[PLUG] Slackware Install, 2nd try

[Dick Steffens]

I have the .iso file. From the instructions at
https://www.slackwiki.com/Install_Slackware_Using_A_USB_Flash_Drive, I
see that should us dd. To determine where the USB stick is located I
plugged it in on my Ubuntu machine and ran mount.

/dev/sdc1 on /media/dick/LIVESLAK type iso9660
(ro,nosuid,nodev,relatime,nojoliet,check=s,map=n,blocksize=2048,uid=1000,gid=1000,dmode=500,fmode=400,uhelper=udisks2)

I'll be replacing LIVESLAK with the other iso.

I read in the instructions that the USB stick should not be mounted at
the time I run dd, so I umounted it. The instructions also specify that
I use /dev/sdc rather than /dev/sdc1, so I ran:

***@ENU-1:~$ sudo dd if=~/Desktop/slackware64-14.2-install-dvd.iso
of=/dev/sdc
dd: failed to open '/dev/sdc': No medium found
***@ENU-1:~$

What am I missing this time?

[Rich Shepard]

Post by Dick Steffens
of=/dev/sdc
dd: failed to open '/dev/sdc': No medium found
What am I missing this time?

I will go out on a limb and suggest you mount the usb drive on /mnt/hd
(assuming that's not being used for something else at the time.)

When I mount a device and want to know how the kernel sees it I use 'tail
-f /var/log/messages'[1] before I plug in the USB device. The kernel tells us
what drive it sees; likely /dev/sdc in your case.

Rich
[1] Where your distribution posts kernel messages may differ; perhaps
/var/log/syslog.

[Dick Steffens]

Post by Dick Steffens
of=/dev/sdc
dd: failed to open '/dev/sdc': No medium found
What am I missing this time?

  I will go out on a limb and suggest you mount the usb drive on /mnt/hd
(assuming that's not being used for something else at the time.)
  When I mount a device and want to know how the kernel sees it I use
'tail
-f /var/log/messages'[1] before I plug in the USB device. The kernel tells us
what drive it sees; likely /dev/sdc in your case.
Rich
[1] Where your distribution posts kernel messages may differ; perhaps
/var/log/syslog.

Answer found. See other post. umount unmounts differently than the GUI.

[Dick Steffens]

Post by Dick Steffens
I have the .iso file. From the instructions at
https://www.slackwiki.com/Install_Slackware_Using_A_USB_Flash_Drive, I
see that should us dd. To determine where the USB stick is located I
plugged it in on my Ubuntu machine and ran mount.
/dev/sdc1 on /media/dick/LIVESLAK type iso9660
(ro,nosuid,nodev,relatime,nojoliet,check=s,map=n,blocksize=2048,uid=1000,gid=1000,dmode=500,fmode=400,uhelper=udisks2)
I'll be replacing LIVESLAK with the other iso.
I read in the instructions that the USB stick should not be mounted at
the time I run dd, so I umounted it. The instructions also specify
of=/dev/sdc
dd: failed to open '/dev/sdc': No medium found
What am I missing this time?

Found the answer at:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=152125

I used Caja to unmount /dev/sdc. When I umount /dev/sdc the dd command
continues. It's still writing, so I'll post more later.

[Dick Steffens]

The dd command completed. But when I try to boot it in the laptop I get:

ISOLINUX 4.07 2013-07-25 EHDD Copyright (c) 1994-2013 H. Peter Anvin et all
Unknown keyword in configuration file: (a mix of six characters, some Greek)
Unknown keyword in configuration file: (another mix of six characters,
some Greek)
No DEFAULT or UI configuration directive found!
boot:

Now what?

[Rich Shepard]

Post by Dick Steffens
Now what?

Dick,

I have the 14-2 distribution DVD (both 32- and 64-bit versions) and can
either loan it to you or learn how to create an .iso from it, upload that to
fileconvoy.com, and pass the URL to you for downloading.

Rich

[Rich Shepard]

Post by Rich Shepard
I have the 14-2 distribution DVD (both 32- and 64-bit versions) and can
either loan it to you or learn how to create an .iso from it, upload that
to fileconvoy.com, and pass the URL to you for downloading.

I'm creating a 4.4G .iso from the distribution dvd. Will send you the URL
when uploaded. Use xcdroast (or ubuntu equivalent) to burn it on a dvd. Then
install slackware from that.

Rich

[Rich Shepard]

Post by Rich Shepard
I'm creating a 4.4G .iso from the distribution dvd. Will send you the URL
when uploaded. Use xcdroast (or ubuntu equivalent) to burn it on a dvd.
Then install slackware from that.

Dick,

Well, I created the file using
dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/home/rshepard/slackware-14.2-64.iso
but there's a problem uploading it to fileconvoy.com. I've not had any
issues uploading files before; perhaps it's the size (4.7G) which takes a
while at 5 mbits/sec upload speed. I'll contact them tomorrow. In the
meantime have a coffee and relax.

I know that the DVD works; I upgraded 4 hosts and installed new (several
times) on 2 hosts. I'll post the URL when I get it up there.

Regards,

Rich

[Ben Koenig]

Slow it down. There are instructions on the ISO to write it to a USB stick.
If you mount the iso you can read about your options in the
usb-and-pxe-installers folder on the installation media.

There are a few different options.
- raw DD
- using the iso2usb script on the iso.

It sounds like your write using dd was incomplete. This can happen, so try
it again like so:
$ sudo dd if=~/Desktop/slackware64-14.2-install-dvd.iso of=/dev/sdc bs=1M

If it fails, mount the iso and run the script to create the USB installer
as follows:
$ mount ~/Desktop/slackware64-14.2-install-dvd.iso /mnt
$ sudo sh /mnt/usb-and-pxe-installers/usbimg2disk.sh -f -s /mnt/ -o /dev/sdc


If both of these fail to produce something that boots properly, then your
download is probably bad. A bad download can be verified easily, you don't
need to go through someone else's third party download.

Post by Rich Shepard

Post by Rich Shepard
I'm creating a 4.4G .iso from the distribution dvd. Will send you the

URL

Post by Rich Shepard
when uploaded. Use xcdroast (or ubuntu equivalent) to burn it on a dvd.
Then install slackware from that.

Dick,
Well, I created the file using
dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/home/rshepard/slackware-14.2-64.iso
but there's a problem uploading it to fileconvoy.com. I've not had any
issues uploading files before; perhaps it's the size (4.7G) which takes a
while at 5 mbits/sec upload speed. I'll contact them tomorrow. In the
meantime have a coffee and relax.
I know that the DVD works; I upgraded 4 hosts and installed new (several
times) on 2 hosts. I'll post the URL when I get it up there.
Regards,
Rich
_______________________________________________
PLUG mailing list
http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug

[Dick Steffens]

Post by Ben Koenig
Slow it down. There are instructions on the ISO to write it to a USB stick.
If you mount the iso you can read about your options in the
usb-and-pxe-installers folder on the installation media.
There are a few different options.
- raw DD
- using the iso2usb script on the iso.
It sounds like your write using dd was incomplete. This can happen, so try
$ sudo dd if=~/Desktop/slackware64-14.2-install-dvd.iso of=/dev/sdc bs=1M

When I ran that it didn't take very long, but it completed, and I was
able to eject it and try and boot from it. I just get a blank screen
after telling it to boot from the USB stick. Do I need to wipe the USB
stick in some way before trying that again?

Post by Ben Koenig
If it fails, mount the iso and run the script to create the USB installer
$ mount ~/Desktop/slackware64-14.2-install-dvd.iso /mnt
$ sudo sh /mnt/usb-and-pxe-installers/usbimg2disk.sh -f -s /mnt/ -o /dev/sdc

***@ENU-1:~/Desktop/Slack-work$ sudo sh
/mnt/usb-and-pxe-installers/usbimg2disk.sh -f -s /mnt/ -o /dev/sdc
*** Not a block device: '/dev/sdc' !
***@ENU-1:~/Desktop/Slack-work$

While I can drill down into the iso and find usb-and-pxe-installers, I
can't read the .TXT files in there. What's the trick to doing that?

