Slackware64 14: Post Installation Configuration

Yep. Long waited Slackware 14.0 was finally released on 09/28/2012! I immediately downloaded and installed on my system as a guest OS for VirtualBox. Since the installation and a bit of customization, I have not had enough time to play with it, but now, I tried some more configuration today.

Disclaimer:
The information below is the result of my researches in the Internet and of my experiences. It is solely used for my purpose and may not be suitable for others.

Switching to Generic Kernel:

During Slackware installation, it uses "huge" kernel, which has every hardware driver built in. It's not necessary to switch to "generic" kernel, but it is said that with "generic" kernel, it uses less memory and runs faster since "generic" kernel has virtually no drivers built in and all drivers are loaded into RAM on demand.

Create an initial RAM # /usr/share/mkinitrd/mkinitrd_command_generator.sh

This is an informational-only command which shows a next command (mkinitrd) to run to generate the initrd.gz image. # # mkinitrd_command_generator.sh revision 1.45 # # This script will now make a recommendation about the command to use # in case you require an initrd image to boot a kernel that does not # have support for your storage or root filesystem built in # (such as the Slackware 'generic' kernels'). # A suitable 'mkinitrd' command will be: mkinitrd -c -k 3.2.29 -f ext4 -r /dev/sdb2 -m ohci-hcd:mbcache:jbd2:ext4 -u -o /boot/initrd.gz

Add a new section in /etc/lilo.conf to load a new image. # vim /etc/lilo.conf ------------------------ image = /boot/vmlinuz-generic-3.2.29 initrd = /boot/initrd.gz # add this line so that lilo sees initrd.gz root = /dev/sda1 label = Slackware read-only

Also, put "lba32" in the global options in /etc/lilo.conf to avoid getting a warning message "lba32 addressing assumed" # vim /etc/lilo.conf ------------------------ # Override dangerous defaults that rewrite the partition table: change-rules reset lba32 # Normal VGA console

Save the file and run below command then reboot. # lilo -v

That's all!
-gibb