Slackware 14.2slackware-14.2

Thu Jun 30 20:26:57 UTC 2016
Slackware 14.2 x86_64 stable is released!

The long development cycle (the Linux community has lately been living in
"interesting times", as they say) is finally behind us, and we're proud to
announce the release of Slackware 14.2.  The new release brings many updates
and modern tools, has switched from udev to eudev (no systemd), and adds
well over a hundred new packages to the system.  Thanks to the team, the
upstream developers, the dedicated Slackware community, and everyone else
who pitched in to help make this release a reality.

The ISOs are off to be replicated, a 6 CD-ROM 32-bit set and a dual-sided
32-bit/64-bit x86/x86_64 DVD.  Please consider supporting the Slackware
project by picking up a copy from store.slackware.com.  We're taking
pre-orders now, and offer a discount if you sign up for a subscription.

Have fun!  :-)

1 files changed, 107 insertions, 115 deletions

diff --git a/Slackware-HOWTO b/Slackware-HOWTO
index 87de12b7f..802fb26b9 100644
--- a/Slackware-HOWTO
+++ b/Slackware-HOWTO
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 

 Slackware Linux CD-ROM Installation HOWTO

 Patrick Volkerding <volkerdi@slackware.com>

-v14.1, 2012-10-12

+v14.2, 2016-06-28

 

 This document covers installation of the Slackware(R) distribution of the

 Linux operating system from the Slackware CD-ROM.

@@ -59,12 +59,12 @@ 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,

+limited to) the Intel 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

+x86 and 32-bit (with at least i586 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.

 

@@ -97,13 +97,6 @@ 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

@@ -112,7 +105,7 @@ experience.
 

 You also will need some disk space to install Slackware.  For a complete

 installation, you'll probably want to devote a 10GB *or larger* partition

-completely to Slackware (you'll need almost 8GB for a full default

+completely to Slackware (you'll need almost 9GB 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.

@@ -144,35 +137,35 @@ 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.  (405 MB)

+      A  The base Slackware system.  (608 MB)

 

-     AP  Linux applications.  (445 MB)

+     AP  Linux applications.  (511 MB)

 

-      D  Program development tools.  (1.1 GB)

+      D  Program development tools.  (1.2 GB)

 

-      E  GNU Emacs.  (117 MB)

+      E  GNU Emacs.  (110 MB)

 

       F  FAQs and HOWTOs for common tasks.  (33 MB)

 

-      K  Linux 3.10.17 kernel source.  (582 MB)

+      K  Linux 4.4.14 kernel source.  (721 MB)

 

-    KDE  The KDE desktop environment and applications.  (1.4 GB)

+    KDE  The KDE desktop environment and applications.  (1.5 GB)

 

-   KDEI  Language support for KDE.  (1 GB)

+   KDEI  Language support for KDE.  (1.1 GB)

 

-      L  System libraries.  (1.3 GB)

+      L  System libraries.  (1.4 GB)

 

-      N  Networking applications and utilities.  (340 MB)

+      N  Networking applications and utilities.  (406 MB)

 

-      T  TeX typesetting language.  (291 MB)

+      T  TeX typesetting language.  (290 MB)

 

-    TCL  Tcl/Tk/TclX scripting languages and tools.  (19 MB)

+    TCL  Tcl/Tk/TclX scripting languages and tools.  (18 MB)

 

-      X  X Window System graphical user interface.  (389 MB)

+      X  X Window System graphical user interface.  (374 MB)

 

-    XAP  Applications for the X Window System.  (571 MB)

+    XAP  Applications for the X Window System.  (800 MB)

 

-   XFCE  The XFCE desktop environment and applications.  (72 MB)

+   XFCE  The XFCE desktop environment and applications.  (53 MB)

 

       Y  Classic text-based BSD games.  (6 MB)

 

@@ -226,7 +219,7 @@ 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.

