Welcome to the ZipSlack(tm) 11.0 UMSDOS Linux installation. This is a great way to install an up-to-date Slackware Linux system on a DOS partition. It'll use about 170 megabytes of drive space, which means you can install this on a (larger than 100MB) Zip disk. (more space will be used if your drive uses large clusters, i.e. a one or more gigabyte pre-FAT32 DOS partition) And, it can also be installed to any FAT partition (including FAT32) as a quick and easy way to get a base Linux system up and running without having to repartition a hard drive. However, to make it truly useful, you might need to add additional libraries and packages from Slackware once you are up and running. This system includes: 2.4.33.3 Linux kernel, with support for many SCSI controllers. Includes parallel port Zip support. An easy to configure PPP setup script (pppsetup), network setup script (netconfig), and a nice collection of network applications like mailx, links, ssh, and more. Slackware 'pkgtool', 'installpkg', 'rpm2targz', and other tools to let you customize the system and add additional software that the ZipSlack installation doesn't add by default for space considerations (like X). Extra applications and utilities, such as: -- bash shell. -- A large set of kernel modules -- Midnight Commander file manager -- "Links" text based web browser -- Many networking related tools like lftp, nmap, nc, rsync, ssh, traceroute, wget, and more Here's the list of packages ZipSlack installs: aaa_base-11.0.0-noarch-1.tgz man-1.6c-i486-2.tgz aaa_base-11.0.0-noarch-2.tgz man-pages-2.39-noarch-1.tgz aaa_elflibs-11.0.0-i486-9.tgz mc-4.6.1-i486-2.tgz acl-2.2.39_1-i486-1.tgz mdadm-2.5.3-i486-1.tgz acpid-1.0.4-i486-2.tgz minicom-2.1-i486-2.tgz apmd-3.0.2-i386-1.tgz mkinitrd-1.0.1-i486-3.tgz attr-2.4.32_1-i486-1.tgz module-init-tools-3.2.2-i486-2.tgz bash-3.1.017-i486-1.tgz mpg321-0.2.10-i486-2.tgz bc-1.06-i486-3.tgz nc-1.10-i386-1.tgz bin-11.0-i486-3.tgz ncftp-3.2.0-i486-2.tgz bsd-games-2.13-i486-8.tgz netpipes-4.2-i386-1.tgz bzip2-1.0.3-i486-3.tgz netwatch-1.0a-i386-1.tgz cdparanoia-IIIalpha9.8-i486-2.tgz nfs-utils-1.0.10-i486-3.tgz cdrdao-1.2.1-i486-1.tgz nmap-4.11-i486-1.tgz cdrtools-2.01-i486-1.tgz openssh-4.4p1-i486-1.tgz coreutils-5.97-i486-1.tgz openssl-solibs-0.9.8d-i486-2.tgz cpio-2.5-i386-1.tgz pciutils-2.2.3-i486-2.tgz cxxlibs-6.0.3-i486-1_zipslack.tgz pcmcia-cs-3.2.8-i486-3.tgz dcron-2.3.3-i486-5.tgz pcmciautils-014-i486-2.tgz devs-2.3.2-zipslack-2.tgz pidentd-3.0.19-i486-1.tgz dhcpcd-2.0.4-i486-2.tgz pkgtools-11.0.0-i486-3.tgz diffutils-2.8.1-i486-3.tgz pkgtools-11.0.0-i486-4.tgz dvd+rw-tools-6.1-i486-1.tgz portmap-5.0-i486-2.tgz e2fsprogs-1.38-i486-2.tgz portmap-5.0-i486-3.tgz elvis-2.2_0-i486-2.tgz ppp-2.4.4-i486-1.tgz etc-11.0-noarch-1.tgz procps-3.2.7-i486-1.tgz etc-5.1-noarch-13.tgz raidtools-1.00.3-i386-1.tgz findutils-4.2.28-i486-1.tgz reiserfsprogs-3.6.19-i486-1.tgz floppy-5.4-i386-3.tgz rp-pppoe-3.8-i486-2.tgz gawk-3.1.5-i486-3.tgz rsync-2.6.8-i486-1.tgz genpower-1.0.5-i486-1.tgz screen-4.0.2-i486-1.tgz gettext-0.15-i486-1.tgz sed-4.1.5-i486-1.tgz getty-ps-2.1.0b-i486-1.tgz shadow-4.0.3-i486-13.tgz glibc-solibs-2.3.6-i486-6.tgz sharutils-4.6.3-i486-1.tgz glibc-zoneinfo-2.3.6-noarch-6.tgz slocate-3.1-i486-1.tgz gpm-1.20.1-i486-2.tgz smartmontools-5.36-i486-1.tgz grep-2.5-i486-3.tgz sox-12.18.1-i486-1.tgz groff-1.19.2-i486-1.tgz sysfsutils-2.0.0-i486-2.tgz gzip-1.3.5-i486-1.tgz sysklogd-1.4.1-i486-9.tgz hdparm-6.6-i486-1.tgz syslinux-2.13-i486-1.tgz hotplug-2004_09_23-noarch-5.tgz sysvinit-2.84-i486-67.tgz inetd-1.79s-i486-7.tgz sysvinit-2.84-i486-69.tgz infozip-5.52-i486-1.tgz tar-1.15.1-i486-2.tgz iptables-1.3.5-i486-2.tgz tcpdump-3.9.4-i486-2.tgz iptraf-2.7.0-i386-1.tgz tcpip-0.17-i486-39.tgz isapnptools-1.26-i386-1.tgz tcsh-6.14.00-i486-2.tgz