Post by Ben Koenig
If both of these fail to produce something that boots properly, then your
download is probably bad. A bad download can be verified easily, you don't
need to go through someone else's third party download.

[Ben Koenig]

You can read the TXT files with any text editor. Ubuntu usually has Gedit
in the menu which will work fine. On the commandline you can use 'less'.

The problem here is different. You got a message that /dev/sdc does not
exist or is not readable. Also, the DVD you downloaded should take a while
to write. dd also doesnt do any checks, it just writes what is in the file
so an incomplete file will not throw any errors. It sounds like it may have
completed too quickly.

Make sure that /dev/sdc exists, reinsert the USB stick to get it to show up.

Also, run the following command and send post the output.
md5sum <path to slackware dvd>

Several of the problems you've had with this dvd suggest an incomplete
download. If the download stopped partway, that would explain why the
syslinux file was "missing" earlier. md5sums are used to verify download
integrity by a lot of FOSS projects.

Post by Ben Koenig

Post by Ben Koenig
Slow it down. There are instructions on the ISO to write it to a USB

stick.

Post by Ben Koenig
If you mount the iso you can read about your options in the
usb-and-pxe-installers folder on the installation media.
There are a few different options.
- raw DD
- using the iso2usb script on the iso.
It sounds like your write using dd was incomplete. This can happen, so

try

Post by Ben Koenig
$ sudo dd if=~/Desktop/slackware64-14.2-install-dvd.iso of=/dev/sdc bs=1M

When I ran that it didn't take very long, but it completed, and I was
able to eject it and try and boot from it. I just get a blank screen
after telling it to boot from the USB stick. Do I need to wipe the USB
stick in some way before trying that again?

Post by Ben Koenig
If it fails, mount the iso and run the script to create the USB installer
$ mount ~/Desktop/slackware64-14.2-install-dvd.iso /mnt
$ sudo sh /mnt/usb-and-pxe-installers/usbimg2disk.sh -f -s /mnt/ -o

/dev/sdc
/mnt/usb-and-pxe-installers/usbimg2disk.sh -f -s /mnt/ -o /dev/sdc
*** Not a block device: '/dev/sdc' !
While I can drill down into the iso and find usb-and-pxe-installers, I
can't read the .TXT files in there. What's the trick to doing that?

Post by Ben Koenig
If both of these fail to produce something that boots properly, then your
download is probably bad. A bad download can be verified easily, you

don't

Post by Ben Koenig
need to go through someone else's third party download.

--
Regards,
Dick Steffens
_______________________________________________
PLUG mailing list
http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug

[Dick Steffens]

Post by Ben Koenig
You can read the TXT files with any text editor. Ubuntu usually has Gedit
in the menu which will work fine. On the commandline you can use 'less'.

Well, of course it works, now. Earlier I got an error message that the
file README_USB.TXT was a binary file.
I'll go read that file next.

Post by Ben Koenig
The problem here is different. You got a message that /dev/sdc does not
exist or is not readable. Also, the DVD you downloaded should take a while
to write. dd also doesnt do any checks, it just writes what is in the file
so an incomplete file will not throw any errors. It sounds like it may have
completed too quickly.
Make sure that /dev/sdc exists, reinsert the USB stick to get it to show up.

Right now when I plug in the USB stick two icons show up on the desktop.
If I click on one to eject it, both go away. Plugging it back in, both
show up.

/dev/sdc2 on /media/dick/SlackDVD type vfat
(rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,showexec,utf8,flush,errors=remount-ro,uhelper=udisks2)
/dev/sdc1 on /media/dick/SlackDVD1 type iso9660
(ro,nosuid,nodev,relatime,nojoliet,check=s,map=n,blocksize=2048,uid=1000,gid=1000,dmode=500,fmode=400,uhelper=udisks2)

Earlier efforts involved using unetbootin. I don't know if running dd
over that might have done something weird. That's why I wonder if I
should be doing something to wipe the USB stick before proceeding.

Post by Ben Koenig
Also, run the following command and send post the output.
md5sum <path to slackware dvd>

***@ENU-1:~$ md5sum Desktop/slackware64-14.2-install-dvd.iso
522db1d2845aaab22078530c67f858c1 Desktop/slackware64-14.2-install-dvd.iso
***@ENU-1:~$

This morning I downloaded via the torrent, and this afternoon I
downloaded from a separate mirror. The torrent download provided a
directory with an md5sum file. Both downloads match the value in that file.

Post by Ben Koenig
Several of the problems you've had with this dvd suggest an incomplete
download. If the download stopped partway, that would explain why the
syslinux file was "missing" earlier. md5sums are used to verify download
integrity by a lot of FOSS projects.

[Dick Steffens]

Post by Ben Koenig
Make sure that /dev/sdc exists, reinsert the USB stick to get it to show up.

In the event there's something wrong with the USB stick, I decided to
try a different one. This one currently has a Linux Mint 19 live image
on it. When I plug it in, I get the same screwy thing of two icons
appearing on the desktop. One is named SlackDVD, and the other is named
LinuxMint 19 MATE 64 bit. While it's not the Unix way to fix things, I'm
going to reboot this machine, since something screwy is going in with
USB mounting.

I'm saving this as a draft, and will report back after the reboot.

-----

After the reboot, only the Linux Mint 19 icon appears on the desktop.
mount reports:

/dev/sdc1 on /media/dick/Linux Mint 19 MATE 64-bit type iso9660
(ro,nosuid,nodev,relatime,nojoliet,check=s,map=n,blocksize=2048,uid=1000,gid=1000,dmode=500,fmode=400,uhelper=udisks2)

I ran

sudo umount /dev/sdc1

and then ran

sudo dd if=~/Desktop/slackware64-14.2-install-dvd.iso of=/dev/sdc bs=1M

It's still running, so I'm guessing it's doing its thing. I'll report
back after it finishes.

[Dick Steffens]

Post by Ben Koenig
sudo dd if=~/Desktop/slackware64-14.2-install-dvd.iso of=/dev/sdc bs=1M
It's still running, so I'm guessing it's doing its thing. I'll report
back after it finishes.

***@ENU-1:~$  sudo dd if=~/Desktop/slackware64-14.2-install-dvd.iso
of=/dev/sdc bs=1M
[sudo] password for dick:
2645+0 records in
2645+0 records out
2773483520 bytes (2.8 GB, 2.6 GiB) copied, 530.305 s, 5.2 MB/s
***@ENU-1:~$

Plugged it into the laptop, and the system is booting. I'll play with it
and report how it goes later.

[Tomas K]

Beware - this is intended to be funny, but factual post, I cannot help
it! This post is based on my speculation, not factual observation.

Difficulties with creating bootable disk, especially when using GUIs,
are often caused by a defective mouse operator. When USB is plugged in,
GUI tends to show some nice colorful, and often movin image. That
proves irresistible to the mouse operator and they must to click on
that shiny colorful thing.

The act of mousing that USB GUI thing typically makes GUI to mount the
thing and displaying something to make the operator happy. Like a
candy.

When that USB thingy is mounted, naturally, attempts to dd stuff to it
typically fails - because it is mounted. Using other methods to make
said bootable USB also fail for the same reason - operator mounted it
with his mouse.

To conclude - either do not mess about by clicking on the inserted USB
GUI things - before trying to write a bootable image to that USB - OR
use some mouse fu tricks to unmout every bit of said USB thingy before
attempting to write bootable image to it.

Hope it hits the spot, based on actual live experience,
Tomas

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by Ben Koenig
Make sure that /dev/sdc exists, reinsert the USB stick to get it
to 
show up.

In the event there's something wrong with the USB stick, I decided
to 
try a different one. This one currently has a Linux Mint 19 live
image 
on it. When I plug it in, I get the same screwy thing of two icons 
appearing on the desktop. One is named SlackDVD, and the other is
named 
LinuxMint 19 MATE 64 bit. While it's not the Unix way to fix things,
I'm 
going to reboot this machine, since something screwy is going in
with 
USB mounting.
I'm saving this as a draft, and will report back after the reboot.
-----
After the reboot, only the Linux Mint 19 icon appears on the
desktop. 
/dev/sdc1 on /media/dick/Linux Mint 19 MATE 64-bit type iso9660 
(ro,nosuid,nodev,relatime,nojoliet,check=s,map=n,blocksize=2048,uid=1
000,gid=1000,dmode=500,fmode=400,uhelper=udisks2)
I ran
sudo umount /dev/sdc1
and then ran
sudo dd if=~/Desktop/slackware64-14.2-install-dvd.iso of=/dev/sdc bs=1M
It's still running, so I'm guessing it's doing its thing. I'll
report 
back after it finishes.

