Hi,

I'm becoming fed up with SuSE 9.3 on my ThinkPad T41 as the wireless networking and printing keep on bombing, plus the bloat is weighing heavily. So I'm planning to remove SuSE and go with Slackware 10.1, having been impressed with the simplicity, speed and stability of Slackware on my other two boxes. Unlike them this will be in essence a desktop installation simply for OpenOffice, web browsing and e-mail etc..

I have two queries and would be most grateful for any views or comments.

First is a question over kernel choice. I was planning to install 10.1 with the standard 2.6.x kernel which comes with the 10.1 CD set - I'm not quite there yet with compiling my own. So would a 2.6x kernel be better on the T41 than a 2.4.x kernel? I believe that wireless networking and ACPI are better supported in 2.6.x..

Second is a partition question. My 60GB drive has a 30GB NTFS partition for XP and SuSE has three partitions: 1GB SWAP, 10GB at / and 16GB for /home. SuSE uses GRUB as a bootloader which has been written to the MBR. I've checked that LILO will overwrite the MBR if that selection is made during installation.

So will I be able to use the existing SWAP space for Slackware, and install everything but /home into the existing root, retaining /home as an existing partition?

Obviously I do not want the pain of having to reinstall XP from the IBM restore CDs and so would be grateful for any tips to make this operation run smoothly. I have backed up the XP partiton just in case...

Regards,

dkpw

Use the Microsoft program to repair the MBR, basically restoring the MBR like it was before you installed SuSE.

Use this link to Microsoft's site for a how to

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d...d_tro_ldau.asp


Then install slackware. Easy as pie.

Yes just install Slackware on the two partitions that you want to overwrite

example /dev/hda2 (Linux Root)
/dev/hda4 (Linux Swap)

just leave /dev/hda1 (Windows Partition) &
/dev/hda3 (Linux Home) alone


Lilo should pick up those other partions when you install it during the installation

Oh...And the kernel......

After quite a few tries I am now running kernel 2.6.11.11

It is blazing to me compared to 2.4.29 and also works great with ACPI.

I am really upset now because I don't have anything to fix, ha ha

There's got to be a bug somewhere but I can't find it.

But that's my opinion and my system with my hardware.

So take that with a grain of salt.

You should keep playing with a new kernel for two reasons.

1. Better performance & support
2. Knowledge and the fun of learning something new

then again some say "if it ain't broke, dont fix it"

As long as you edit lilo.conf to support both the old and the new kernels (Give you a choice if one don't work) trying a new kernel won't hurt anything. Even then, you could boot from a floppy or a cd and fix lilo to support the kernels.

I say keep hacking at it, you'll get

A few years ago I couldn't turn a computer off...
Now I'm compiling kernels

And loving every minute of it !!!

Thanks for the very quick responses. You managed to beat my reply with an edit and a new post!

Thanks also for the tip about resetting the MBR using the MS (shiver) tool/command.

How really necessary is this? I had hoped to be able to use the Slackware installer to over-write the existing MBR and use the expert LILO configuration option to add the NTFS partition.

My reading of Slackware Linux Essentials 2nd Edition Revised Slackware Book project is that LILO will over-write the existing MBR in any event - please see page 92 of the PDF version.

Yep Slackware is about learning and this forum is always a great place to start. I'd like to try the 2.6.x kernel and fiddle but I must have my XP partition safely available beforehand.

Regards,

dkpw

It's probably not necessary to use MS's program.

In fact I'm pretty sure from reading on it that it's completley safe.

But I can't talk from experience on that.

However, it's usually a good idea to treat windows like a baby.

By that I mean to keep from loosing your precious data I would not try and use a shortcut.

That being said, I feel fairly confident that lilo won't won't screw it up.

Still it's YOUR DATA not mine.

I'm only offering suggestions.

I refuse to tell you what to do. I'd hate to screw up your stuff. If it was me I would use the MS stuff to rule out any regrets.

That way I could say "at least I tried, oh well"

Well I know all this probably makes no sense.

Both ways will probably work. Use your head then go with your heart.

Thank you again mianve,

Sound advice is never unappreciated.

I'm just about to attempt it, once this second back up has finished, so I'll let you know how I get on. My head says do the MS MBR reconfigure, but my heart says "Trust LILO." In this instance my heart wins.

After all nothing can go wrong with two back ups - surely?

Regards,

dkpw

[EDIT]

Just to say that the simple Slackware and LILO method worked first time. Phew! Now for the configuration.

If you haven't done so yet, you can skip the portion of the install where
you repartition. During setup first setup your swap partition, and Slack
will format and mount it. Then you can pick your / partition. Let it format
it with ReiserFS (the default choice) and mount / but then when it comes
to the /home parition, DO NOT format it, so that you will have all your
data still intact. But do mount the /home partition. Then install whatever
you want with the Full Installation method, no prompting, and enjoy your
Shiny New Slackware System.

Chinaman,

Thanks very much for your suggestion. That what I ended up doing and I'm enjoying my shiny new Slackware system right now.

I will need to amend some of the x config for the ThinkPads trackpad, nipple and mouse to make sure they all function but that's part of the learning curve and fun.

Regards,

dkpw