i'm in the middle of installing the K series in slackware 11.0 where it asks me if i want to install kernel 2.4.33.3. i chose the 2.6.13 kernel at the initial boot prompt ('huge26.s') because i need support for SATA. am i supposed to include or disclude the 2.4 kernel at this point in the installation, and when does the 2.6 kernel come along in the installation?)

i'm a newbie, so i'm afraid to leave out any sort of kernel component whatsoever...

thank you in advance!

no problem dude just go with default installation
play for default installation for a fortnight or month and then go for compiling a latest 2.6 kernel for your system

You can do either as long as you do install a kernel that supports SATA, such as either sata.i (a 2.4.x) or huge26.s (a 2.6.x).

"When the kernel comes along" is when the installer gets to the point where it mentions installing the kernel and you choose "cdrom" as the kernel source (for example). A primary problem with the 2.4.x kernel (as far as I know) is that it cannot support USB (unless you compile a custom one). Although Slackware still consideres the 3.5" floppy an important media device, the rest of the world has moved on to USB, so you are probably better off installing the huge26.s as you mentioned.

1. The k series contains the kernel _sources_, so you only need it if you plan to recompile a 2.4 kernel.

2. The selection at the initial boot prompt is for a kernel to run the setup processes, which may or may not be the kernel you choose to install later in the setup process.

3. Towards the end of the setup, you will be prompted to choose a kernel to install. At this point you should probably choose 'huge26.s'. (future versions will default to 2.6 instead of 2.4.)

4. After the install is finished, I would install the modular version of the 2.6.17 kernel found in the /extra directory.
To install slackware packages, become root with the command "su". Then type "installpkg package_name.tgz". You should install kernel-generic, kernel-modules, and kernel-source but not kernel-headers. I don't remember if you need to run "lilo" after you do this, but it can't hurt.

Brian

As a safety precaution, anything related to kernel changes should be accompanied by reinstalling LILO. There will be some times that it is not warranted, but reinstalling it a couple times is an order of magnitude easier than going through the process of emergency booting from another source (such as the installation CD) and reinstalling LILO then. Of course, using GRUB eliminates this requirement.

Hi,

The stability of the 2.4 kernel is well known fact. The use of the fd0 device is because a lot of the older (still in use) equipment used the fd0 device. The usb was a installable piece of equipment but why would you need to. Speed up boot, portability. These are not that big of a problem for older equipment. I've got some older servers that are still fully functional.

Slackware 12 rc2 now supports usb boot and uses the 2.6 kernel as the default.

To the OP, I would suggest that you install the huge26 kernel. I would also suggest that you boot using a livecd or even the installcd to get all of the machine information with a 'lspci -vv >mydevice.list' and move to a removable media or a shared media. Thus giving you all the necessary equipment information for the install, be it Slackware 11/12 rc2.

success; summary for future newbies and readers:

i came to the end of the installation and saw what BCarey had mentioned: Towards the end of the setup, you will be prompted to choose a kernel to install. At this point you should probably choose 'huge26.s'. which is what i did. so everything is okay now, slackware was installed without any issues. i just have a lot of stuff left to configure, which might become new threads in the near future...

i will also do #4 and install the kernel packages for 2.6 like you guys said, figure it out with lilo just to be safe.

it's a good thing that i chose the 2.6 kernel, otherwise i wouldn't have been able to use the mouse. the trackpoint mouse on my thinkpad didn't work (i'm going to have to configure that), but the USB mouse did, so onebuck made a good point about the USB ports with kernel 2.6