[Rich Shepard]

Post by Ben Koenig
You can read the TXT files with any text editor. Ubuntu usually has Gedit
in the menu which will work fine. On the commandline you can use 'less'.

Or less which is a common page reader.

Rich

[Dick Steffens]

I'm up to package installation. I chose the preselected defaults, and
full mode, which installs without prompting. It is proceeding. I'm
proceeding to supper and tonight's football game.

[Dick Steffens]

Post by Dick Steffens
I'm up to package installation. I chose the preselected defaults, and
full mode, which installs without prompting. It is proceeding. I'm
proceeding to supper and tonight's football game.

Install completed successfully.
Logged in as root.
Ran halt.
Machine powered down.
Will start again tomorrow.

[Rich Shepard]

Post by Dick Steffens
Install completed successfully.
Logged in as root.
Ran halt.
Machine powered down.
Will start again tomorrow.

Dick,

Glad it all worked ... finally!

When you again have time for it, go to /etc/slackpkg/ and edit the mirrors
file to uncomment either the ftp or https address for slackware.osuosl.org.
Then, from the command line as root run 'slackpkg update' and 'slackpkg
upgrade-all'.

Regards,

Rich

[Dick Steffens]

Post by Dick Steffens
Install completed successfully.
Logged in as root.
Ran halt.
Machine powered down.
Will start again tomorrow.

Dick,
  Glad it all worked ... finally!

Me, too. Once I get the laptop set up with all the stuff I use, I'll
work on replacing Ubuntu on the desktop and backup desktop.

  When you again have time for it, go to /etc/slackpkg/ and edit the
mirrors
file to uncomment either the ftp or https address for
slackware.osuosl.org.
Then, from the command line as root run 'slackpkg update' and 'slackpkg
upgrade-all'.

I wondered why I didn't see OSU in the mirror list. I'll do that today.

Thanks.

[King Beowulf]

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by Dick Steffens
Install completed successfully.
Logged in as root.
Ran halt.
Machine powered down.
Will start again tomorrow.

Dick,
  Glad it all worked ... finally!

Me, too. Once I get the laptop set up with all the stuff I use, I'll
work on replacing Ubuntu on the desktop and backup desktop.

  When you again have time for it, go to /etc/slackpkg/ and edit the
mirrors
file to uncomment either the ftp or https address for
slackware.osuosl.org.
Then, from the command line as root run 'slackpkg update' and 'slackpkg
upgrade-all'.

I wondered why I didn't see OSU in the mirror list. I'll do that today.
Thanks.

Dick

You will want to use the mirror selector to help balance the bandwidth
on the servers. It will select the best mirror for your geographic
location as well as load balance. In /etc/slackpkg/mirrors un-comment

# USE MIRRORS.SLACKWARE.COM (DO NOT USE FTP - ONLY HTTP FINDS A NEARBY
MIRROR)
http://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware64-14.2/

Have fun,
Ed

[Dick Steffens]

Post by King Beowulf
You will want to use the mirror selector to help balance the bandwidth
on the servers. It will select the best mirror for your geographic
location as well as load balance. In /etc/slackpkg/mirrors un-comment
# USE MIRRORS.SLACKWARE.COM (DO NOT USE FTP - ONLY HTTP FINDS A NEARBY
MIRROR)
http://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware64-14.2/

Okay. As soon as I can get back into the machine I'll make that change.

[Dick Steffens]

  When you again have time for it, go to /etc/slackpkg/ and edit the
mirrors
file to uncomment either the ftp or https address for
slackware.osuosl.org.
Then, from the command line as root run 'slackpkg update' and 'slackpkg
upgrade-all'.

Done.

I switched from KDE to xfce to try it out. Then I started looking into
how to install the programs I use. First I started up Firefox. I checked
the box that makes Firefox my default browser. The mouse adn track point
stopped responding, and the screen has gone blank. <ctrl><alt><F1>
doesn't do anything. It appears that the system is hung.

Ideas?

[Dick Steffens]

Post by Dick Steffens
I switched from KDE to xfce to try it out. Then I started looking into
how to install the programs I use. First I started up Firefox. I
checked the box that makes Firefox my default browser. The mouse and
track point stopped responding, and the screen has gone blank.
<ctrl><alt><F1> doesn't do anything. It appears that the system is hung.

I powered down and back up. I logged in as a normal user. xfce came up
as expected. I started Firefox, did not check the box making it my
default browser, declined to sync with a non-existent account at
accounts.firefox.com, and the same thing happened again. There appeared
to be a lot of disk activity, so I left it and went downstairs to lunch.
That was at 12:07. The machine was still hung when I got back a few
minutes ago. I powered down again and powered back up, but with the
Ethernet cable unplugged.

After logging in as my regular user, I started Firefox again. This time
the sync invitation had a "Server not found" message, since Ethernet is
not there. I closed that tab. Then there is a tab about Firefox
features. The mouse still works, so I closed that tab. Then I set
preferences to not check for Firefox being the default browser, starting
on my home page, and making my home page about:blank. I closed Firefox
and reopened it. The mouse still works. But after plugging the Ethernet
cable back in, no network. Logging out and back in didn't change it.
Logging out and logging back in as root gives me access to the network.
As long as I was there, I changed the settings in root's Firefox to
those mentioned above.

Also, the time is incorrect. I have "Set date and time automatically"
checked, and set to Public Time Server (pool.ntp.org), and I have the
time zone set to Los Angeles. The date is correct, but it is 1:23 PM
here, and the laptop thinks it's 9:24 PM.

BTW, the switch from KDE to xfce did not stick. So I'm back to using KDE
for now.

Powered down and back up and logging in as ordinary user, and now
Firefox can see the Internet. But the time is still wrong.

Clearly, much more to learn.

[King Beowulf]

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by Dick Steffens
I switched from KDE to xfce to try it out. Then I started looking into
how to install the programs I use. First I started up Firefox. I
checked the box that makes Firefox my default browser. The mouse and
track point stopped responding, and the screen has gone blank.
<ctrl><alt><F1> doesn't do anything. It appears that the system is hung.

I powered down and back up. I logged in as a normal user. xfce came up
as expected. I started Firefox, did not check the box making it my
default browser, declined to sync with a non-existent account at
accounts.firefox.com, and the same thing happened again. There appeared
to be a lot of disk activity, so I left it and went downstairs to lunch.
That was at 12:07. The machine was still hung when I got back a few
minutes ago. I powered down again and powered back up, but with the
Ethernet cable unplugged.
After logging in as my regular user, I started Firefox again. This time
the sync invitation had a "Server not found" message, since Ethernet is
not there. I closed that tab. Then there is a tab about Firefox
features. The mouse still works, so I closed that tab. Then I set
preferences to not check for Firefox being the default browser, starting
on my home page, and making my home page about:blank. I closed Firefox
and reopened it. The mouse still works. But after plugging the Ethernet
cable back in, no network. Logging out and back in didn't change it.
Logging out and logging back in as root gives me access to the network.
As long as I was there, I changed the settings in root's Firefox to
those mentioned above.
Also, the time is incorrect. I have "Set date and time automatically"
checked, and set to Public Time Server (pool.ntp.org), and I have the
time zone set to Los Angeles. The date is correct, but it is 1:23 PM
here, and the laptop thinks it's 9:24 PM.
BTW, the switch from KDE to xfce did not stick. So I'm back to using KDE
for now.
Powered down and back up and logging in as ordinary user, and now
Firefox can see the Internet. But the time is still wrong.
Clearly, much more to learn.

Hmmm... Firefox shouldn't try to sync or do anything on the network when
launching. The version installed is old. You should update to the
newest one via slackpkg.

