In this post I'll list some tips, tricks for my favourite OS, Slackware. Please feel free to add to this list:-)
1. Slackware typically defaults to run level three. If you would like a graphical log-in prompt open up your favourite text editor and edit /etc/inittab
For example you could use nano: #nano /etc/initab
Change
id:3:initdefault:
To
id:4:initdefault:
2. If you would like your monitor to be able to go into power save mode then edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Add the following line in your Monitor section.
Option "dpms"
3. I recommend that if you wish to optimize your Slackware system to run efficiently that you use the JFS (Journaling File System) when you set-up your root partition. I've found that the JFS uses less system resources particularly on older hardware:-)
4. Slackware 12 is able to auto-mount devices, media. If you would like to enable this functionality for your regular user then edit /etc/group
Add your regular user to the following groups: plugdev, cdrom, audio, video
5. To set-up sound:
This will be done as root at run level three
#alsaconf
#alsamixer
#alsactl store
6. To set-up your display settings and configure x windows run this command at run level 3.
#xorgconfig
*Note you can also run xorgsetup which will set-up your monitor automagically, but, I prefer the finer settings of xorgconfig.
7. To add a user to your slackware system
#adduser
8. To switch between graphical environments:
If you've done a full install of Slackware, which I highly recommend then you can switch between the various desktop environments (KDE, Flux, Blackbox, etc.) by issuing the following command at the run level three prompt:
#xwmconfig
9. An excellent resource to use for trouble shooting, gathering information is the Slackware book.
http://www.slackbook.org/10. Using Slackware you have the luxury of installing software from a number of sources.
A) You can compile software directly from source code.
B) You can use Slackware build scripts to compile software. I recommend the following site as a trustworthy repository of build scripts, software:
http://www.slackbuilds.org/C) You can also download software directly from the slackware site to update your system.
http://www.slackware.com/D) You can use the src2pkg utility to create slackware packages that can be installed on your system. This is a nifty utility that you can use to transform source code into .tgz packages.
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/amigolinux/download/src2pkg/E) A good resource for installing, upgrading packages is the slackbook:
http://www.slackbook.org/html/book.html#PACKAGE-MANAGEMENT11. If you would like a software firewall on your Slackware system you can use this firewall generator for IP tables.
http://www.slackware.com/%7Ealien/efg/
Author