Chris Desjardins wrote:
> Hi fellow LUGheads.  I have a couple of questions, hopefully easy.  I 
> recently, yesterday, installed Slackware 9.1 on my Dell Inspiron 1100.  
> Overall the installation went great especially since I am definitely still a 
> newbie.
> I had a couple problems however.  My first problem involves my kernel.  When 
> I load Slackware 9.1 I get a string of errors regarding my kernel.  I am not 
> really sure what they are and if someone wants/thinks it will help I can try 
> to figure out what the errors are (apparently the boot info is stored 
> somewhere? vmlinuz?).

You will need to post the specific error messages for us to be able to
assist you.  Are you sure they are error messages or are you just seeing
the bootup messages [dmesg(8)] output?

> Also which kernel should I use?  When I installed Slackware I choose to skip 
> the question regarding which kernel to install (which is probably why I am 
> having this problem).  I downloaded the 2 ISO CDs off the internet so if 
> someone has a suggestion/help...thanks!  I know there are several kernels on 
> the discs.  Also should I maybe think about configuring my kernel?  How easy 
> is it for a newbie?

Generally I use the most current stable kernel.  Obtain the source
tarball from ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/  then compile from
source.  Read the /usr/src/linux/README file (contained in the tarball)
to get started.  There's also a kernel-source package that Slackware 
provides.  Be sure to get the lastest one from the "patches/packages" 
directory of your closes Slackware mirror site.  

The default IDE kernel that Slackware installs should support most of 
your hardware.

> My second question involves my ethernet card which is a Broadcom 440x 10/100 
> Integrated Controller.  Apparently Slackware didn't recognize this...does 
> anyone know if it supports this controller?  How do I get it to work if it 
> does support it?  Will I need to download a driver?  Does the fact that it 
> doesn't recognize my ethernet card have anything to do with my kernel not 
> working properly?

I have no experience with this particular ethernet card.  I would look
in the kernel source documentation or google for the card model # and
"linux kernel".

> My third question involves shutting down my computer.  I have no idea how to 
> shut down my computer...I know this sounds pretty stupid.  I logout of KDE 
> and then I am back to my terminal prompt.  If I type shutdown it logs me out 
> entirely.  Then if I turn off the computer it tells me that I didn't unmount 
> /dev/hdc2 (my Linux partition) properly next time I turn it on.  Any 
> suggestions?

The proper way to shutdown is "/sbin/shutdown -h 0".  Read the
shutdown(8) manpage, type "man shutdown" a terminal prompt, for specifics 
of halt vs. reboot.

> My final question which is definitely the easist is...does Slackware 9.1 
> boot into a nice GUI log-in like Redhat or will I always have to start at a 
> terminal window, sign in, and then type startx to get into KDE?

man init

you can set initdefault to "4" in /etc/inittab to always boot into 
graphical mode under Slackware.

Do spend some time reading man pages.  You'll learn a lot.
-- 
scot

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