During install, if you selected network manager to control the network,
switching from wireless to wired can confuse it for some network
devices. Also note, that if you set yo wireless with network manager
and used KDE wallet to store the passphrase, XFCE can't see it. when
switching DE or network interface, in the DE (you need to have teh
networkmanager applet running), as a normal user, open a terminal and run:

su -
<root password>
/etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager restart
exit

(remember that Slackware does NOT use systemd or sudo). Network Manager
has some nice features but the GUI applet is easily confused and the CLI
version is cryptically brain dead.

When X hangs, it may just be X Windows not Firefox etc. KDE and XFCE
use different GUI widgets. To see if it is just X and not the whole
system. press ctrl-alt-backspace to kill X and drop to the command line
(this is why I never run a graphical login manager). You can then
"startx" to reload. Again, be sure to update as there have been a
number of important bug fixes to X.org, FF, etc.

xwmconfig sets the user DE. setting for "root" will not set for your
normal user and vice versa. it copies '/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.<DE>' to
'$HOME/.xinitrc' and if that doesn't exist '/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc' is a
symlink to ''/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.kde' as the default.

During install, when asked about your system clock, did you pick local
or UTC? If you set UTC but the BIOS clock is local time you then just
confused the heck out of it.

1. Set BIOS to correct local time
2. open command terminal

su -
<root password>
timeconfig
... set for loacl and timezone
nano /etc/ntp.conf
...uncomment one or more NTP servers
..save
ntpd -gq
hwclock -w
...

You should now be all time synchronized. Xfce does not autoupdate time.
KDE can but is a bit gimpy. To synchronize on each boot, and run the
ntpd daemon

chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.ntpd

(rc.ntpd can then be used for start|stop|restart|status)

see also "man ntpd"

Note that rc.ntpd will not update the hardware clock, use "hwclock -w"

Have Fun!
Ed

[Dick Steffens]

Post by King Beowulf
Hmmm... Firefox shouldn't try to sync or do anything on the network when
launching. The version installed is old. You should update to the
newest one via slackpkg.

I'm logged in as root.

I ran slackpkg search firefox.

It returned [ upgrade ] (something about firefox)

I ran slackpkg upgrade firefox

It listed a bunch of steps it was taking and finished.

I clicked on the Firefox icon in KDE and saw the little red firefox
bouncing on the screen. After about a minute or less, the bouncing
stopped, but Firefox was not loaded.

Looks like I broke something.

Post by King Beowulf
During install, if you selected network manager to control the network,
switching from wireless to wired can confuse it for some network
devices.

I don't recall selecting network manager, but I didn't write down what I
did say.

Post by King Beowulf
Also note, that if you set yo wireless with network manager
and used KDE wallet to store the passphrase, XFCE can't see it. when
switching DE or network interface, in the DE (you need to have teh
su -
<root password>
/etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager restart
exit
(remember that Slackware does NOT use systemd or sudo). Network Manager
has some nice features but the GUI applet is easily confused and the CLI
version is cryptically brain dead.

I haven't tried wireless yet.  But I'll keep this in mind when I get
that far.

Post by King Beowulf
When X hangs, it may just be X Windows not Firefox etc. KDE and XFCE
use different GUI widgets. To see if it is just X and not the whole
system. press ctrl-alt-backspace to kill X and drop to the command line
(this is why I never run a graphical login manager). You can then
"startx" to reload. Again, be sure to update as there have been a
number of important bug fixes to X.org, FF, etc.

I did the update thing during the initial install. I just did it again.

Post by King Beowulf
xwmconfig sets the user DE. setting for "root" will not set for your
normal user and vice versa. it copies '/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.<DE>' to
'$HOME/.xinitrc' and if that doesn't exist '/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc' is a
symlink to ''/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.kde' as the default.
During install, when asked about your system clock, did you pick local
or UTC?

Local.

Post by King Beowulf
If you set UTC but the BIOS clock is local time you then just
confused the heck out of it.
1. Set BIOS to correct local time

Did so. But I think I didn't exit correctly. I just re-did it, and the
clock now looks correct.

Post by King Beowulf
2. open command terminal
su -
<root password>
timeconfig
... set for loacl and timezone
nano /etc/ntp.conf
...uncomment one or more NTP servers

Uncommented 0.

Post by King Beowulf
..save
ntpd -gq

bash-4.3# ntpd -gq
26 Nov 03:22:31 ntpd[2089]: ntpd ***@1.3265-o Fri Jun 3 23:08:22 UTC
2016 (1): Starting
26 Nov 03:22:31 ntpd[2089]: Command line: ntpd -gq
26 Nov 03:22:31 ntpd[2089]: proto: precision = 1.047 usec (-20)
26 Nov 03:22:31 ntpd[2089]: restrict: 'monitor' cannot b disabled while
'limited' is enabled
26 Nov 03:22:31 ntpd[2089]: unable to bind to wildcard address :: -
another process may be running - EXITING
bash-4.3#

Post by King Beowulf
hwclock -w

A little pause, but didn't see anything else. Clock still shows
incorrect time. 03:28 AM (Before going back to the BIOS step again)

Post by King Beowulf
...
You should now be all time synchronized. Xfce does not autoupdate time.
KDE can but is a bit gimpy. To synchronize on each boot, and run the
ntpd daemon
chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.ntpd
(rc.ntpd can then be used for start|stop|restart|status)

Do I need to "tell" something to run it, or is that what rc.ntpd does,
now that it's executable?

Post by King Beowulf
see also "man ntpd"
Note that rc.ntpd will not update the hardware clock, use "hwclock -w"

Done.

[King Beowulf]

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
Hmmm... Firefox shouldn't try to sync or do anything on the network when
launching. The version installed is old.  You should update to the
newest one via slackpkg.

I'm logged in as root.
I ran slackpkg search firefox.
It returned [ upgrade ] (something about firefox)
I ran slackpkg upgrade firefox
It listed a bunch of steps it was taking and finished.
I clicked on the Firefox icon in KDE and saw the little red firefox
bouncing on the screen. After about a minute or less, the bouncing
stopped, but Firefox was not loaded.
Looks like I broke something.

in KDE, as a regular user (not root), open konsole and run firefox to
see what errors it spits out.

the firefox icon on the KDE bar is sometimes not pointing to the right
place. you can also try running from the KDE menu tree.

you can also see if Seamonkey or konquerer gives the same error(s).

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
During install, if you selected network manager to control the network,
switching from wireless to wired can confuse it for some network
devices.

I don't recall selecting network manager, but I didn't write down what I
did say.

Post by King Beowulf
Also note, that if you set yo wireless with network manager
and used KDE wallet to store the passphrase, XFCE can't see it. when
switching DE or network interface, in the DE (you need to have teh
su -
<root password>
/etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager restart
exit
(remember that Slackware does NOT use systemd or sudo).  Network Manager
has some nice features but the GUI applet is easily confused and the CLI
version is cryptically brain dead.

I haven't tried wireless yet.  But I'll keep this in mind when I get
that far.

You can always repeat the network configuration as root in CLI with
"netconfig" - DHCP for wired is fine, and then make sure
/etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager is not executable (networkmanager does DHCP
differently). if it is,
/etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager stop
chmod -x /etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager

When you are ready for wifi and networkmanager, Ben or I will help you
with getting the dhcp glitches fixed. you can either use Slackware's
tools OR networkmanager to control networking, not both.

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
When X hangs, it may just be X Windows not Firefox etc.  KDE and XFCE
use different GUI widgets.  To see if it is just X and not the whole
system. press ctrl-alt-backspace to kill X and drop to the command line
(this is why I never run a graphical login manager).  You  can then
"startx" to reload.  Again, be sure to update as there have been a
number of important bug fixes to X.org, FF, etc.

I did the update thing during the initial install. I just did it again.

did all 124 updates trundle by? and kernel 4.4.157?

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
xwmconfig sets the user DE.  setting for "root" will not set for your
normal user and vice versa.  it copies '/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.<DE>' to
'$HOME/.xinitrc' and if that doesn't exist '/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc' is a
symlink to ''/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.kde' as the default.
During install, when asked about your system clock, did you pick local
or UTC?

