[NTLUG:Discuss] Slackware Presentation Notes

[terry]

I almost forgot:
The links I referred to in the presentation, (in no particular order):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slackware
http://docs.slackware.com/slackware:install
http://gparted.org/livecd.php
http://linuxcounter.net/
http://www.slackware.com/config/packages.php
http://dfw.mirror.rackspace.com/slackware/slackware-14.1/UPGRADE.TXT
http://slackbuilds.org/
http://www.sbopkg.org/
http://www.linuxquestions.org/



On Sat, Nov 15, 2014 at 7:54 PM, terry <trryhend at gmail.com> wrote:

> I mainly covered installation and package installation / maintenance.
> There is obviously a lot more to Slackware than what I covered in the
> presentation so if you have any questions, email or call and I'll be glad
> to discuss in more detail.
>
> One point we touched on but did not fully cover is starting the Xserver
> from command line, (from runlevel 3).  In addition to startx, there are
> other options.  xtartx  will start your default window manager or desktop
> environment as was set during install, by default, it will be kde, but the
> choice is ours. However you can use any of the following commands to start
> the GUI of your choice:
> startfluxbox           startxfce4
> startfvwm2             startkde
> startblackbox
> (They are all just scripts in /usr/bin/)
>
> One issue I failed to cover is how to set the default runlevel. Most of us
> would want to change the default runlevel from 3 to runlevel 4 unless we
> are running our system as server.
> So, edit /etc/inittab and change the following line:
>  id:3:initdefault:
> to
>   id:4:initdefault:
> (Do not set to 0 or 6)
> # These are the default runlevels in Slackware:
> #   0 = halt
> #   1 = single user mode
> #   2 = unused (but configured the same as runlevel 3)
> #   3 = multiuser mode (default Slackware runlevel)
> #   4 = X11 with KDM/GDM/XDM (session managers)
> #   5 = unused (but configured the same as runlevel 3)
> #   6 = reboot
>
>
> At any rate, here are my post-install notes originally written for
> Slackware 14.0:
> ==============================================
>
> Suggested post-install procedures:
>
> The first thing I do is check the time and date to make sure it is
> correct, if not I correct it with command
> ntpdate pool.ntp.org
> I might also add cronjob to keep time accurate
> 20 4 * * 0 ntpdate pool.ntp.org
> which will reset time/date at 4:20 each Sunday morning.
>
> If it's a laptop, I might condsider doing it at boot up:
>
> @reboot ntpdate pool.ntp.org
>
> I might switch to the generic kernel, (which is already installed since
> version 14.0), so all we need to do is to create /boot/initrd.gz, list it
> in the linux stanza of /etc/lilo.conf, and change the symlinks for
> System.map, config and vmlinuz, and run lilo.
>
> Example: Build an initrd image using Linux 3.2.29-smp kernel modules for a
> system with an ext3 root partition on /dev/sda2:
>
> mkinitrd -c -k 3.10.17 -m ext4
>
> Now we change the symlink:
>
> ln -sf /boot/vmlinuz /boot/vmlinuz-generic-3.10.17
>
> Next we need to add the line to the /etc/lilo.conf file.
> initrd = /boot/initrd.gz
> So that it looks something like this:
>
> # Linux bootable partition config begins
> image = /boot/vmlinuz
> initrd = /boot/initrd.gz
> root = /dev/sda2 label = Linux
> read-only
> # Linux bootable partition config ends
>
> While I'm at it, I shorten the timeout to 2 seconds (default is 2
> minutes). (This is the timeout before the first entry boots.)
> Here's what the line should look like if you want only 2 seconds:
> timeout = 20
>
> (Default is: timeout = 1200)
>
> Run lilo to write the bootloader with changes to MBR:
>
> lilo
> Warning: LBA32 addressing assumed
> Added Linux + *
> One warning was issued.
>
> If you get errors in the output, go over what you've done and figure out
> what you didn't do, or where you went wrong. After a reboot we should be
> running the generic kernel.
>
> The next two projects are setting up slackpkg and sbopkg:
> 1) slackpkg is an automated tool for managing Slackware Linux packages and
> is installed by default. To start using it, edit /etc/slackpkg/mirrors and
