SARPi Project - Slacking on a Raspberry Pi


Notes for Pre-installation

In this guide we will be installing Slackware AArch64 current on a Raspberry Pi 5. The hostname 'slackware' is assigned to your system during the installation process.

We are using a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, a 64Gb microSD card (Kingston SDCG3/64GB), and a 16GB USB memory stick that contains our Slackware Linux source media. Your Raspberry Pi model/version and storage devices may be different so bear that in mind throughout this guide.

Headless Installation - i.e. without a screen/monitor

SARPi Project muse views ... In the event that you do not have a screen/monitor/tv to connect to your Raspberry Pi, it's possible to boot the Slackware Linux installer with networking enabled and a specified keyboard layout (locale) in order to login and perform the installation remotely via ssh (i.e. from another computer) in what is termed as "headless" setup. It's just a matter of editing the 'cmdline.txt' file on the boot partition of the microSD card (see this example) before you boot your Raspberry Pi with it. So, if you wanted to perform a remote installation, you would insert the following code into the cmdline.txt file:

kbd=us nic=auto:eth0:dhcp

Alternatively, if your network does not have DHCP enabled you should specify an IP address and netmask. In this example the IP address is 192.168.1.100 and the netmask is 255.255.255.0 (24-bit netmask):

kbd=us nic=auto:eth0:static:192.168.1.100:24

Of course, you should specify your own IP address, netmask, and keyboard layout here. See this keymaps list for supported keyboard layouts and select one which suits your own keyboard configuration (e.g. kbd=es , kbd=fr , kbd=de , kbd=it , kbd=ru , etc.). So, when you start the Slackware Linux installer, by typing 'setup', you will not be required to enter a keyboard map and networking will already be configured. You can simply login remotely via ssh as 'root' user and just hit the key when asked for a password. If you're installing remotely then some parts of this guide may not apply to you, so you'll have to work around those areas.

To boot the Slackware Linux installer normally, with a US keyboard layout, just leave the cmdline.txt file unmodified.

Plugging in and powering on...

If you haven't done so yet...
• Insert the microSD card you've just configured into its slot on the underside of the Raspberry Pi.
• Connect the USB keyboard to one of the USB ports.
• Insert the USB memory stick containing the Slackware Linux source media into another USB port (only if you are using it).
• Plug in the relevant HDMI/RCA video cable (only if you're not doing a headless installation).
• Attach the Ethernet cable to the Ethernet port on the Raspberry Pi
• Plug the other end of the Ethernet cable into your Internet router/hub/switch.
• Turn on your screen/monitor.
• Connect the Micro USB power cable to the Raspberry Pi.

SARPi Project muse views ... If you don't have a USB stick available you're still able to install Slackware Linux by configuring your network connection and using a FTP/HTTP server as your source media. Instructions on how to use a FTP/HTTP server for the Slackware Linux source media are included later in this guide.

The red PWR (power) LED illuminates and the green ACT (activity) LED starts to flash intermittently. On more recent Raspberry Pi versions there is only one LED which acts as both the power and activity LED. You should see the rainbow splash screen appear briefly, followed by the scrolling bootloader text and pretty Raspberry Pi logo icons Raspberry Pi Ltd. at the top of your screen. This tells you the system is booting normally and the Slackware Linux initial RAM disk is loading.

If the device is not booting and the green ACT LED stays lit permanently, you may have a misconfigured microSD card and will have to write the installer image to your microSD card once again. If the green ACT LED flashes and then stops there's a problem locating the second stage bootloader so, again, you should re-write the installer image to your microSD card. If there is no ACT LED activity at all, make sure your microSD card is correctly inserted and also power off/on the Raspberry Pi because it may simply be a glitch. Also try powering off/on if it hangs on the rainbow splash screen. If the problem persists try using a different microSD card, or write the image to the card using a different host system.

SARPi Project muse views ... If your Raspberry Pi fails to boot, in many cases the green LED will flash a specific number of times to indicate what might be causing the problem. These are known as "LED warning flash codes" or simply "blink codes". For full details see the following page for Raspberry Pi Documentation - LED warning flash codes. These LED flash codes are also available in a Raspberry Pi GitHub repository LED warning flash codes document.

For further help with troubleshooting you might want to read the R-Pi Troubleshooting page at elinux.org which lists the most common problems and suggests some solutions.

If all else fails and your Raspberry Pi is still refusing to boot, there's a tried and tested Slackware Docs HOW TO: work around the problem by borrowing some stuff from Raspbian guide, under the heading "Manual installation method", which you may wish to look into.

If all went according to plan you should see the Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi Ltd.Raspberry Pi Ltd.Raspberry Pi Ltd.Raspberry Pi Ltd. logo(s) at the top of the screen (and that's usually one logo per CPU core) with bootloader text scrolling underneath them.

RPi5 Booting Linux

If this is what you can see then everything is working as expected and you're almost ready to begin installing Slackware Linux on your Raspberry Pi computer.

Continue to the next section of this installer guide... Configuring the system for installation

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Updated: 2024-03-08 16:16:38 UTC

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