Local.

Post by King Beowulf
If you set UTC but the BIOS clock is local time you then just
confused the heck out of it.
1. Set BIOS to correct local time

Did so. But I think I didn't exit correctly. I just re-did it, and the
clock now looks correct.

Post by King Beowulf
2. open command terminal
su -
<root password>
timeconfig
... set for loacl and timezone
nano /etc/ntp.conf
...uncomment one or more NTP servers

Uncommented 0.

Post by King Beowulf
..save
ntpd -gq

bash-4.3# ntpd -gq
2016 (1): Starting
26 Nov 03:22:31 ntpd[2089]: Command line: ntpd -gq
26 Nov 03:22:31 ntpd[2089]: proto: precision = 1.047 usec (-20)
26 Nov 03:22:31 ntpd[2089]: restrict: 'monitor' cannot b disabled while
'limited' is enabled
26 Nov 03:22:31 ntpd[2089]: unable to bind to wildcard address :: -
another process may be running - EXITING
bash-4.3#

Weird, ntpd thinks it is already running. was rc.ntpd executable on the
last boot? as root

lsof -i | grep ntp

and see if it exists. In which case the -q option kicks an error and you
want to use 'ntpq' instead to see that ntp stats:

ntpq -c sysinfo localhost

to see ntp time/date stats and to set clock:

ntptime
ntpdate <time server url>

(ntpd must not be running to use ntpdate)

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
hwclock -w

A little pause, but didn't see anything else. Clock still shows
incorrect time. 03:28 AM (Before going back to the BIOS step again)

hwclock -r will read the BIOS clock (-w writes) so you can track which
part is confused.

if ntpd is running, or if not after ntpd -gq run ntptime then check
http://time.gov for your timezone (in whatever browser runs).

More gory details:
https://docs.slackware.com/howtos:network_services:ntp

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
...
You should now be all time synchronized.  Xfce does not autoupdate time.
KDE can but is a bit gimpy.  To synchronize on each boot, and run the
ntpd daemon
chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.ntpd
(rc.ntpd can then be used for start|stop|restart|status)

Do I need to "tell" something to run it, or is that what rc.ntpd does,
now that it's executable?

all rc.* that are set executable are run on boot. They are all just
shell scripts run in a particular order to get all the needed stuff and
doodads running after kernel boot.

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
see also "man ntpd"
Note that rc.ntpd will not update the hardware clock, use "hwclock -w"

Done.

Sometimes, if the time correction is too big, you have to set the time
and date manually first. So set the BIOS and then login as root to set
the time. I write this at about 18:49:45 on 26NOV2018 so

date 112618492018.45
or
date --set "26 NOV 18:49:45 PST 2018"

then try ntpdate or ntpd to fine tune.

Have fun!
Ed

[Dick Steffens]

Post by King Beowulf
<...>

Post by Dick Steffens
I clicked on the Firefox icon in KDE and saw the little red firefox
bouncing on the screen. After about a minute or less, the bouncing
stopped, but Firefox was not loaded.
Looks like I broke something.

in KDE, as a regular user (not root), open konsole and run firefox to
see what errors it spits out.

bash-4.3$ firefox
xPCOMGlueLoad error for file /usr/lib64/firefox/libxul.so:
/usr/lib64/../lib64/libz.so.1: version 'ZLIB_1.2.9' not found (required
by /usr/lib64/firefox/libxul.so)
Couldn't load XPCOM.
bash-4.3$

Post by King Beowulf
the firefox icon on the KDE bar is sometimes not pointing to the right
place. you can also try running from the KDE menu tree.

Acts the same.

Post by King Beowulf
you can also see if Seamonkey or konquerer gives the same error(s).

Seamonkey loads.

Konqueror loads.

Post by King Beowulf

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
During install, if you selected network manager to control the network,
switching from wireless to wired can confuse it for some network
devices.

I don't recall selecting network manager, but I didn't write down what I
did say.

Post by King Beowulf
Also note, that if you set yo wireless with network manager
and used KDE wallet to store the passphrase, XFCE can't see it. when
switching DE or network interface, in the DE (you need to have teh
su -
<root password>
/etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager restart
exit
(remember that Slackware does NOT use systemd or sudo).  Network Manager
has some nice features but the GUI applet is easily confused and the CLI
version is cryptically brain dead.

I haven't tried wireless yet.  But I'll keep this in mind when I get
that far.

You can always repeat the network configuration as root in CLI with
"netconfig" - DHCP for wired is fine,

This is what I did in the install, and what I just repeated:

    HOSTNAME: Thinkpad-X200
    Domain name: org
    Chose DHCP

Post by King Beowulf
and then make sure
/etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager is not executable (networkmanager does DHCP
differently). if it is,
/etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager stop

***@Thinkpad-X200:~# /etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager stop
-su: /etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager: Permission denied

Post by King Beowulf
chmod -x /etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager

I probably should have done this before trying to stop networkmanager:

***@Thinkpad-X200:~# ls -l /etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2646 Jun 12 2016 /etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager

Post by King Beowulf
When you are ready for wifi and networkmanager, Ben or I will help you
with getting the dhcp glitches fixed. you can either use Slackware's
tools OR networkmanager to control networking, not both.

I'd like to get comfortable getting simple things to work reliably first
before worrying about getting wireless to work.

Post by King Beowulf

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
When X hangs, it may just be X Windows not Firefox etc.  KDE and XFCE
use different GUI widgets.  To see if it is just X and not the whole
system. press ctrl-alt-backspace to kill X and drop to the command line
(this is why I never run a graphical login manager).  You  can then
"startx" to reload.  Again, be sure to update as there have been a
number of important bug fixes to X.org, FF, etc.

I did the update thing during the initial install. I just did it again.

did all 124 updates trundle by? and kernel 4.4.157?

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
xwmconfig sets the user DE.  setting for "root" will not set for your
normal user and vice versa.  it copies '/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.<DE>' to
'$HOME/.xinitrc' and if that doesn't exist '/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc' is a
symlink to ''/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.kde' as the default.
During install, when asked about your system clock, did you pick local
or UTC?

Local.

Post by King Beowulf
If you set UTC but the BIOS clock is local time you then just
confused the heck out of it.
1. Set BIOS to correct local time

Did so. But I think I didn't exit correctly. I just re-did it, and the
clock now looks correct.

Post by King Beowulf
2. open command terminal
su -
<root password>
timeconfig
... set for loacl and timezone
nano /etc/ntp.conf
...uncomment one or more NTP servers

Uncommented 0.

Post by King Beowulf
..save
ntpd -gq

bash-4.3# ntpd -gq
2016 (1): Starting
26 Nov 03:22:31 ntpd[2089]: Command line: ntpd -gq
26 Nov 03:22:31 ntpd[2089]: proto: precision = 1.047 usec (-20)
26 Nov 03:22:31 ntpd[2089]: restrict: 'monitor' cannot b disabled while
'limited' is enabled
26 Nov 03:22:31 ntpd[2089]: unable to bind to wildcard address :: -
another process may be running - EXITING
bash-4.3#

Weird, ntpd thinks it is already running. was rc.ntpd executable on the
last boot? as root
lsof -i | grep ntp

There are six lines reporting. I was trying to think of how I could copy
the information and get it over to this machine so I could put it in
this email, rather than typing the lines, which is what I've been doing.
I realized that I could log in to my email account from a web browser.
Since Firefox is broken, I tried Konqueror. I got as far as logging in,
and then Konqueror dies. If you need the error message it spits out,
I'll try it again tomorrow. For now, I need to go to sleep. :-)

[King Beowulf]

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
<...>

Post by Dick Steffens
I clicked on the Firefox icon in KDE and saw the little red firefox
bouncing on the screen. After about a minute or less, the bouncing
stopped, but Firefox was not loaded.
Looks like I broke something.

in KDE, as a regular user (not root), open konsole and run firefox to
see what errors it spits out.

bash-4.3$ firefox
/usr/lib64/../lib64/libz.so.1: version 'ZLIB_1.2.9' not found (required
by /usr/lib64/firefox/libxul.so)
Couldn't load XPCOM.
bash-4.3$

Odd. if you are up to date you should see from package
zlib-1.2.11-x86_64-1_slack14.2

ls -l /usr/lib64 |grep libz.so
... libz.so -> libz.so.1.2.11
... libz.so.1 -> libz.so.1.2.11
... libz.so.1.2.11 -> ../../lib64/libz.so.1.2.11

(actual libz lives in /lib64)

and the latest version installed is:
mozilla-firefox-60.3.0esr-x86_64-1_slack14.2

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
During install, if you selected network manager to control the network,
switching from wireless to wired can confuse it for some network
devices.