> uncomment one of the mirrors, (only one). I usually use tds or easynews.
> *http://slackware.mirrors.tds.* <http://slackware.mirrors.tds.net/pub/sl>
> ... ware-14.1/
> or
> *http://mirrors.easynews.com/* <http://mirrors.easynews.com/linux/slack>
> ... ware-14.1/
> You have to do "slackpkg update" The "update" action will download and
> format the list of files and packages in Slackware. Every time this list is
> changed, the update needs to be run.
> To install a package from the slackware package tree, just do
>
> slackpkg install <package-name-here>
>
> To remove a package:
>
> slackpkg remove <package-name>
>
> You can also search for keword
>
> slackpkg search <key-word>
>
> But the most useful task is keeping your install up-to-date:
>
> slackpkg update;slackpkg upgrade-all
>
> BTW; There are two mail lists of interest to Slackware users:
> slackware-announce and slackware-security The slackware-announce mailing
> list is for announcements of new versions, major updates and other general
> information. It is a low traffic, moderated list. The slackware-security
> mailing list is for announcements relating to security issues. Any exploits
> or other vulnerabilities pertaining to Slackware will get posted to this
> list.
>
> 2) sbopkg you have to download and install. It is a command-line and
> dialog-based tool to interact with the SlackBuilds.org (`SBo'') repository,
> a collection of third-party Slack-Build scripts to build Slackware
> packages. See: *http://www.sbopkg.org/* <http://www.sbopkg.org/> sbopkg
> is used to install and maintain packages outside the slackware package
> tree, (ones listed on slackbuilds.org - LOTS...) When you run it first it
> will ask to create a couple of working directories and files, once you
> agree to that and hit enter, you'll need to let it "sync" so that it can
> synchronize with the SBo repository. "The main menu allows the user to view
> the SBo ChangeLog, check for potential updates to SBo packages, display the
> contents of the local cache directory where source tarballs are saved,
> display the permanent build log, and browse or search the local copy of the
> SBo repository. Once the browse function is chosen, the user can select the
> category of software to view. After choosing a category, the user can then
> view the various software packages available in that category within the
> local SBo repository. Selecting a package will display another menu
> allowing the user to view the package's README, SlackBuild, .info, or
> slack-desc files. The user can also edit the .info file and SlackBuild and
> the edited files will remain after doing a sync. Additionally, the user can
> choose to build a package using either the original SlackBuild or the
> locally-edited one, if present. If using the dialog interface, and if
> sbopkg finds a built package for a particular piece of software in the
> OUTPUT directory, then sbopkg will automatically add a new menu entry
> allowing the user to install the package if he chooses. Alternatively, the
> user can choose to automatically download, build, or install individual
> packages or several packages in a queue. Finally, if KEEPLOG is set to YES
> in a configuration file, a permanent log of the build process is saved. See
> sbopkg.conf(5) under KEEPLOG and LOGFILE for details."
>
> You can run sbopkg with no arguments and use the menu options or just use
> a command-line argument to install a package. For instance, to install
> libreoffice, issue command: sbopkg -i libreoffice It also has a search
> option. For instance
>
>     sbopkg -s *office*
>     Searching for *office*
>     1) libraries/goffice       5) office/libreoffice
>     2) office/broffice.org     6) office/libreoffice-langpack
>     3) office/go_openoffice    7) office/openoffice.org
>     4) office/kbgoffice        8) Quit
>
> The first thing I use sbopkg for is to install xfce4-datetime-plugin. I
> rarely remember the exact name of a particular package and that's where the
> search function is particularly useful:
>
>     sbopkg -s *date*
>
>     Searching for *date*
>     1) academic/qrupdate                 5) libraries/python-dateutil
>     2) desktop/wmdate                    6) network/openrdate
