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-====== The Installer ======
-Upon first boot of the install disc, you'll be presented with an option to choose what kernel you'd
-like to use. The kernel is the part of the operating system that scans the
-hardware in, and attached to, a computer so that drivers may be loaded, which
-enables you to interact with that computer. Once all of the drivers are loaded,
-the OS initialises an interface: a text shell (in modern computing, there is an
-expectation that the text interface to a computer will be concealed by a
-Graphical User Interface, but Slackware defiantly defaults to plain text).
-Slackware's default kernel is an all-purpose one (called the Huge kernel) that
-should detect all modern (and most legacy) hardware.
-To continue the boot process with the default kernel, press ''RETURN'' or ''ENTER''.
-The next screen verbosely explains how to go about installing in three easy steps:
-  -Log in as root
-  -Partition your drive(s)
-  -Type in setup and follow the prompts
-And it really will be as simple as that.
-Login
-Log in as root by typing root and pressing RETURN. That's the first step done.
-Partition Your Hard Drive(s)
-Despite what the packaging might say, hard drives are not very smart. They do
-not care what operating system you use them on, they do not care how you store
-data on them. They are just storage media.
-The most convenient (but not the only) way we have devised, so far, to store
-data on a hard drive is by putting bits into what we call a "filesystem"; that
-is, a common system that the computer knows to use in order to read and write
-data, a bit like a secret decoder ring, or an index. As the term suggests, it
-is a system for dealing with files.
-Usually, we use a "partition" to provide a filesystem with boundaries. You
-might have seen this before, if you have ever had a computer with a rescue
-partition: one harddrive with a mostly invisible slice partitioned off so that
-in the case of an emergency it can boot to a clean rescue install image.
-The first step in preparing a drive for an operating system is to partition it.
-Slackware itself will take care of creating the filesystem, later.
-Warning
-Slackermedia assumes that you are using new drives, or at least drives that you
-have already backed up, because everything in this section will destroy any
-existing data on the drives. That is the intent. Do not follow this section
-verbatim if you have valuable data on your drive that you do not intend to
-erase.
-The way Linux sees hard drives is by identifying what controller they are
-connected to on the motherboard, and then by assigning a letter to denote the
-order in which they are connected. The prefix for a hard drive is sd (for
-historical purposes). ^[1] So the identifier for the first hard drive on a
-system would be sda, and the second drive would be sda.
-You can verify what drives Linux finds by looking in the device, or dev,
-directory:
-# ls /dev/sd?
-On a laptop, you probably only have one drive, so the result will likely be /
-dev/sda but a desktop can (and arguably should) have multiple drives, so
-results might be /dev/sda /dev/sdb /dev/sdc, and so on to the last drive.
-Whether you have one or three or more drives, each drive must have a partition
-in order for an OS to be installed.
-Warning
-Mistakes are easy to make. Disconnect any drive that you do not intend to erase
-while you create partitions, just in case you type in the wrong drive and erase
-something you did not mean to erase.
-In other words: only the drives you intend to erase should be attached to your
-computer, to prevent accidental data loss.
-To create an MBR (for use with BIOS or UEFI-in-BIOS-mode) partition label
-(replace sdX with the appropriate drive identifier):
-  # parted /dev/sdX mklabel msdos
-If you require or prefer a GPT partition for use with UEFI (replace sdX with
-the appropriate drive identifier):
-  # parted /dev/sdX mklabel gpt
-And then create the actual partition boundaries. To do this, you must know the
-size of your drive:
-  # parted /dev/sdX print | grep Disk
-If you want hibernation support, then you need to make one partition for your
-operating system and personal data, plus one partition for hibernation (called
-a swap partition). Swap space should be a little more than the amount of RAM
-you have in the computer. Assuming you have a 2TB drive and are reserving 16GB
-for swap:
-  # parted /dev/sdX mkpart
-  primary 1 1984000
-  # parted /dev/sdX mkpart
-  primary 1984000 -0
-  # mkswap /dev/sdX2
-Warning
-If you are using multiple drives, then you should only make a swap partition on
-one non-SSD drive. You do not need swap space on each physical drive.
-On old systems, swap space was a necessity in the event that you ran out of
-RAM. This is less of an issue now that RAM is relatively cheap, so if you have
-heaps of RAM then you probably do not need swap space. If you are using a
-desktop and do not require hibernation, or you just don't anticipate needing
-hibernation, then you can opt to forsake the swap partition and just create a
-single partition that spans the entire drive:
-  # parted /dev/sdX mkpart
-  primary 1 -0
-Do this for each drive that you want to use in your system.
-Setup
-Type in setup to open a rudimentary GUI interface for the install menu. The
-first selection is to read the HELP section. If you have never used an ncurses
-interface, read up on how to navigate the menu in front of you.
-The next option, KEYMAP is optional. Use it if you have a non-US keyboard.
-ADDSWAP may also be optional, depending on whether you added a swap partition
-to your drive. If not, skip it. Otherwise, enter the install process here; the
-installer should detect your swap partition, so let it add the partition to the
-system layout and continue.