I don't recall selecting network manager, but I didn't write down what I
did say.

Post by King Beowulf
Also note, that if you set yo wireless with network manager
and used KDE wallet to store the passphrase, XFCE can't see it. when
switching DE or network interface, in the DE (you need to have teh
su -
<root password>
/etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager restart
exit
(remember that Slackware does NOT use systemd or sudo).  Network Manager
has some nice features but the GUI applet is easily confused and the CLI
version is cryptically brain dead.

I haven't tried wireless yet.  But I'll keep this in mind when I get
that far.

You can always repeat the network configuration as root in CLI with
"netconfig" - DHCP for wired is fine,

    HOSTNAME: Thinkpad-X200
    Domain name: org
    Chose DHCP

not sure if the domain name throws off DHCP. "org" is usually a TLD (top
level domain), so you word use something like 'blah-blah.org' then DHCP
creates your fully qualified hostname as Thinkpad-X200.blah-blah.org and
short name of Thinkpad-X200

--snip---

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
When you are ready for wifi and networkmanager, Ben or I will help you
with getting the dhcp glitches fixed.  you can either use Slackware's
tools OR networkmanager to control networking, not both.

I'd like to get comfortable getting simple things to work reliably first
before worrying about getting wireless to work.

Indeed recommended.

since rc.networkmanager is not executable just check to make sure its
not running already, either reboot or check will 'ps -A' or eh KDE
process GUI (ksysguard).
---snip---

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
lsof -i | grep ntp

There are six lines reporting. I was trying to think of how I could copy
the information and get it over to this machine so I could put it in
this email, rather than typing the lines, which is what I've been doing.
I realized that I could log in to my email account from a web browser.
Since Firefox is broken, I tried Konqueror. I got as far as logging in,
and then Konqueror dies. If you need the error message it spits out,
I'll try it again tomorrow. For now, I need to go to sleep. :-)

No worries. if lsof reported ntp sockets, it's running ok. That means
you wont need to use ntpd to set the clock (it already is trying to).
However, if nptd sees the clock off by more than 30 min, IIRC, it won't
do diddly. Thus, you would use ntpdate as root:

rc.ntpd stop
date <correct time and zone>
ntpdate 0.pool.ntp.org
hwclock -w
rc.ntpd start

should do the trick. Now it should automatically stay updated.

Konqueror can have trouble with some scriptastic websites. Seamonkey is
more mondern (original mozilla codebase before firefox went nuts).

have fun!
Ed

[Dick Steffens]

Post by King Beowulf

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
<...>

Post by Dick Steffens
I clicked on the Firefox icon in KDE and saw the little red firefox
bouncing on the screen. After about a minute or less, the bouncing
stopped, but Firefox was not loaded.
Looks like I broke something.

in KDE, as a regular user (not root), open konsole and run firefox to
see what errors it spits out.

bash-4.3$ firefox
/usr/lib64/../lib64/libz.so.1: version 'ZLIB_1.2.9' not found (required
by /usr/lib64/firefox/libxul.so)
Couldn't load XPCOM.
bash-4.3$

Odd. if you are up to date you should see from package
zlib-1.2.11-x86_64-1_slack14.2
ls -l /usr/lib64 |grep libz.so
... libz.so -> libz.so.1.2.11
... libz.so.1 -> libz.so.1.2.11
... libz.so.1.2.11 -> ../../lib64/libz.so.1.2.11
(actual libz lives in /lib64)

(I realized I don't need the bad install USB anymore, so I reformatted
it and can now copy stuff from one machine to the other.)

bash-4.3$ ls -l /usr/lib64 | grep libz.so
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       13 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so -> libz.so.1.2.8
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       13 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so.1 -> libz.so.1.2.8
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       25 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so.1.2.8 ->
../../lib64/libz.so.1.2.8
bash-4.3$

Post by King Beowulf
mozilla-firefox-60.3.0esr-x86_64-1_slack14.2

That's what slackpkg search firefox shows.

I still get the same error message this afternoon as last night, after a
power down and restart.

Post by King Beowulf
<...>

Post by Dick Steffens
    HOSTNAME: Thinkpad-X200
    Domain name: org
    Chose DHCP

not sure if the domain name throws off DHCP. "org" is usually a TLD (top
level domain), so you word use something like 'blah-blah.org' then DHCP
creates your fully qualified hostname as Thinkpad-X200.blah-blah.org and
short name of Thinkpad-X200

I remember when doing the install that it said example.org would be
fine, so that's why I went with org.

Post by King Beowulf
--snip---

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
When you are ready for wifi and networkmanager, Ben or I will help you
with getting the dhcp glitches fixed.  you can either use Slackware's
tools OR networkmanager to control networking, not both.

I'd like to get comfortable getting simple things to work reliably first
before worrying about getting wireless to work.

Indeed recommended.
since rc.networkmanager is not executable just check to make sure its
not running already, either reboot or check will 'ps -A' or eh KDE
process GUI (ksysguard).

ps -A | grep networkmanager returns empty

Post by King Beowulf
<...>
if lsof reported ntp sockets, it's running ok. That means
you wont need to use ntpd to set the clock (it already is trying to).
However, if nptd sees the clock off by more than 30 min, IIRC, it won't
do diddly.

I discovered that I exited the clock setting part of BIOS without
saving. Duh. Once I did that, the clock worked. I shut the machine down
overnight, and just turned it on this afternoon. The clock is correct.

[King Beowulf]

...snip....

Post by Dick Steffens

Odd.  if you are up to date you should see from package
zlib-1.2.11-x86_64-1_slack14.2
ls -l /usr/lib64 |grep libz.so
... libz.so -> libz.so.1.2.11
... libz.so.1 -> libz.so.1.2.11
... libz.so.1.2.11 -> ../../lib64/libz.so.1.2.11
(actual libz lives in /lib64)

(I realized I don't need the bad install USB anymore, so I reformatted
it and can now copy stuff from one machine to the other.)
bash-4.3$ ls -l /usr/lib64 | grep libz.so
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       13 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so -> libz.so.1.2.8
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       13 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so.1 -> libz.so.1.2.8
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       25 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so.1.2.8 ->
../../lib64/libz.so.1.2.8
bash-4.3$

mozilla-firefox-60.3.0esr-x86_64-1_slack14.2

That's what slackpkg search firefox shows.
I still get the same error message this afternoon as last night, after a
power down and restart.

You said you ran 'slackpkg update' then something is wrong since you
have the *old* version of zlib but the *new* version of firefox is
compiles against the *new* zlib-1.2.11

make sure /etc/slackpkg/blacklist doesn't have it blacklisted. Run the
update and type "y" to force a reload of the package list.

if necessary, you can just download zlib-1.2.11 from the patches
directory or any Slackware mirror and run

upgradepkg zlib-1.2.11-x86_64-1_slack14.2.txz

Post by Dick Steffens

<...>

     HOSTNAME: Thinkpad-X200
     Domain name: org
     Chose DHCP

not sure if the domain name throws off DHCP. "org" is usually a TLD (top
level domain), so you word use something like 'blah-blah.org' then DHCP
creates your fully qualified hostname as Thinkpad-X200.blah-blah.org and
short name of Thinkpad-X200

I remember when doing the install that it said example.org would be
fine, so that's why I went with org.

Looks "wrong" me. Essentially "example.org" here means "mycoolname.org"
not "For example, org" but if it works and DHCP is not confused then you
will be able to talk to other computers by name rather than IP address.

...snip...