+enough space to install Linux. Preferably this should be more than 9GB.

 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

@@ -237,12 +230,12 @@ 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

+space on the drive to do an installation (more than 9GB 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

+3.2  Booting the Slackware CD-ROM/DVD

 

 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

@@ -260,7 +253,7 @@ that you want to boot with.  With most systems you'll want to use the
 default kernel, called hugesmp.s.  Even on a machine with only a single

 one-core processor, it is recommended to use this kernel if your machine

 can run it.  Otherwise use the huge.s kernel, which should support any

-486 or better.

+586 or better.

 

 To boot the hugesmp.s kernel, just enter hugesmp.s on the boot prompt:

 

@@ -274,7 +267,7 @@ If you've got some non-standard hardware in your machine (or if hugesmp.s
 doesn't work, and you're beginning to suspect you need a different

 kernel), then you'll have to try huge.s.  If, for some reason, that still

 will not boot and you know that your hardware should be supported by the

-3.10.17 kernel, contact volkerdi at slackware dot com and I will see

+4.4.14 kernel, contact volkerdi at slackware dot com and I will see

 what I can do.

 

 

@@ -305,15 +298,15 @@ gensmp.s    The trimmed down, more modular version of hugesmp.s.  This
             can be switched to, after setting up an initrd and

             reinstalling LILO.  It is packaged as a .txz, and can be

             found on the installed system as:

-              /boot/vmlinuz-generic-smp-2.6.33.4-smp

+              /boot/vmlinuz-generic-smp-4.4.14-smp

 

-huge.s      This is the 486-compatible single processor version of the

+huge.s      This is the 586-compatible single processor version of the

             hugesmp.s kernel.  Try this if hugesmp.s does not work on

             your machine.

 

 generic.s   The trimmed down, more modular version of huge.s.  Found on

             the system as:

-              /boot/vmlinuz-generic-2.6.33.4

+              /boot/vmlinuz-generic-4.4.14

             This also requires using an initrd.

 

 speakup.s   This used to be a separate kernel patched with the Speakup

@@ -342,7 +335,7 @@ speakup.s   This used to be a separate kernel patched with the Speakup
 

 Note that if you use the huge (non-SMP kernel) and plan to compile any

 third party kernel modules, you may need to apply the kernel patch in

-/extra/linux-3.10...   or, you could just cd to the kernel sources, run

+/extra/linux-4.4...   or, you could just cd to the kernel sources, run

 "make menuconfig", make sure that SMP (and the -smp suffix) are turned

 off, and recompile the kernel with "make".  But, that's for later --

 after the install.

@@ -568,11 +561,12 @@ partition.
 

 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).

+using a Linux filesystem.  Probably the safer filesystem choice is "ext4",

+which is a journaling filesystem based on ext2 which was the default

+filesystem for Linux for many years.  Other good choices for a filesystem

+are xfs and btrfs (although with these you'll likely want your /boot

+directory on its own partition with a simpler filesystem such as ext2 or

+ext4).

 

 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

@@ -630,7 +624,7 @@ 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

+You'll want to make sure your Slackware CD-ROM or DVD is in your drive, and

 select the first option:

 

   "Install from a Slackware CD-ROM"

@@ -703,19 +697,19 @@ 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.

+several options, including "full", "terse", "menu", "expert", "newbie",

+"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.

+Most people will want to use "full" or "terse".  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

+installing to a partition with at least 9GB 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

@@ -723,6 +717,13 @@ 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 "terse" option works the same as the "full" option, but instead of

+displaying a box with a paragraph about the package being installed, it

+displays a one-line description.  Since the boxed paragraphs shown with

+"full" tend to fly by too quickly to read on a modern computer, it might

+be easier to follow the installation progress using "terse".  The end

+result will be the same.

+

 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

@@ -762,13 +763,13 @@ 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

+probably want to select the "full" or "terse" 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".

+be better off selecting "full" or "terse".