-Set the destination for the OS install with the TARGET menu item. If you are on
-a single-drive system, the one choice is obvious: add the one partition
-available as the target.
-If you are using an SSD drive for your applications, then you will need to add
-both drives as targets and specify the mount points of each.
-The mount point for your standard drive should be /, which is the Unix notation
-for the "root" of the filesystem; the top-level directory into which all other
-data is placed. This means that all system data, including your personal data,
-will be stored in directories within the root directory. To place your user
-applications on the SSD drive, define its mount point as /usr/bin, which will
-ensure that all user-oriented applications will be placed onto the very fast
-SSD drive.
-The installer will offer to format each drive for you. It is usually safe (and
-quickest) to perform a standard Format with no bad block checking. Use jfs for
-your filesystem type. ^[2]
-Once your drives are formatted, select the source of the installation.
-Presumably you are installing from a DVD, so select the first option. Allow the
-installer to perform an automatic scan for the disc. (This option probably
-seems odd to you, but there are several ways to install Slackware Linux, and so
-this menu is actually very useful for advanced installs. However, unless you
-are an expert, there is no real need to perform anything but a standard install
-from the boot disc).
-Next, you must choose the packages that you want to install. By default, all
-but the internationalisation files for the desktop are selected. You may
-activate the internationalisation package set if you want a non-English
-desktop, otherwise it is safe to leave it deactivated.
-The next menu confirms that you wish to perform a full and automated install of
-all package sets. Slackermedia only supports a full install. If you turn any
-other package set off, you risk unexpected incompatibilities. The full install
-is not large compared to the standard install of other operating systems, and
-yet you get an amazing amount of software, development headers, libraries, and
-tools. In short, install everything.
-Uncompressing and copying thousands of installable files takes time. You can
-use this time for a coffee break, but if you're very new to Linux, then
-watching the installer may prove interesting, just so that you get some idea of
-what gets installed on a fully-featured operating system.
-Once all packages have been installed, you have the opportunity to create a USB
-boot loader disc. It is safe to skip this step on modern hardware; if anything
-goes wrong, you can generally perform a rescue with your install disc.
-In order for your computer's BIOS or UEFI to pass control over to an operating
-system, it must know where that operating system is located. On the commercial
-computer systems that you buy, this is hidden from the user, presumably to give
-the appearance that the OS is the computer. On Linux, this functionality is
-exposed so that the user can intercept the boot process as needed. The software
-that governs this is known as a boot loader.
-The boot loader that Slackware uses is called LILO and should be installed to
-the MBR (master boot record). From a user perspective, it just amounts to a
-menu at boot time that lets you choose what drive or OS to boot into. Since
-Slackermedia recommends having only one OS, this menu is surplus to
-requirements, but since it is necessary for the boot precess, and not a bad
-tool to have around for troubleshooting, installing it correctly is important.
-If you are using BIOS or UEFI-in-BIOS-mode, you can use the simple option of
-letting the installer auto-detect your settings, and then configure and install
-LILO for you.
-If you are using UEFI with GPT partitions (which you will probably only do if
-you have a drive that is larger than 2TB), then choose to skip this step for
-now. A manual LILO install will be performed after the install.
-Next, choose a resolution for your monitor. On modern LCD panels, the highest
-quality is probably safe, but if you are using old monitors then stay with the
-standard option.
-The next few prompts are well documented in themselves. Continue on until you
-are prompted to configure GPM. This defaults to Yes but it is safe to choose No
-if you do not anticipate using your mouse in a text-only console. If you are
-unsure, choose No.
-Configuring the network is the next major option that deserves some special
-attention. You certainly want to configure your network. The first field is for
-a hostname for your computer. You can give your computer any hostname you like,
-but short and simple is usually better. Many sys admins have a complex naming
-scheme (ie, name all computers in one department after famous spaceships, all
-computers in another after sea animals, and so on) but for personal use, you
-can use anything you please, and unless you intend to set up and use internal
-DNS, you will probably never actually use it directly.
-The next field is a domain name. Again, unless you actually intend to set up a
-complex intranet, you will likely never use this directly and you can provide
-it with any string you please. An example would be slackermedia.local, or you
-can use your own production company's name, or anything. Again, short and
-simple is probably best.
-Finally, choose how to configure your network. This entirely depends on your
-network. An in-depth lesson on network design is out of the scope of a book
-about multimedia workflows, so if you intend to create a complex intranet, you
-should know how you intend to distribute IP addresses. If you are not sure yet,
-then choose NetworkManager.
-For the sake of complete documentation, here is a summary of each option, plus
-one that does not appear:
-Network Configuration Options
-static IP
-    Set your own IP address based on either what your sys admin tells you, or
-    what your ISP tells you.
-    This is fairly rare for home users, since usually you will have a router or
-    modem between you and your ISP (so the router or modem may have a static
-    IP, or else a dynamic one being managed by the ISP, so that your computers
-    do not have to). Even in large businesses, these sorts of things are often
-    handled by the server rather than on the client side.
-DHCP
-    Tells your computer to ping a server or router for an IP address. This is
-    very common on home connections, with wired connections. It is also very
-    common on business networks.