Post by Dick Steffens
I discovered that I exited the clock setting part of BIOS without
saving. Duh. Once I did that, the clock worked. I shut the machine down
overnight, and just turned it on this afternoon. The clock is correct.

AHA! Nice to have a simple solution - and now you know more than you
care to about ntpd!

Have fun!
Ed

[Dick Steffens]

Post by King Beowulf
...snip....

Post by Dick Steffens

Odd.  if you are up to date you should see from package
zlib-1.2.11-x86_64-1_slack14.2
ls -l /usr/lib64 |grep libz.so
... libz.so -> libz.so.1.2.11
... libz.so.1 -> libz.so.1.2.11
... libz.so.1.2.11 -> ../../lib64/libz.so.1.2.11
(actual libz lives in /lib64)

(I realized I don't need the bad install USB anymore, so I reformatted
it and can now copy stuff from one machine to the other.)
bash-4.3$ ls -l /usr/lib64 | grep libz.so
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       13 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so -> libz.so.1.2.8
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       13 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so.1 -> libz.so.1.2.8
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       25 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so.1.2.8 ->
../../lib64/libz.so.1.2.8
bash-4.3$

mozilla-firefox-60.3.0esr-x86_64-1_slack14.2

That's what slackpkg search firefox shows.
I still get the same error message this afternoon as last night, after a
power down and restart.

You said you ran 'slackpkg update' then something is wrong since you
have the *old* version of zlib but the *new* version of firefox is
compiles against the *new* zlib-1.2.11
make sure /etc/slackpkg/blacklist doesn't have it blacklisted.

Every line in blacklist is commented out.

Post by King Beowulf
Run the
update and type "y" to force a reload of the package list.

***@Thinnkpad-X200:~# slackpkg update

Updating the package lists...
        Downloading...
                        Downloading
http://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware64-14.2/ChangeLog.txt...
URL transformed to HTTPS due to an HSTS policy
--2018-11-27 18:49:40--
https://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware64-14.2/ChangeLog.txt
Resolving mirrors.slackware.com (mirrors.slackware.com)... 207.223.116.213
Connecting to mirrors.slackware.com
(mirrors.slackware.com)|207.223.116.213|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 508812 (497K) [text/plain]
Saving to: '/tmp/slackpkg.HVix4x/ChangeLog.txt'

/tmp/slackpkg.HVix4x/ChangeLog.txt
100%[============================================================================>]
496.89K   377KB/s    in 1.3s

2018-11-27 18:49:42 (377 KB/s) - '/tmp/slackpkg.HVix4x/ChangeLog.txt'
saved [508812/508812]


                No changes in ChangeLog.txt between your last update
and now.
                Do you really want to download all other files (y/N)? y


[was that they Y you meant?]


                List of all files
                        Downloading
http://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware64-14.2/patches/MANIFEST.bz2...
<...>

***@Thinnkpad-X200:~# ls -l /usr/lib64 | grep libz.so
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       13 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so -> libz.so.1.2.8*
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       13 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so.1 -> libz.so.1.2.8*
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       25 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so.1.2.8 ->
../../lib64/libz.so.1.2.8*


It still shows 1.2.8, but what does the * mean?

Post by King Beowulf
if necessary, you can just download zlib-1.2.11 from the patches
directory or any Slackware mirror and run
upgradepkg zlib-1.2.11-x86_64-1_slack14.2.txz

BTW, at some point Thunderbird was installed. I didn't think it was one
of the included packages. However, there it was. I ran it and did a
minimal setup. It didn't work to send myself an email. But I copied
.thunderbird from my desktop machine to the laptop, fired up Thunderbird
again, set it so it wouldn't download anything, then sent  myself a test
message. It just came through. So now I can email myself stuff instead
of using sneaker-net.

[King Beowulf]

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
...snip....

Post by Dick Steffens

Odd.  if you are up to date you should see from package
zlib-1.2.11-x86_64-1_slack14.2
ls -l /usr/lib64 |grep libz.so
... libz.so -> libz.so.1.2.11
... libz.so.1 -> libz.so.1.2.11
... libz.so.1.2.11 -> ../../lib64/libz.so.1.2.11
(actual libz lives in /lib64)

(I realized I don't need the bad install USB anymore, so I reformatted
it and can now copy stuff from one machine to the other.)
bash-4.3$ ls -l /usr/lib64 | grep libz.so
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       13 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so -> libz.so.1.2.8
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       13 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so.1 ->
libz.so.1.2.8
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       25 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so.1.2.8 ->
../../lib64/libz.so.1.2.8
bash-4.3$

mozilla-firefox-60.3.0esr-x86_64-1_slack14.2

That's what slackpkg search firefox shows.
I still get the same error message this afternoon as last night, after a
power down and restart.

You said you ran 'slackpkg update' then something is wrong since you
have the *old* version of zlib but the *new* version of firefox is
compiles against the *new* zlib-1.2.11
make sure /etc/slackpkg/blacklist doesn't have it blacklisted.

Every line in blacklist is commented out.

Post by King Beowulf
Run the
update and type "y" to force a reload of the package list.

Updating the package lists...
        Downloading...
                        Downloading
http://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware64-14.2/ChangeLog.txt...
URL transformed to HTTPS due to an HSTS policy
--2018-11-27 18:49:40--
https://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware64-14.2/ChangeLog.txt
Resolving mirrors.slackware.com (mirrors.slackware.com)... 207.223.116.213
Connecting to mirrors.slackware.com
(mirrors.slackware.com)|207.223.116.213|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 508812 (497K) [text/plain]
Saving to: '/tmp/slackpkg.HVix4x/ChangeLog.txt'
/tmp/slackpkg.HVix4x/ChangeLog.txt
100%[============================================================================>]
496.89K   377KB/s    in 1.3s
2018-11-27 18:49:42 (377 KB/s) - '/tmp/slackpkg.HVix4x/ChangeLog.txt'
saved [508812/508812]
                No changes in ChangeLog.txt between your last update and
now.
                Do you really want to download all other files (y/N)? y
[was that they Y you meant?]
                List of all files
                        Downloading
http://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware64-14.2/patches/MANIFEST.bz2...
<...>
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       13 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so -> libz.so.1.2.8*
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       13 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so.1 -> libz.so.1.2.8*
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root       25 Nov 24 18:23 libz.so.1.2.8 ->
../../lib64/libz.so.1.2.8*
It still shows 1.2.8, but what does the * mean?

Post by King Beowulf
if necessary, you can just download zlib-1.2.11 from the patches
directory or any Slackware mirror and run
upgradepkg zlib-1.2.11-x86_64-1_slack14.2.txz

BTW, at some point Thunderbird was installed. I didn't think it was one
of the included packages. However, there it was. I ran it and did a
minimal setup. It didn't work to send myself an email. But I copied
.thunderbird from my desktop machine to the laptop, fired up Thunderbird
again, set it so it wouldn't download anything, then sent  myself a test
message. It just came through. So now I can email myself stuff instead
of using sneaker-net.

Dick,

I think I see the update issue. Package management in Slackware is not
like Debian/Ubuntu etc. It's a very manual process that requires much
user input. slackpkg only automates a few of these tasks. After
"update" did you "upgrade-all"? Otherwise nothing gets
installed/ungraded see also 'man slackpkg' and 'slackpkg help'

'slackpkg update' only gets updates but does NOT install them

'slackpkg upgrade-all' performs the actual upgrade of those packages.

'slackpkg search zlib' should show both with upgrade recommendation

Thunderbird is installed by default as part or Slackware. I've used it
for years. However, instead of emailing, better to use 'scp' or 'rsync'
to copy between computers.

scp somefile ***@Thinnkpad-X200:/path/to/somefile

see 'man scp'. Saves a step; no download from TB to directory. Note
that some home [wifi]routers have issues with home network DNS via DHCP
- the only support outside internet DNS. That is why I use DD-WRT or
Openwrt. Thus, you will often need to refer by IP address not name as
above.

* is a flag to show file is executable. On my systems I get that
output when in CLI before starting X (per settings in /etc/profile.) and
in X depending how konsole and other terminals are configured. I did
override the ls alias with a new on in some cases with a custom
$HOME/.bashrc so that on that box 'ls -l' does not add *.