jfsutils-1.1.11-i486-1.tgz traceroute-1.4a12-i386-2.tgz joe-3.5-i486-1.tgz udev-097-i486-10.tgz kbd-1.12-i486-2.tgz umsdos-progs-1.13-i386-1.tgz kernel-modules-2.4.33.3-i486-1.tgz usbutils-0.72-i486-1.tgz less-394-i486-1.tgz utempter-1.1.3-i486-1.tgz lftp-3.5.4-i486-1.tgz util-linux-2.12r-i486-4.tgz lilo-22.7.1-i486-2.tgz util-linux-2.12r-i486-5.tgz links-2.1pre23-i486-1.tgz wget-1.10.2-i486-2.tgz loadlin-1.6c-i386-1.tgz wireless-tools-28-i486-3.tgz logrotate-3.7.4-i486-1.tgz workbone-2.40-i386-3.tgz lsof-4.76-i486-1.tgz xfsprogs-2.8.10_1-i486-1.tgz mailx-12.1-i486-1.tgz ytalk-3.3.0-i486-1.tgz INSTALLATION: To install Slackware using ZipSlack, all you need to do is unzip the file ZIPSLACK.ZIP on the DOS partition where you want Linux installed. To do this, you'll need an unzip utility. If you don't already have an unzipper such as PKZIP for DOS or Windows, http://www.pkware.com is a great place to get one. Here's how you'd install on a Zip disk on drive D:\ -- first, fire up Windows and start PKZIP for Windows. Then, from the "File" menu, select the "Open..." option. In the dialog box, browse for and select the file ZIPSLACK.ZIP. If you're planning to put this on a Zip disk, make sure it's in your machine, formatted, and ready to go. Next, you need to extract the files to a DOS partition. From the "Extract" menu, select the "Extract Files..." choice. In the "Extract" box, make sure the "all files" choice is selected. In the "Extract to:" box, make sure the "Disk" choice is selected. In the text box next to "Disk", you'll need to fill in the path to where you want to extract the files. (They'll be extracted into a \linux subdirectory) For example, if your drive is D:\ and that's where you want to install, then you'll want to put D:\ in the box. Otherwise, fill in any DOS drive with enough free space to install. When you've got everything filled in correctly, hit the "Extract" button to extract the files. Be sure to unzip zipslack.zip at the top of whatever partition you choose (the \ directory in DOS/Windows). It will create a \LINUX directory there. If you try to unzip it in a subdirectory or folder, it will not boot correctly. BOOTING THE LINUX SYSTEM There are probably countless ways to boot this system once you've unzipped it. Here, I'll cover two. Loadlin ------- Loadlin is a DOS program designed to load the Linux kernel and boot it. In the \linux directory, you'll find these files: LOADLIN.EXE: The loadlin loader executable. LINUX.BAT: A simple DOS batch file to boot Linux using LOADLIN.EXE. vmlinuz: A Linux kernel with support for SCSI and IDE devices. You can use the provided vmlinuz kernel (a generic kernel with support for many devices that will work for most machines), or you can use another Linux kernel of your choosing by copying it to \linux\vmlinuz over the existing file. Slackware includes a large collection of precompiled kernels in its \kernels directory, any of which will work. To boot the system, you'll need to edit the LINUX.BAT file, and make sure the root=/dev/XXXX statement on the loadlin line (the one that's not commented out with 'rem') is set up to use the partition where you unzipped ZIPSLACK.ZIP, such as /dev/sda4. If you're not sure which partition to use, just go ahead and guess. If you get it wrong, you'll still be able to use scrollback (right shift key and PageUp) when the kernel halts to go back and look at your partitions, noting the names Linux gives them. With this information, you should be able to edit the LINUX.BAT correctly. Once LINUX.BAT is edited, you can try to boot the system by entering LINUX on a prompt while in the \linux directory. IMPORTANT: You'll need to be in DOS mode for the boot to work. A DOS prompt running under Windows9x will not work! What you need to