You don't need the extra bits, they are for launching the process with consolekit and dbus. If you have no need for that, then leave it out. If you use a display manager, chances are it will handle that anyway.
LILO is just very simple and does what a bootloader is supposed to do. I always configured it to just boot, with no boot menu, as I had no need for that. Configuring it is simple and intuitive. It is not trying to be a whole mini OS in it's own right (it also has a very sensible licence). One of those rare bits of software which embodies the KISS principles.

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I've never used consolekit (except where it was installed automatically). As far as I can see, its only use is to allow unprivileged users to do power-saving on laptops. And I don't like display managers. startx is simpler and more reliable.

I've discovered another nice thing about slackpkg: if you use the option file-search, it will tell you what package a file (such as a library) belongs to. I've been using it to track down the libraries that Firefox needs. I have them all installed now and everything works. Why does Slackware have the reputation of being unfriendly?

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No doubt!

I learned very early on that it is never good to remove an old kernel from your configs until you're 100% sure that the new one works properly. Following that rule has saved me a few times.

Lately, I've also been keeping the huge kernel in there as an emergency backup, but I haven't had to use it yet.

I can't seem to find the bit of documentation. But when I RTFM, I usually try things out, and given the results (e. g. works with KMS and does not work without KMS), I validated the information for myself. And BTW, FreeBSD does *not* work with these video cards, up to 11.x. X just crashes because of crappy Intel video drivers. It seems like FreeBSD 12 has improved on that.

Cheers,

Niki

I've never really understood this. Maybe some people don't like to read documentation, and prefer GUI config tools and "wizards" to hold their hands?

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Because it is unfriendly if you're a new Linux user. It's a foreign language. If you have used Windows all your life, your mind has been trained to use OSs in certain ways: everything is GUI-based, you install all programs from .exe files, you don't have to worry about dependency resolution, updates are taken care of automatically. These are not the ways in which Slackare operates. If you're experienced with *nix, however, it's straightforward. You have been working with advanced Linux OSs [LFS, Crux] for years so it's no surprise that you'll find it simple to use.

I came to Slackware via Debian and previously Ubuntu after 20 years of Windows usage and I found it very hard to make the adjustment. It took me a long time to get a usable installation and even longer to get comfortable with it [i.e. months]. It all depends what your background is.

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100% spot on.

As someone with a strong DOS background, I was always frustrated by Windows. The Linux CLI felt natural to me.

I love the fact that Slackware boots to a command line. It freaks everyone out, but at the end of the day I'm just a guy using a computer the best way I know how.

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I came to computers via mainframes, mostly VAXes running VMS. I remember being distinctly unimpressed with DOS, compared to the much more sophisticated DCL shell that I was used to. But I also found bash a kind of homecoming.
So if you install kde, it doesn't come with kdm?

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Hazel, from post 158:
Yes, it does, or with sddm, but nobody is holding a pistol to your head, forcing you to use it.

Absolutely. You can easily set Slackware to boot directly to the GUI... but that is not the default setting.

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As rkelsen mentioned, the default boots to a sign on prompt. Would you call that a "terminal" sign on? Once you are signed in, you can start your favorite DE or window manager with, startx.
Use "xwmconfig" to pick your favorite (without the quote marks).
It has been so long since I've done it any differently I don't, off the top of my head, remember what file you edit (as root) to change to a GUI sign in..... I do remember the default is referred to as, init 3
and the gui sign on as, init 4......
Maybe.....

I despise a GUI login for Linux. I feel like I am being forced into it... I too have a strong background in DOS. When Windows 95 came out, I hated the fact that it booted right into the GUI and resisted upgrading as long as possible! Then in 1995 I discovered Slackware! Unfortunately, like many others, here at work I am forced to use Windows. However I am trying to hold off on Windows 10 and stay with 7 until I retire in 2.5 years!

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Well it seems that the statement about background being a strong deciding factor in comfort with Linux, especially perhaps Slackware, is spot on in itself, but the follow up responses show that something else may be a deciding factor.

I started with DOS3 but quickly moved to DOS5 which is an all time favorite since 6.22 was basically just 5 with a few new, and somewhat useful features. The PC was an old Tandy 8086 that was given to me by a friend who bought a 286. I consider myself exceptionally lucky in having no investment because I didn't care if I crashed it once I learned it was all but impossible to destroy hardware from the keyboard. I literally ran every single .exe, bat, .com there was in alphabetical order so I could experience what they did and how. I did on occasion destroy the system but naturally it'd be back up in an hour with 3 floppies. Over time I became quite comfortable with command line and that is probably reflected in my changing my prompt to read "Yes Master?" LOL

My harddrive was an ancient 20MB WD IDE mounted on an ISA card and one day I destroyed the partitioning scheme and I wanted to see how BootBlock worked so I sat and waited till it appeared but instead, unbeknownst to me, this PC had DOS3 in ROM. It was ridiculously slow but it was something of a revelation, that it struck me that computers are something like human brains because humans designed them. It had a "subconscious"! including an "autonomic system". I went out the next day and bought The Hardware Bible to learn as much as I could about how the hardware systems were designed to function. Among other things, there I learned about IBMs OS/2 and that Motorola CPUs didn't have the 1Meg limit on addressable RAM and my many hours with software like QEMM were essentially a wasteful workaround. I even studied the trimmed down Assembly of Debug to gain access to firmware to learn more of the constraints and power hidden in hardware.

I apologize for the long intro but I hoped to demonstrate that my background was pretty strong in both hardware and the CLI. I was utterly comfortable. Here's the crux of why I think there is more than just background going on about comfort. One day a friend gave me 4 PCTools floppies because the place where she worked was trashing their whole DOS system to upgrade to something that wouldn't use PCShell I didn't ask what not wanting to look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth.

The first time I saw PCShell I was gob smacked. For the first time I could see the whole Tree... not just in my mind's eye but there before me on the screen. Now being me, I didn't care for the pointy clicky mouse feature, I navigated faster and more confidently with the keyboard but having a GUI, even such a crude one, was HUGE to me. Within a month I bought OS/2 v2 and shifted into high gear... well after I learned a PC with a CGA monitor and old harddrive couldn't install it and my MFM became a handy doorstop while the CGA gathered dust.

So when I later started learning about Linux from OS/2 (emx runtimes allowed for Enlightenment WM), I loved that it booted to CLI (as much as I loved it, I never liked that OS/2 was so "Object oriented" that it defaulted to Desktop) but I needed a graphic file manager to feel wholly in charge. For me it seems computer work got divided into two areas - deep level serious work that is for CLI and routine common applications where GUI seems quicker and more immediately available. Slackware, with runlevel 3 boot that could jump up to runlevel 4 with a variety of WM/DEs was absolutely perfect for me. Now I'm wondering why I never got involved in Tiling Desktops but I know don't have both feet firmly planted in what is often the polar extreme camps of CLI vs/ GUI. I need them both. Slackware is still perfect for me 20 years later.

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That nonsense is often spread by people who have never used Slackware, and its often based on other people's reviews (usually with a prejudicial purpose), in other words, one bloke coughs and gets half the town sick.

Congrats hazel, it's fun reading of your progress. Cheers!

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/etc/inittab

kdm is included if you install the kde/ series of packages, but it doesn't boot to kdm by default.

As others have mentioned, Slackware, by default, always boots to the command prompt, which is init or runlevel 3 (in Slackware). If you want kdm, sddm, or any other type of GUI, you would want the system to boot to init 4. You can adjust the default init in the /etc/inittab file under the "Default runlevel" section.

To break down Slackware's runlevel versions, they are:

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