Slackware

[VP9KS]

A few more tidbits on customizing Slackware:

If you like to auto-hide the task bar, like I do, right-click on it, select panel options, panel settings, more settings, and auto-hide.

To change the desktop wallpaper, right-click on the desktop, select default desktop options, and click on the image desired. You can also select just about any image on your hard drive, to use as wallpaper, by clicking on the open button at the bottom right corner of the screen, and selecting the folder and file.

Happy trails
Paul

 

[VP9KS]

One of the new packages included in the Slackware 14.2 installation is called "Marble - Virtual Globe". It is similar to Google Earth, although the resolution is not as good. One cool thing about it is the "Historical Map 1689" view. Another cool thing about it is that if you zoom way out, the constellations are depicted as they face the earth.

 

[VP9KS]

One of the interesting options in Slackware is to customize the kernel to your own needs, thus making it smaller and more compact. You start by loading the "huge" kernel at installation, then, as you gain knowledge of the system, you consider jumping into the kernel with both feet. This is done by opening a terminal in /usr/src/linux. If you just open a terminal window, you will have difficulty getting there. Instead, open your file manager, and right click on /usr/src/linux, and select open a terminal here. Issue the command make menuconfig. Then there are many decisions to make about just what you want to include in your kernel. This is as far as I have gone as yet, but I got interrupted before I was finished, so I did not save my work. I will try again later.

According to what I have read, once you are finished you issue the command "make" then "make modules_install". The new kernel should be in /arc/i386/boot.

We will see just how easy it really is. From the looks of it, it may take a week to go through all the options before making the new kernel. Anyway, if I bork it completely, I can always re-install and try again. (and again, and again, and .....)

Happy trails,
Paul

 

[VP9KS]

So, the big secret to updating Slackware is that it has a package manager, of sorts. It does not automatically notify you of updates out of the box, like say Mint Cinnamon, but you can set slackware up to notify you of updates, by email, as they become available. I prefer to check myself periodically. The secret to updating the system is a series of commands issued from the command line, or in a terminal window. You must be logged in as ROOT.

First you must select a mirror to get the updates from. Open the file /etc/slackpkg/mirrors. This is a url list of all the mirror sites. Each line is remarked out (like the old dos days, remember?) with a # at the beginning. Find the mirror that you want, for the version that you are running, remove the #, and save the file. Oh, yeah, only select 1. This will tell the package manager where to get the updates. If you should forget to do this, you will get an error instructing you to do it.

I used HTTP://slackbuilds.org/mirror/slackware/slackware-14.1/ because I installed 14.1

These four commands are issued from the command line, or in a terminal window (as root).

slackpkg update. This updates the package information on your computer to match the info on the mirror. If there are no updates, you will get the prompt "No changes in ChangeLog.txt between your last update and now. Do you really want to download all other files (Y/N)? To which you should answer N, and it will stop. If this happens, you do not need to issue the rest of the commands in this list.

slackpkg install-new. You will be prompted to decide which of these new packages you wish to install, and it takes some time to complete, so don't get in a hurry.

slackpkg upgrade-all. This is the actual upgrading of the packages, and it will also take some time. If you have just done a new install, like I just did, you may want to go get a cold beverage of your choice while this runs. (or 2, or 3, ...)

slackpkg clean-system. There may not be anything left for this to clean out, if not it will tell you. If you have any packages installed which were not in the original install, it will ask if you wish to remove them.

That is it in a nutshell.

Happy trails,
Paul

For anyone interested in seeing what this looks like, I saved the output from my last update to a text file. The menu part after the upgrade-all command is displayed with a blue background.

Happy trails,
Paul

 

[VP9KS]

Well, I mucked about long enough, and I finally stumbled upon the answer to the burning question that has haunted me for a long time:

How the hell do you set up the system sounds in Slackware (KDE)?

First, if you have any sound files that you wish to use, (waves, etc.) copy them to the /usr/share/sounds folder.

