Success with Slackware 13.0 and Acer 110L

Just an FYI for all you slackers out there ;P

The [relatively] new Slackware 13.0 works almost out of the box. Only three minor fixes need to be made (in my case), but otherwise all hardware is working like a dream and the performance is vastly more stable than the default Ubuntu 9.04 Intel driver support. It's also great to get 2.5 hours out of my battery again, as opposed to Ubuntu draining it in 90 minutes (even with most background processes removed).

Things I had to fix:
1) LILO didn't install into the MBR during setup because the lilo script was pointing to /dev/hdc rather than the SSD drive /dev/sda. Opening up /etc/lilo.conf, making the changes, and running lilo again fixed this issue.

2) The Synaptics Touchpad clicks were not set correctly for some reason. See this link for specifics on this. The key here is to get HAL to initialize "TapButton1" = "1" to fix the issue.

3) This may not be a problem for some, but it was for me. Slackware 13.0 ships with Wicd (network manager) version 1.6.2.1. This version could not pick up my SSID from my router and would not connect as a result. I had to remove this package and install the latest (1.6.2.2) from Wicd to correct the issue.


That's it, now you can start building the latest bleeding edge software in Slackware. For those of you new to Linux, I wouldn't suggest you jump on Slackware unless you really want to learn a thing or two. It's quite low-level in comparison to other distros, but if you do take up on the task you're in for one heck of a treat.


Things I got up an running in Slackware 13.0:
1) Latest FFMPEG with xvid, x264, AAC, and MP3 support compiled with ease.

2) VLC 1.0.2. VLC also has the ability to stream your webcam and mic (works like a dream). I tested the Transformers DVD with it and it ran silky smooth (damn I love that movie .

3) Blender 2.49 compiles and works.

4) ZSNES 1.51b works for all you hardcore classic gamers out there Note that ZSNES 1.51b crashed on Ubuntu 9.04 for me (library conflicts somewhere).


Happy Slacking!

 

Hi , i like slack , best distro.#
what the desktop are you using? how it works no brakes?


How much freespace on your hard drive after install ?
tnx for answer :idea:

 

I'm using XFCE, which comes with Slackware as well. I've been using it for a good month now and it's pretty solid. I do a lot of development on here with OpenGL and it has been rock stable. I've had no problem with wireless either, returning from sleep mode or otherwise. There is an annoying problem where the system stalls for a couple seconds due to heavy disk use every now and then. I disabled logging but the issue is elsewhere. To lazy to look it up as it's not a consistent problem.

I have 2GB of free space left, but I have a ton of stuff on here. Warzone 2100, ZSNES + roms, Freeciv, Frozen Bubble, neverball, Open Office, and a couple hundred megs of my own development stuff. In general, I have 340MB of free memory after bootup and about 240MB free once I startup XFCE. Bootup is about 40 seconds, but that would be improved if you rebuild the kernel (again, I'm to lazy

 

I've also been using slackware for some time now. (We use it on all the computers in our home, but I used Fedora for some while on my acer). I've decreased the install size by removing some packages I don't use. This gives me about 2.9Gb free on my root. And my home is located on a CF-card which I build into it (using the free sata connector). It runs really smooth without any hickups, but I did compile my own kernel with a tiny patch. And for the RAM part, I've got 1.5Gb and currently it is used for about 744Mb (of which is 431Mb cached).

I also run xfce and some custom compiled programs like icecat (instead of firefox) and openoffice which is really nice, because it starts in 6 seconds. And I mainly use my acer as a portable desktop replacement and do some software development on it.

 

Recently I've been experimenting with squashing the /usr directory in order to shrink the root install. I must say that I'm really pleased with the result. My root usage went down to 1.6GB from a 4.4GB install (I installed some development packages, namely jdk and GHC and some other stuff, since the last time). Everything still runs very smooth, only the boottime went up by about 10 seconds.

 

Thanks for answers , XFCE good and most quickly desktop then KDE, now I`m temporarily using openSUSE-11.1 with native kernel 2.6, it box installed, bootup is more then 60seconds :cry: , I have 0.5GB GB free in "/ ", and 0.5 of swap , i`m install : kde, skype, hydrogen, games, VLC, Licq, palyer amarok is not cool xmms is better, etc:, wifi work`s good after suspend and close-open, the system work is normally (not bad, not good). But I have a problem with my (SSD-hdd) it works wery slow every 20 or 30 seconds constantly journaling(maybe) and is this time my system is slows -frozen then again work normally, my friend advised me use reserfstune but i`m afraid because it can crush my file system if do not right :? .

Slack still better#

 

My bootup is around 60 seconds (from powerbutton to x11-desktop ready for use, so no hd-activity and loading an encrypted partition). For the disk usage it's advisable to look at this link.
And currently I'm using a optimised kernel config (using this as a base for my config) and a simple kernel patch

 

Thanks for kernel config)), i`m afraid the utilites for sd-hdd, my friend advised me reiserfstune for tuning my sd-hdd, but I'm in no hurry :? , anyone else tried reiserfstune?

 

I've never used reiserfs, but if you want to use an sd-card as hdd, it's advisable to enable "Allow unsafe remove (Dangerous)" in the kernel. It can be found under "MMC/SD/SDIO card support" and allows you to suspend and resume without corrupting the filesystem. In my opinion this is a nicer solution to the fs-corruption problem than using a fs that keeps remounting.