>     3) desktop/xfce4-datetime-plugin     7) Quit
>     4) libraries/perl-Params-Validate
>
> I install xfce4-datetime-plugin and replace the default one with it which
> is a bit more feature rich. It has a drop-down calendar that is very handy.
>
> The problem with httpd not running cgi scripts was that I needed to
> uncomment the line in /etc/httpd/httpd.conf
> LoadModule cgi_module lib/httpd/modules/mod_cgi.so
>
> I tried lxde and it seems pretty nice on Slackware 14.0 so, here's the
> list that I installed, you should be able to do it via sbopkg with one
> single (long) command:
> sbopkg -i "lxde-common lxmenu-data lxshortcut lxml lxdm lxinput lxpolkit
> lxrandr lxsession lxsession-edit lxsplit lxtask lxterminal gpicview vala
> libgee menu-cache openbox xarchiver xmms2 lxpanel lxlauncher lxpanel-xmms2
> lxappearance libfm"
> (It seems to only run from runlevel 4, (on my system anyway) so I needed
> to telinit 4 and select it from the list. If you find it that way on yours
> too and plan to use it for a while you may want to edit the /etc/inittab
> file and change the default runlevel to 4, (by changing "id:3:initdefault:"
> to "id:4:initdefault:")
>
> Note: After installing LXDE, I got xfce error:
> "GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.
> Cure:
> Settings --> Settings Manager --> Applications Autostart
> and uncheck [disable]: PolicyKit Authentication Agent
>
> For those who have settled in on xfce4 and continue to run it from
> runlevel 3, you might like to shorten the command startxfce4 to something a
> little shorter:
>
> ln -s /usr/bin/startxfce4 /usr/bin/gui
>
> P.S. If you want to boot somewhat faster, you can make following changes.
> In the /etc/rc.d/rc.M file, find the following section and comment it out
> by placing a ‘#’ in front of each line.
>
> # Update all the shared library links:
> if [ -x /sbin/ldconfig ]; then
>   echo "Updating shared library links:  /sbin/ldconfig"
>   /sbin/ldconfig
> fi
>
> # Update the X font indexes:
> if [ -x /usr/X11R6/bin/fc-cache ]; then
>   echo "Updating X font indexes:  /usr/X11R6/bin/fc-cache"
>   /usr/X11R6/bin/fc-cache
> fi
>
> That section should now look like the following.
>
> # Update all the shared library links:
> #if [ -x /sbin/ldconfig ]; then
> #  echo "Updating shared library links:  /sbin/ldconfig"
> #  /sbin/ldconfig
> #fi
>
> # Update the X font indexes:
> #if [ -x /usr/X11R6/bin/fc-cache ]; then
> #  echo "Updating X font indexes:  /usr/X11R6/bin/fc-cache"
> #  /usr/X11R6/bin/fc-cache
> #fi
>
> These commands only need to be run on occasion. Updating shared libraries
> really only needs to be done when you add or remove shared libraries, and
> similarly X font indexes only when fonts are added and removed.
> rc.inet1
>
> Most desktop distributions are now backgrounding the request for a DHCP
> IP, (it's faster), so in the file /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 locate the following
> section (search for dhcpcd).
>
> echo "/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1:  /sbin/dhcpcd -d -t 60 ${DHCP_OPTIONS} ${1}" | $LOGGER
> /sbin/dhcpcd -d -t 60 ${DHCP_OPTIONS} ${1}
>
> Background the DHCP request by placing a ‘&’ at the end of the command
> like this.
>
> echo "/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1:  /sbin/dhcpcd -d -t 60 ${DHCP_OPTIONS} ${1}" | $LOGGER
> /sbin/dhcpcd -d -t 60 ${DHCP_OPTIONS} ${1} &
>
> LILO
>
> Those running slower systems are familiar with LILO’s “packman trap”
> (“Loading Linux.........................
>
> # Start LILO global section
> boot = /dev/hda
> compact
>
> Additionally, those running only Linux (not dual booting) can benefit
> further. Once you have a stable kernel that you’re happy with, disable all
> of the prompting and timeouts in the lilo.conf file. This means commenting
> out with ‘#’ prompt, timeout=, and message=. Putting these tweaks together
> with the other booting speed ups and autologin will allow you to get 15-20
> second boot times even on older machines!
>
> *Note:* Remember that any changes to /etc/lilo.conf will not take effect
> until running the lilo command.
>
>
> --
> In God we trust.
> <><
>



-- 
In God we trust.
<><