Next, in the systems settings, select Application and System Notifications.
The right side of the screen shows the events listed in the Accessibility event source.
Pull down the menu that Accessibility is listed in, and select the event source that you need. In my case it was KDE Workspace.
There is a state column for each event. Highlight the event you wish to set up, and at the bottom of the screen check Play a sound. There will be a sound shown to the right, along with a play button, and a drop down menu used to select the sound you wish to assign to that title. Once you select the sound you want, you can press the play button to hear it. You can also select Show a message in a popup for each title.
When you have all your sounds set up, press the Apply button at the bottom right to save your changes.

Happy trails,
Paul

 

[Mark J. Leskovyansky]

Any Slackware users out there?

I have been using Slackware since 1992. Used to have to load from floppies.

 

[Rob]

I was hoping someone would join you on this thread, VP!

 

[VP9KS]

I was hoping someone would join you on this thread, VP!

Yeah, I was too. I even invited anyone to add their wisdom. Only one took me up on it, but just briefly. I hope that I am not the only one here using slack. That would be a terrible waste.

Mark J, welcome to the group, and feel free to add your wisdom to this and other threads. Ah yes, floppies and the "sneaker net" days were fun times. Now a "sneaker net' would be 32GB thumb drives.

Happy trails,
Paul

 

[HuMJohn]

Paul, I have been using Slackware since Patrick released his first issue. Which was a relief from using SLS, which had too many bugs. Yeah, I go back to kernel 0.93pl11 and even earlier with a failed distro out of Canada, by the label of JANA. (They had only one successful offering of Linux before they crashed. That was in early 1992.)

Gawd, now I am showing my age.

 

[VP9KS]

No problem, mate. I just turned 65 in July, so no worries about age. You are as old as you feel. Welcome to the group. Lay your wisdom on me, please.

Happy trails (that gives away my age, if you know what I mean)
Paul

 

[VP9KS]

Alright, now some of the "old timers" are coming out of the woodwork! Let the journey begin! You guys can give away more of the slack secrets than I have yet discovered. Out with it mates!

Paul

 

[VP9KS]

I have been using Slackware since 1992. Used to have to load from floppies.

Mark,
If you remember floppies, then you remember Verbatim. I worked for the company for 6.5 years, maintaining their robots. We had 2 clean rooms at one plant in Chesapeake Virginia. That is, until our largest customer, Micros**t suddenly said that they no longer needed the 10,000,000 pieces / month that we were sending them. It seems that they had discovered that they could put Win 95 on a CD, and save money. They said that they had 500,000,000 in a warehouse, so please stop sending more. Chopped us right off at the knees, they did! So Mitsubishi sold the plant right out from under us. They gave us a 5.5 month severance package, and I had the honor of installing the machines in china, and teaching them to do my job. Oh, well. water under the bridge.

Happy trails,
Paul

 

[Steppenwolf]

After discovering Linux in '94, I started using Slack. Installed from ~70 floppies which took me over a week to download via ftp on an MS-DOS 6.22 command line on my $50 386 using the snappy new 14.4 modem (for which I paid almost a hundred bucks - cheap, since the 28.8's were just released). I never got kernel 0.95 to run without crashing (Kernel Panic and I became good friends), but 0.99 did the trick. I used Slackware for several years until I tried Red Hat. Then, in '99, I started distro-(s)hopping. Today, I'm using Qubes on the desktop, BlackArch on one laptop, Fedora on the other, Ubuntu/Debian/CentOS on servers, Raspbian on the Pi, and Android on mobile devices. I have several old PCs (P2, P3) on which I'm considering Slackware as an OS. First, because I can strip it down to run quickly and, second, because it gives me a nostalgic thrill. I'm an old dog looking forward to learning new tricks from the community here.

 

[VP9KS]

Right on, Mate!

 

[VP9KS]

I have noticed, after an update, that there has been a rather annoying change to the system sounds. When I change the volume up or down, I hear a popping sound which I would not have chosen. I have attempted to disable it using the sound settings, but have been unable to locate the proper setting. It kinda pisses me off when someone decides to alter my system without asking for my permission. This is one of the reasons that I like slack, that is I have more control over the system. I welcome any help on this, while I attempt to find a cure.

