Slackware-Upgrade-HowTo

Upgrading to Slackware 12.0: List of things to do beforehand

Get the installation discs & other software

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• Slackware Install Discs I, II & III
• Download /patches directory for 12.0 from one of Slackware's mirrors
• Download nvidia Linux driver installer utility for Geforce FX5200 to /mnt/cruzer
• Download XAMPP package to /mnt/cruzer

Backup the system

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• Backup the entire $HOME folder to /mnt/freeagent, the external hard drive
• Backup website folder /opt/lampp/htdocs to /mnt/freeagent, the external hard drive
• Backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf to /mnt/cruzer
• Backup entire /etc folder to /mnt/cruzer
• Print current xorg.conf for reference

Start Installation

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• Place Installation Disc I in cd drive and reboot the system
• Follow Instructions on screen to launch the installer

Partitioning

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• Launch cfdisk and delete existing partitions
• Create two new partitions, Swap 2GB & Linux Remaining space (approx 240GB)
• Write partition table to the disc and exit
• Launch setup program and follow the instructions for a complete install
• Make sure not to install php, apache and mysql. We're going to install that separately using XAMPP later on
• Choose one of the generic "huge" or "huge-smp" kernels at the end of installation process.

Fresh System

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• Hopefully, I will have a working fresh system after the installation is complete.
• The default runlevel is 3
• Launch xorgconfig, and set up xorg.conf
• Try launching X server to see if it works. If it works, we're good for next steps.
• Exit the window manager (KDE by default). This will drop you off at the terminal.

Compile Kernel

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• Backup /lib/modules/your-kernel to /lib/modules/your-kernel.backup. This step will make sure that your current kernel is available as backup if the kernel we're going to compile does not work.
• Copy /boot/config to /usr/src/linux/.config
• Become root
• cd /usr/src/linux
• make menuconfig
• Remove Riva Framebuffer Support from the configuration menu, save and exit the configuration menu
• make bzImage. This will create a new kernel "bzImage" in /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/
• make modules && make modules_install. This will compile and install kernel modules in /lib/modules/your-kernel directory.
• cp /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot #This copies our newly compiled kernel in /boot directory.
• Edit /etc/lilo.conf as follows. Add this at the end of lilo.conf

#Bootable partition configuration starts
image = /boot/bzImage
root = /dev/your-device-where-root-is-located
label = Tux (use any label you want for the new kernel)
#Bootable partition configuration ends

• Run /sbin/lilo to add the new kernel info to the boot loader.

Test the new Kernel

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• If everything went fine, reboot the computer.
• Select new kernel to boot from
• If the kernel boots properly and you get a working system back, we're good for next steps.

Install the nVidia Graphics Driver

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• Get the driver from nvidia's website
• Make it executable and launch using sh utility
• This will compile the kernel module for driver and install it.
• If the driver was installed successfully, change xorg.conf to reflect that. Just change driver name from nv to nvidia.
• Launch X server with startx and test the system out.
• glxinfo | grep dri Third line of the output should tell you if you have direct rendering enabled now.
• telinit 4. Change the runlevel to 4 and enjoy your new graphic powers.