Slackware Basics

[loopback48]

Forgive me if I sound like I'm b**ching, I'm not; A sign of fustration, nothing more, nothng less. I'm a newbie to Slackware. But not to Linux. I've played with one distro or another since 1999. While I don't consider myself a guru by any means, I do feel somewhat confident when it come to tweaking and configuring my distro of choice. At the moment I'm using Fedora Core 2 on my main box. By the way, I love it. With Linux getting easier to install I've never had problems getting any of the main stream distros configured to doing what was necessary. Nothing heavy mind you like compiling a kernel or upgrading from Gnome 2.6 to 2.8 but enough to make me happy and to learn along the way; to expand my knowledge. After years of shying away from the more geeky distros, I've finally installed Slackware 10.0. But Slackware has me stumped.

I knew that to install it I would have to learn how to use fdisk or cfdick to partition my HD. With the help of JohnT and Hard Candy (?) and others I received information on how to use those programs. I was able to partiton my HD and installed Slackware 10.0. What a joy that was. Thanks guys. But from then on it's been nothing but hair pulling and gnashing of teeth. And let me tell you, I can't afford to lose any more hair. I don't mind the teeth but leave the hair alone!

I've crusing this forum and others. I've gone to sites that are Slackware centered. Read helpfull questions. But all leave me wanting. I think like the fdisk/cfdisk problem I had, the answer might lie in how to use a text editor like pico or vi or MC. Editors are not new to me. Kedit, gedit are the ones I've used in Fedora, Mandrake and others. One other thing that I believe would help me and others is how a question is answered. I think the answer leaves something to be desired. I see so many "well, just go to /etc/config/dothis/ and add..." Huh? A little clarity if you would, please. So, consider me a rank newbie. What is the first step? Send me to a site or document that will take me by the hand and lead me to salvation. I do so badly want to learn. Really I do. But hell, I can't even figure how to set my time or get the scroll wheel to work. Someone, save me! Please!

[fatTrav]

As root, run pkgtool. It allows you to run most of the setup scripts anytime you want/need. In Pkgtool, hit setup. You can configure your timezone that way, just choose the option to set your local time. [For the record, /etc/localtime is a soft link to something in /usr/share/zoneinfo/] Pkgtool is pretty cool in this regard.

For scroll wheel, I have this in my xorg.conf file. I have a logitech three wheel opti-mouse. Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "ZaxisMapping" "4 5"

On my slack install, somewhere in /var (I think) is the Slackware Book titled "Slackware Linux Essentials The Official Guide To Slackware Linux" It may be a bit dated, but it still has a ton of good stuff. If you can't locate it on your system, try a G4L search.

Slackware lacks the hand holding that the other distros have. That is one of the core things of Slackware. Things are done though the command line using vim (or whatever editor) to edit some conf file. But you already know this.

[Rinias]

OK- calm down...

Slack's different from those other distros, and that's why it's great!!

So, you need an editor, huh? Well, that depends if you are in X or not. If you are, then you should have Gedit or Kedit there for you. But if you're logged in as a normal user, you need to log in (su) as root in a console and type "kedit" or "gedit" and then you have *root's* k- or gedit. That should be clear, right?

I don't use pico, can't ever seem to get vi or elvis working, so I stick with emacs. Emacs needs to be installed in the beginning (it was if you chose "full install" like you probably did after reading around those Slack sites..). emacs works in X or out of it. Generally I tend to su into root and then use emacs (though you don't always have to.) In order to edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf to get your mouse working, you would do this:
su
Password:
emacs /etc/X11/xorg.conf

When the emacs console opens up, you go down to the "pointer" section (whichever one says "Mouse") and you add this line:

Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"


That's your mouse wheel. It maps button 4 and 5 of the mouse (up and down on the mouse wheel) to the wheel functions- up and down on the "Z axis"- got it?

Now wait- how do you save this file? How do you get out of this damned emacs??

To exit emacs, you hold down Ctrl and then press x and then c, one right after the other. On the bottom of the screen it will ask you if you want to save, type 'y' or 'n' and then yes...

I hope this helps ya out a bit!!

Good luck and happy slackin'!!

[Darkbolt]

http://slackware.com/book/

[hard candy]

I'm not sure if you are talking about Slackware basics or Linux basics: The first thing is to put your question in Google's search box. You'll find quite a bit that way.

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

http://www.slackcare.com/news.php

http://www.freewebs.com/insytes/editingconfigfiles.html

[loopback48]

Ok, I'm calmed now. I've slept since I posted. Christ! I feel like I did when I first started out with Linux all those years ago. Seems like I forgot the one essential thing I pickup along the way - patience. So I've got some good pointers to start off with. Fat Trav, Rinias and of course Hard Candy, thanks. I really do want to succeed with Slackware. I will persevere. Now, back to work. Thanks.

[thaddaeus]

I first started out on a rehat 7.0 install a few years back. Then I moved to slackware, i will tell you this, slackware will be nicer to you when you try to edit the configuration/startup files, the way in which slackware places these config files makes them easy to find, unlike in redhat or mdk, but you will need to learn to do more on your own. Just take it one step at a time and you will have very few problems/frustrations, you'll want to also get confortable in the text mode, just like some of the other non gui savy distros. and knowing how to compile your kernal will help to. Find a learn some linux distro quick book, it will give you a nice referance and more detailed answeres and instructions than some of us can give, good luck and happy slackin

[happybunny]

i totally agree with your frustration!!

I too am a Redhat'er and have realized that I don't know much about linux, just Redhat.

I have loaded up slackware too, and it is amazingly faster!

But I am having to relearn simple tasks like starting and stopping services, etc. Redhat had nice GUI and CLI frontends for these things which worked, but kept me from know what was really going on.

Slackware has no such friendlyness too it. To stop a service, you have to know where it is, maybe read the init file, then stop it, etc etc....I'm not even that sure yet.

So the lesson is, which is a better newbie distro? Redhat/SUSE/Mandrake that has frontends to help you along? Or Slackware/Debian/Gentoo where you have to actually learn what it is linux does?

A question for the profits i guess.

But in the end, I guess i have nothing to contribute to your post about pointing you in the right direction. Good luck!

[loopback48]

Happybunny, don't worry about not having anything to contribute. Just knowing that I'm not alone in my fustration is enough to sustain. I will learn, I will learn, I will learn. And to all who have answered, a hardy thanks. More dumb questions to follow.

[][aBo][]

In my opinion it's important to understand what your main goal with an os is. If you want to learn more about linux install slackware. If you just want thing to work install suse or redhat. It all depends on what you are planning to do with it. So if you are planning to learn don't hurry to get things working because learning along the way is just as important as reaching the goal. And remember one thing: nothing worthy comes easy.

[rbrimhall]

Originally posted by happybunny
Slackware has no such friendlyness too it. To stop a service, you have to know where it is, maybe read the init file, then stop it, etc etc....I'm not even that sure yet.

It's easy in Slackware:

cd /etc/rc.d

chmod -x rc.samba (deactivates samba from starting at boot
chmod +x rc.samba (activates samba to start at boot)

An example to start and stop a service without rebooting

./rc.samba {start|stop|or restart}

Who needs a gui?;)