connected to a network
you should pick a strong password. However, passwords only help protect a
system from remote trespassing. It's easy to gain access to a system if
someone has physical access to the console.
If you forget the root password, you can use the install disc to mount
your root partition and edit the files containing the password
information. If you have a bootable optical drive, you can use the first
installation CD-ROM or the DVD as a rescue disk.
At the prompt, you can manually mount the root Linux partition from your
hard drive ("fdisk -l" will give you a list) and remove the root password.
For example, if your root linux partition is /dev/hda2, here are the
commands to use after logging into the install disc as "root":
mount /dev/hda2 /mnt
cd /mnt/etc
Next, you'll need to edit the "shadow" file to remove root's password.
Editors which might be available include "vi", "emacs", "pico", and "nano".
"vi" and "emacs" might be more of an adventure than you need unless you've
used them before. The "pico" and "nano" editors are easy for beginners to
use.
pico shadow
At the top of the file, you'll see a line starting with root. Right after
root, you'll notice the encrypted password information between two colons.
Here's how root's line in /etc/shadow might look:
root:EnCl6vi6y2KjU:10266:0:::::
To remove root's password, you use the editor to erase the scrambled text
between the two colons, leaving a line that looks like this:
root::10266:0:::::
Save the file and reboot the machine, and you'll be able to log in as root
without a password. The first thing you should do is set a new password
for root, especially if your machine is connected to a network.
Here are some pointers on avoiding weak passwords:
1. Never use your name (or anyone's name), birthdate, license plate,
or anything relating to yourself as a password. Someone trying
to break into your machine might be able to look these things up.
2. Don't use a password that is any variation of your login name.
3. Do not use words from the dictionary (especially not "password" :)
or syllables of two different words concatenated together as your
password. There are automated programs floating around on the net
that can try them all in a short time.
4. Do not use a number (like 123456) or a password shorter than six
characters.
The strongest passwords are a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols.
Here are some examples of strong passwords (but don't use these ;-):
*^5g!:1? ()lsp@@9 i8#6#1*x ++c$!jke *2zt/mn1
In practice, any password containing one or two words, a number (or two),
and a symbol (or two) should be quite secure.
7. For more information
For more information, visit our web site at http://www.slackware.com
To shop for fine Slackware products (and help keep the project funded),
please visit http://store.slackware.com. :-)
Email: info@slackware.com (Information or general inquiries)
FTP: ftp://ftp.slackware.com (Updates)
WWW: http://www.slackware.com (News)
Security issues: security@slackware.com
General Hotline: volkerdi@slackware.com
8. Trademarks
Slackware is a registered trademark of Slackware Linux, Inc.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
All trademarks are property of their respective owners.
