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Matt's Slackware Guide
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Hey everyone, after a bit of thinking I have decided to post a thread for
most of the common problems that I have found with the latest slackware.
This is also good for people that want to try slackware and want a bit of
insight before they begin.

Common Questions

Why wont my Scroll wheel work???
To get your scroll wheel work simple open up /etc/X11/xorg.conf with kwrite or pico if your into a terminal.
scroll down untill you see your mouse settings and make sure your protocol is set to IMPS/2 then add the
following lines.
Option “ZAxisMapping” “4 5”
Option "Buttons" "5"
Tada, thats it, restart X and you should be able to scroll fine.

Mysql crashes on boot??
This problems is common with 10.1 but is an easy fix. All you have to do is open a terminal.
su mysql (become mysql)
mysql_install_db
This should reinstall the mysql database
You may now have to set your root password
mysqladmin -u root password 'password'
and then give your box or the mysql dameon a reboot
then all should be fine.


I Have 2 cd/dvd drives. Why is only one showing up?
I have never installed slackware and have two of my ATA's detect in KDE.
This is also an easy fix. Open up /etc/fstab with pico or kwrite and add
/dev/hdd /mnt/burner iso9660 noauto,ro,user 0 0

hda = First device on Primary IDE
hdb = Second device on Promary IDE
hdc = First device on Secondary IDE
hdd = Second device on Secondary IDE
and /mnt/burner would be the folder the device would mount to, make sure you manually create this folder. ex /mnt/dvd or /mnt/dvdrw

Gnome is messed up!
I find gnome on slackware to be horrible. It works fine for a bit then one day I log in and its permanently messed.
Thankfully Slackware has its own version of Gnome called Dropline Gnome. http://www.dropline.net/gnome/
All you have to do is download and burn the iso. Pop it in your tray. mount your drive and open your terminal
in the dropline directory of the cd.
type installpkg dropline-installer-2.4.10-i686-2dl.tgz
dropline-installer
the select preferences and set your cd-rom as your source. (yes it can even install from the net )
then when your ready to go click install.. and off she goes. once its done all you have to do is log out and log into your new gnome.

How do i update system!
Luckly slackware now has an application called slapt-get. Yeah, I know, Its basicly the same as apt-get only for slackware packages. Also dont forget debs and rpms can me converted to slackware packages also. which is good when you run into missing libaries. Just use rpms. Anyway back on topic. to get the slackware packages goto linuxpackages.net and download the slapt-get package. to install it open up a terminal in the directory of the package and type installpkh slapt-get*. Once installed all you have to do is use the commands.
slapt-get --update
slapt-get --upgrade
and away we go.
Also note that you can change the source ftps by editing /etc/slapt-get/slapt-getrc. It uses slackware's main ftp by default. Which can be quite slow. If you need a list of other servers let me know.
Slapt-get can be a great tool. But you still have to use installpkg or pkgtool in a terminal when manually installing packages. Well thats now not the case anymore. We now have Slackin's the slackware package manager. Which is wonderfull gui version of pkgtool, really good for updating and removing packages, with lots of features also.

Slackware still uses Kernel 2.4*?? isn't that old?
Well yes. But its also most stable (debateable now as 2.6 improves). Pat isn't going to release 2.6 as a default unless he knows its tried and true. But if your not using a server and want the speed and new hardware support the new kernel is found as a slackware package in the extra's folder on your cd in testing. Its not very hard at all to install. (if you using Reiserfs its a bit tricky, but not as problematic as compiling from source. Just read the doc in the kernels directory and newbies will be fine) Best learn to do it from source thou. But I think thats a guide elsewhere.

Slackware only lets one app use the sound card at a time?
This is caused becuase you have a non-hardware soundcard. and alsa isnt configured by default to do software mixing by creating virtual channels. To fix this I have posted a .asoundrc file to place in your home/root folder. This will fix your problem and you can finally use xmms, beep, xine, gaim all at the same time.

pcm.card0 {
type hw
card 0
mmap_emulation true
}

pcm.!output {
type dmix
ipc_key 1234
ipc_key_add_uid 1
slave {
pcm "card0"
period_time 0
period_size 1024
buffer_size 8192
rate 44100
}
bindings {
0 0
1 1
}
}

#
# DSNOOP output device
#
pcm.!input {
type dsnoop
ipc_key 4321
ipc_key_add_uid 1
slave {
pcm "card0"
period_time 0
period_size 1024
rate 44100
}
}

#
# ASYM duplex device
#
pcm.!duplex {
type asym
playback.pcm "output"
capture.pcm "input"
}

#
# Make the duplex device default
#
pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm "duplex"
}

#
# OSS Compability
pcm.!dsp0 {
type plug
slave.pcm "duplex"
}

ctl.!mixer0 {
type hw
card 0
}

** Moved to guides **

D