Happy Trails
Paul

 

[VP9KS]

Try as I might, I could not find the event which caused this annoying pop when the volume was changed. So I decided to try another way. I played each sound in the /usr/share/sounds folder with no luck. So I went further to the /usr/share/sounds/freedesktop/stereo folder and played them one at a time. It turned out to be the file /usr/share/sounds/freedesktop/stereo/audio-volume-change.oga, so I changed the name of the file by adding a X to the front of it. After rebooting the system there is no more annoying pop at each volume change. Just one small problem, none of the sounds play now.

Nothing like a good beating, eh Wiz?

Well, back to the drawing board.

Happy Trails,
Paul

 

[VP9KS]

Try as I might, I could not find the event which caused this annoying pop when the volume was changed. So I decided to try another way. I played each sound in the /usr/share/sounds folder with no luck. So I went further to the /usr/share/sounds/freedesktop/stereo folder and played them one at a time. It turned out to be the file /usr/share/sounds/freedesktop/stereo/audio-volume-change.oga, so I changed the name of the file by adding a X to the front of it. After rebooting the system there is no more annoying pop at each volume change. Just one small problem, none of the sounds play now.

Nothing like a good beating, eh Wiz?

Well, back to the drawing board.

Happy Trails,
Paul

It seems that I was mistaken, that is the sounds are in fact playing normally (yeah, I know Stan, define normal!), so I guess that this experiment was a success. When I shut down the computer, I was greeted by my old buddy, the Cylon Centurion saying "By your command!". The old one from the 70's show, not that new crap!

Happy Trails,
Paul

 

[VP9KS]

So, the big secret to updating Slackware is that it has a package manager, of sorts. It does not automatically notify you of updates out of the box, like say Mint Cinnamon, but you can set slackware up to notify you of updates, by email, as they become available. I prefer to check myself periodically. The secret to updating the system is a series of commands issued from the command line, or in a terminal window. You must be logged in as ROOT.

First you must select a mirror to get the updates from. Open the file /etc/slackpkg/mirrors. This is a url list of all the mirror sites. Each line is remarked out (like the old dos days, remember?) with a # at the beginning. Find the mirror that you want, for the version that you are running, remove the #, and save the file. Oh, yeah, only select 1. This will tell the package manager where to get the updates. If you should forget to do this, you will get an error instructing you to do it.

I used HTTP://slackbuilds.org/mirror/slackware/slackware-14.1/ because I installed 14.1

These four commands are issued from the command line, or in a terminal window (as root).

slackpkg update. This updates the package information on your computer to match the info on the mirror. If there are no updates, you will get the prompt "No changes in ChangeLog.txt between your last update and now. Do you really want to download all other files (Y/N)? To which you should answer N, and it will stop. If this happens, you do not need to issue the rest of the commands in this list.

slackpkg install-new. You will be prompted to decide which of these new packages you wish to install, and it takes some time to complete, so don't get in a hurry.

slackpkg upgrade-all. This is the actual upgrading of the packages, and it will also take some time. If you have just done a new install, like I just did, you may want to go get a cold beverage of your choice while this runs. (or 2, or 3, ...)

slackpkg clean-system. There may not be anything left for this to clean out, if not it will tell you. If you have any packages installed which were not in the original install, it will ask if you wish to remove them.

That is it in a nutshell.

Happy trails,
Paul

Just for clarification: When you issue the slackpkg clean-system command, unselect any third party package(s) which you do NOT wish to be removed, before you continue. If you do not, this command will remove them. By default, they are all selected for removal.

Happy Trails,
Paul

 

[atanere]

By default, they are all selected for removal

Yikes!!! Why does that seem to be a polar-opposite from "normal" to me?

Oh wait, you were poking fun at my definition of normal.

 

[VP9KS]

Yikes!!! Why does that seem to be a polar-opposite from "normal" to me?

Oh wait, you were poking fun at my definition of normal.

Oh, Come now Stan. You know that I would NEVER poke fun at you. (a sharp stick, perhaps?)