wpa_gui

how did i not discover this earlier :? such an efficient tool! no loitering binary/cryptic config files all over the system, or bloatware dependencies like networkmanager.

NetworkManager (again) and Xubuntu

I now recommend Xfce to n00bs yet undecided on exactly which WindowManager they need.
NetworkManager seems to be very temperamental, if you do use that Gnome bloatware!

grub rescue btrfs ubuntu

to play more seriously with yet another distro, i needed to install it. so i had some fun resizing/moving partitions around to clear some freespace for a new partition. during this, the partition numbering changed.

now i can't boot ubuntu's btrfs partition. i didn't understand why, till i discovered that partition numbers are hardcoded into the grub boot record.. even though grub cfg contains only labels or uuids. tsk tsk! yet another reason why i seem to be going off grub2 bloatware.

slackware netinstall

you won't see many docs about minimal netinstall slackware. indeed, you will see many experts saying there is no such thing. and your only option is to download the entire lot. sad, i know!

the official slackware recommendation is to install everything, even if you want a minimal system, and then uninstall what you don't want. the recommendation is to download the install dvd(?) or a few cds. there are no docs (or i couldn't find any) for netinstall.

slackware can be installed over the network without downloading that humunguous recommended dvd. not everyone wants gnome, kde, etc. netinst is most efficient, particularly if you need a minimal install and know what you want.

if you don't have a dvd-drive to boot, then you are not left with much choice. you also need to consider, if bandwidth is an issue. do you need to download that whole dvd content, if you are only installing a minimal system?

however, if you are a slackware newbie, you might install multiple times before you get it right. in that case, a one-time download might be more efficient. still, unless one is installing all the bells n whistles, an entire dvd is still is a bit ott!

slackware netinstall

choose a nearby mirror from http://mirrors.slackware.com/mirrorlist/

the main mirrors - slackware.org | slackware.org.uk - are throttled and may ban you, if you connect multiple times. so choose another mirror.

on your chosen mirror, navigate directories to /slackware-current/usb-and-pxe-installers/

download usbboot.img

read README_USB.TXT
ignore everything it says, except the how-to create usb bootable slackware installer and do so.

boot from this usb, and start setup.

when asked to choose your install source media, select "4 Install from FTP/HTTP server"



server is your mirror from above.
for eg, in my case (gb): http://slackware.uk/slackware/

location is the directory containing PACKAGES.TXT.
for eg, /slackware/slackware-current/slackware/

that's it!

extlinux (syslinux) debian style

my path away from grub2 took me via lilo to extlinux. i stayed with lilo for a while. syslinux was on my mind, but for something rather trivial/straightforward i couldn't crack. i finally got my head around it, and my usb sticks were the first ones to get it.

next stop was debian on my laptop, which has just been converted. the below steps are for debian systems only. if you want a how-to for other systems, let me know.