-    This is not what you want if you use wireless connections to a router
-    (unless you intend to use the <applciation>wicd</applciation> network
-    manager).
-loopback
-    This could be used if you had no network, or intend to use a dialup modem.
-NetworkManager
-    Uses the NetworkManager application to dynamically let you decide what
-    connection to use. You can plug in and use a wired connection, or unplug
-    and switch to wireless. You can set static IP addresses, or use DHCP, or
-    VPN, and much more. This is what you expect from a modern computer and is
-    almost certainly what you want on a laptop, and possibly a desktop.
-Wicd
-    This is not an option at this stage, but it is an extra package on the
-    install media, which you can install later. It is a more unixy version of
-    NetworkManager, and popular with geeks who want the convenience of
-    dynamically changing wireless networks combined with the option to easily
-    deactivate network management, or who are concerned about simple and
-    modular code.
-    To use wicd, choose DHCP for now and install wicd later.
-If you do not understand why any of those things are signficant, or are
-confused about what to choose, then you should choose NetworkManager.
-Next, you are provided with a list of startup options. This is largely geared
-toward sys admins, or computer users who like to do sys admin tasks (like
-reading logs, playing on the network, start up various services, and so on).
-Each item that gets started at boot time unsuprisingly adds to boot time, so if
-you are on a laptop or you anticipate rebooting often, then you should choose
-no extra services here and in fact can safely deactivate rc.inetd (assuming
-that you are using NetworkManager, and even rc.syslog. If these are required at
-some later time, you can easily reactivate them.
-Further boot time optimisations will be made later.
-The next option is to customise the font used in the text console. It is safe
-to choose No here.
-Remember when you were mucking about with BIOS and UEFI? here is another place
-where that will pay off: in the next menu screen, you need to tell Slackware
-whether your system clock is set to local or to GMT/UTC time. If it is set to
-local, the next screen will require you to define your location. In practise,
-this does not necessarily matter that much, because you can always set an
-offset for your clock, or use an NTP server, but it's tidier if you make the
-effort.
-The next screen asks you to set a default desktop. Unlike commercial operating
-systems, Linux's GUI desktop is treated not as the window into the OS, but as
-just another application; it can be swapped out with an entirely different one,
-much as you would choose to use a different web browser, or video player, and
-so on. Slackware ships with the most robust desktop of them all, KDE, as well
-as with some alternatives for the adventurous. Slackermedia recommends KDE,
-because it is flexible and highly configurable, and yet basically just works
-as-is. If you choose a different desktop, then you will need to do extra
-configuration that this handbook does not address. If you are not comfortable
-with multimedia on Linux yet, then choose KDE to keep things simple and to
-maintain a set of known variables. You can always launch different desktops in
-your own spare time, since you have already installed all of them. This menu
-simply sets the default.
-The final (more or less) screen asks you to set a password for the
-administrator of the computer. The administrator's name is root, no matter
-what. This is the first user, the primary owner of the computer. Set the
-password to whatever you want, but do not forget it.
-The scripted installer process is now over. Whether or not your job is done
-depends on whether or not you are using UEFI. If so, then you skipped the LILO
-boot loader install, so if you were to reboot now, you would have no way of
-getting into your OS without a rescue disc. If you did accidentally reboot
-before reading this paragraph, then reboot using your install media and follow
-the instructions in the appendix for recovering a lost password, and then
-return here.
-Exit out of the installer, and use this command to enter your freshly installed
-system:
-# chroot /mnt
-This changes the root directory from being the install disc to being the root
-directory that you defined whilst installing. So now you can operate on your
-system before actually booting into it.
-To configure the boot loader, use the nano text editor, which runs as a
-semi-graphical application within the text console:
-# chroot /etc/lilo.conf_example
-Midway through this file, you will see several VGA options. Below that section
-are several examples of what valid boot loader congfigurations might look like.
-You can use one as a starting point, creating an entry that looks like this:
-insert lilo.conf here
-foobar
-When you have finished editing, press control+o to "write Out" the file. In the
-buffer that appears near the bottom of the screen, rename the file to
-lilo.conf.
-Press control+x to exit.
-Now run LILO to instantiate the configuration.
-# lilo
-It is now safe to reboot the computer. The best way to do that is to press
-control+alt+F2 to log back into your install media. Login as root again, and
-then issue this command:
-  # reboot
-This reboots your computer. Make sure that the install media is ejected so that
-your BIOS or UEFI does not boot back into the installer.
-Now that you have installed the OS, your next step is to set up your user
-environment.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-^[1] tldp.org/HOWTO/Partition/devices.html
-^[2] Slackermedia recommends jfs solely based on experiential data. In some
-ways, it has fewer features than something like ext4 but it is a good, stable
-open source filesystem that is useful on both SSD and standard drives, and it
-is backed by IBM and used by IBM on large amounts of data in very large data
-centers. It makes the most sense for Slackermedia, and has successfully powered
-Slackermedia machines that are in production for the past five years (including
-one that is exclusively SSD).
-If you know Linux well and have reason to prefer ext4 or xfs or some other
-filesystem type, feel free to ignore this recommendation.