 

 Once you have selected a prompting mode, the system begins the

 installation process.  If you've chosen "menu" or "expert" mode, you'll

@@ -776,8 +777,8 @@ 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.

+for each of these.  If you selected "full" or "terse", 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

@@ -820,9 +821,9 @@ 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:

+partition is on /dev/sda1, you'd enter this to boot your system:

 

-        huge.s root=/dev/hda1 initrd= ro

+        huge.s root=/dev/sda1 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

@@ -837,7 +838,8 @@ 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.

+/dev/mouse link.  Most computers use an imps2 compatible PS/2 mouse, which

+is the first choice.  This is also the correct choice for most USB mice.

 

 After this, other installation scripts will run depending on which

 packages you've installed.  For instance, if you installed the network-*

@@ -864,11 +866,7 @@ 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)

+that it finds.

 

 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

@@ -880,26 +878,18 @@ 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.

+Then you'll be asked if you wish to use the framebuffer console.  I'd

+recommend not using it, and just going with the "standard" selection, as

+some video cards will not work well with other choices.  The usual reason

+for wanting the framebuffer console (besides getting Tux logos at boot)

+was to adjust the size of the console text, but loading one of the

+Termimus fonts is a better way to handle that.

 

 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)

+different boot manager 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.

 

 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

@@ -915,7 +905,7 @@ 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

+name (like /dev/sda1) 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".

@@ -941,7 +931,7 @@ 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".

+"DHCP", "NetworkManager", or "loopback".

 

 Loopback 

 -------- 

@@ -986,6 +976,17 @@ 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.

 

+NetworkManager

+--------------

+

+If you will be using wireless (or even a wired interface), you might want

+to let NetworkManager handle your network connections. When NetworkManager

+is used to handle connections, a nice interface is provided to scan for

+wireless access points and make changes to the network configuration.

+This interface runs automatically with KDE or Xfce.  In fluxbox, the

+nm-applet program will need to be launched.

+

+

 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

@@ -994,10 +995,7 @@ 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

+Before rebooting, 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,

@@ -1008,12 +1006,12 @@ darkstar login:
 

 Log into the new system as "root".

         

-        Welcome to Linux 2.6.33.4.

+        Welcome to Linux 4.4.14.

 

         darkstar login: root

-        Last login: Tue May 18 15:36:23 2010 on tty3.

+        Last login: Tue Jun 28 19:38:42 2016 on tty3.

 

-        Linux 2.6.33.4.

+        Linux 4.4.14.

         You have new mail.

 

         darkstar: ~#

@@ -1025,35 +1023,27 @@ 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

+6.1 /etc/rc.d/rc.modules.local

+

+If there are kernel modules that you need to load, then you should add a

+line to this file for each kernel module that you'd like to load.  Note that

+modern Linux systems include a feature that allows the kernel to load its

+own modules, called udev.  This will load most modules automatically without

+any need to edit rc.modules, and when using udev (or eudev) 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.local

 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.

+with the "lsmod" command.

 

 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-*).

+under /usr/doc/eudev-*).

 

 

 6.2 Configuring the X Window System

@@ -1143,13 +1133,15 @@ 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:

+plugdev (plugable devices like USB cameras and flash memory), scanner, and

+lp groups if you have a computer with multimedia peripherals and want to

+be able to access these.  Add these group names at the following prompt:

 

   Additional groups (comma separated) []:

 

+To add the user to all the recommended user groups automatically, hit the

+up arrow at this prompt to fill them in, and then hit enter.

+

 

 Passwords and security

 ----------------------

@@ -1166,10 +1158,10 @@ 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

+For example, if your root linux partition is /dev/sda2, here are the

 commands to use after logging into the install disc as "root":

 

-  mount /dev/hda2 /mnt

+  mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

   cd /mnt/etc

 

 Next, you'll need to edit the "shadow" file to remove root's password.