do if you use Windows9x is shut the machine down, selecting the "Restart in MS-DOS mode" selection. Then, you'll be able to use Loadlin. I've also had great success booting with a "Startup disk" made from Win95 (Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel, and then "Startup disk" tab) and then switching into the \linux directory on the target drive and running LINUX.BAT. If it doesn't work, the problem could be DOS memory management -- I had to run both HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE to get LOADLIN to load a large kernel, but it also worked fine with no memory management. I ran into problems when I tried to run _just_ HIMEM.SYS. You can also run LOADLIN directly. Here is a sample boot command to boot Linux on /dev/sda4 in read-write mode using the kernel file vmlinuz: loadlin vmlinuz root=/dev/sda4 rw Using a boot floppy ------------------- The other way you can boot the system is by using a boot floppy. There's one provided (bootdisk.img) that uses the generic kernel, or you can use any of the bootdisks included with Slackware. To write the image to a floppy disk, use the RAWRITE.EXE program: rawrite bootdisk.img a: Or, if you are already running Linux, use this sort of command: cat bootdisk.img > /dev/fd0 To boot a Linux system in read-write mode on /dev/sda4, boot the bootdisk. On the 'boot:' prompt, you'd enter this command: mount root=/dev/sda4 rw CONFIGURING THE SYSTEM Once you've booted the system, log in as 'root'. One of the first things you should do is add a root password with the 'passwd' command. Then, (if you want some things like 'df' to work) you'll need to edit /etc/fstab to fix the entry for your root partition. Seasoned UNIX veterans will probably use 'vi' for this, otherwise 'mcedit' is another option. If you're on an ethernet connected to the Internet, you can run 'netconfig' to configure your network access. You may also need to edit /etc/rc.d/rc.modules to load a kernel module that supports your ethernet card. If you use PPP to connect to the Internet, you can configure your PPP connection using 'pppsetup'. COMPILING AND DEVELOPING SOFTWARE Past versions of ZipSlack have also included development tools such as binutils, gcc, make, and perl, but these things are now too large to include by default. Luckily, it's still easy to add them if you have enough space to install them. To add a complete development system you'll need to install the packages from the Slackware D (development) and L (libraries) series using the installpkg package utility. For example, if you've mounted a Slackware CD on /mnt/cdrom: cd /mnt/cdrom/slackware installpkg d/*.tgz l/*.tgz Note that this will add more than 300MB of software, so you'd better have the space for it! If you're looking to add a more modest development environment for C and C++, you'll need at least these packages for good results: d/binutils d/gcc d/gcc-g++ d/kernel-headers d/make l/glibc This will require around 125MB of additional space. Note that the entire ZipSlack system may be extended using Slackware packages, and you may even use installpkg to install all of them on top of a basic ZipSlack system in order to get a fully complete Linux system with X and KDE. ============== I hope this system makes it easier to get Linux up and running. At around 70 megabytes (or so) most people can download this package in just a few hours. Unfortunately, it looks as if this will be the final release of ZipSlack, as the UMSDOS filesystem needed to run Linux on a FAT partition (directly, without the use of a cumbersome and hard to expand image file) will not be part of future kernels. However, our crack team of rocket scientists are busy working on replacement solutions. :-) Have fun! --- Patrick Volkerding volkerdi@slackware.com