-Ed

[Dick Steffens]

Post by King Beowulf
Dick,
I think I see the update issue. Package management in Slackware is not
like Debian/Ubuntu etc. It's a very manual process that requires much
user input. slackpkg only automates a few of these tasks. After
"update" did you "upgrade-all"? Otherwise nothing gets
installed/ungraded see also 'man slackpkg' and 'slackpkg help'

Doh!

Post by King Beowulf
'slackpkg update' only gets updates but does NOT install them
'slackpkg upgrade-all' performs the actual upgrade of those packages.

I remember doing this early on and seeing that it took awhile. And I
remember wondering why it didn't take awhile yesterday. slackpkg
upgrade-all now in progress.

Post by King Beowulf
'slackpkg search zlib' should show both with upgrade recommendation
Thunderbird is installed by default as part or Slackware. I've used it
for years. However, instead of emailing, better to use 'scp' or 'rsync'
to copy between computers.
see 'man scp'. Saves a step; no download from TB to directory.

I'll look into that. Thanks.

Post by King Beowulf
Note
that some home [wifi]routers have issues with home network DNS via DHCP
- the only support outside internet DNS. That is why I use DD-WRT or
Openwrt. Thus, you will often need to refer by IP address not name as
above.

My Buffalo router runs Openwrt.

Post by King Beowulf
* is a flag to show file is executable.

Okay. So it showed up after I changed it to make it executable. That
makes sense.

Post by King Beowulf
On my systems I get that
output when in CLI before starting X (per settings in /etc/profile.) and
in X depending how konsole and other terminals are configured. I did
override the ls alias with a new on in some cases with a custom
$HOME/.bashrc so that on that box 'ls -l' does not add *.

Thanks. I have a little time this morning, and will continue working on
getting things to look like I'd like, and making sure stuff works. I've
got some stuff I want to move to this laptop from its old hard drive, so
I'll see how it likes doing that. And I'll also be getting to know KDE
better.

Then I'll be ready to work on getting wireless working.

Thanks for all the help and advice. I'm sure I'll be thanking you for
more in the future.

slackpkg upgrade-all is still running, so I'll report back on the
success with Firefox after breakfast.

[Dick Steffens]

Post by Dick Steffens
slackpkg upgrade-all is still running, so I'll report back on the
success with Firefox after breakfast.

Slackpkg finished and Firefox works as expected.

Now on to making the computer look like I want it to.

[Dave Lien - W7DAL]

Dick - I've been watching this saga with great interest and glad your
persistence paid off. Hopefully you can find time to distill your
findings into a nice simple set of  A, B, C installation instructions so
others (like me) can bypass these problems and give Slackware a try.
TNX. -Dave

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by Dick Steffens
slackpkg upgrade-all is still running, so I'll report back on the
success with Firefox after breakfast.

Slackpkg finished and Firefox works as expected.
Now on to making the computer look like I want it to.

[Dick Steffens]

Post by Dave Lien - W7DAL
Dick - I've been watching this saga with great interest and glad your
persistence paid off. Hopefully you can find time to distill your
findings into a nice simple set of  A, B, C installation instructions
so others (like me) can bypass these problems and give Slackware a
try. TNX. -Dave

I've been keeping notes. I'll give that a try later on, after I've put
some extra stuff on the machine, and I know I understand the process
more completely than I do now.

[King Beowulf]

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by Dick Steffens
slackpkg upgrade-all is still running, so I'll report back on the
success with Firefox after breakfast.

Slackpkg finished and Firefox works as expected.
Now on to making the computer look like I want it to.

Sweet!

One more thing when you get to wifi with networkmanager: it doesn't play
well with dhcpd, the slackware default. edit

/etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/00-dhcp-client.conf to use dhclient:

[main]
# Choose a DHCP client below. Upstream recommends dhclient, but results
may vary.
# dhcpcd is the DHCP client usually used by Slackware:
#dhcp=dhcpcd
# dhclient is the ISC reference DHCP client, part of the dhcp package:
dhcp=dhclient
# This is a simple DHCP client that is built into NetworkManager:
#dhcp=internal

other wise you'll get into a connect-disconnent loop. Since
networkmanager wants to control all network interfaces, edit

/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf

to clear out

USE_DHCP[0]=""

This is not absolutely necessary but make its easier to toggle between
wired and wireless without networkmanger freaking out.

...and I'm procrastinating again.

Have Fun!
Ed

[King Beowulf]

---snip---

Post by Dick Steffens
Thanks. I have a little time this morning, and will continue working on
getting things to look like I'd like, and making sure stuff works. I've
got some stuff I want to move to this laptop from its old hard drive, so
I'll see how it likes doing that. And I'll also be getting to know KDE
better.
Then I'll be ready to work on getting wireless working.
Thanks for all the help and advice. I'm sure I'll be thanking you for
more in the future.
slackpkg upgrade-all is still running, so I'll report back on the
success with Firefox after breakfast.

Glad to help. Ben got busy otherwise he would have continued to assist.
I was working from home for a bit so "procrastinated". After 20+ yrs
with Slackware I still may not know the answers, but I have learned
where to go look!

When upgrade-all is done, there is a kernel update, so make sure you
check /etc/lilo.conf and run lilo (as root) to load up the new one to
able to boot. If you created an initrd (with mkinitrd) then you will
need a new one.

Have Fun!
Ed

[Dick Steffens]

Post by King Beowulf
Glad to help. Ben got busy otherwise he would have continued to assist.
I was working from home for a bit so "procrastinated". After 20+ yrs
with Slackware I still may not know the answers, but I have learned
where to go look!
When upgrade-all is done, there is a kernel update, so make sure you
check /etc/lilo.conf and run lilo (as root) to load up the new one to
able to boot.

There was an option to run lilo at the end, and I said yes. It appeared
to do something, but didn't take much time. I went ahead and copied some
files from the old hard drive, changed the background image on the
desktop, and a couple of other things. Then I powered down. I just
powered back up and all seems to be working correctly. I need to go out
later and will take the laptop with me because it now has some pictures
on it that will be needed where I'm going. Later this afternoon I'll be
ready to start working on getting wireless working.

Post by King Beowulf
If you created an initrd (with mkinitrd) then you will
need a new one.

I don't recall doing that myself. But since the machine booted up, I'm
assuming I'm good.

Post by King Beowulf
Have Fun!

Now that things aren't failing right away, it is starting to be fun.

Thanks!

[Rich Shepard]

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
If you created an initrd (with mkinitrd) then you will
need a new one.

I don't recall doing that myself. But since the machine booted up, I'm
assuming I'm good.

Dick,

Slackware has two types of bootable files: vmlinuz-generic and
vmlinuz-huge. The latter has all modules built in so it's the default. The
former is streamlined and loads modules only as necessary. It is the generic
kernel that requires an initial ram disk (initrd), produced by mkinitrd.

If you have sufficient memory on the X200 to hold all modules all the time
the huger kernel will continue to work for you. If you want to use the
generic kernel make an initrd and have two stanzas in lilo.conf: the default
being the generic and the alternate the huge. This provides a bootable
system if something is borked when using the generic kernel.

Best regards,

Rich

[Dick Steffens]

Post by Dick Steffens

Post by King Beowulf
If you created an initrd (with mkinitrd) then you will
need a new one.

I don't recall doing that myself. But since the machine booted up,
I'm assuming I'm good.

Dick,
  Slackware has two types of bootable files: vmlinuz-generic and
vmlinuz-huge. The latter has all modules built in so it's the default. The
former is streamlined and loads modules only as necessary. It is the generic
kernel that requires an initial ram disk (initrd), produced by mkinitrd.
  If you have sufficient memory on the X200 to hold all modules all
the time
the huger kernel will continue to work for you. If you want to use the
generic kernel make an initrd and have two stanzas in lilo.conf: the default
being the generic and the alternate the huge. This provides a bootable
system if something is borked when using the generic kernel.

I'll keep that in mind. I did make the boot USB near the end of the
install process. But the whole point of this exercise is to learn stuff,
so I'll read up on your recommendation, too.

Thanks.