Sunday 19 May 2024 - 02:57:19 UTC 
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SARPi Project - Slacking on a Raspberry Pi
Running Slackware Linux setup
Type 'setup' at the command prompt.
This is the main setup interface you will use to install Slackware Linux. Use the cursor keys to navigate in the menus.
If you're not using a US keyboard, and haven't already set a keyboard map yet, you should do it now. Select 'KEYMAP' and press the key. Select the keymap you wish to use and press again. You will be given the opportunity to test out the keymap you've selected. Then enter "1" on the line on its own and press the key to save the keymap setting and continue.
Selecting 'ADDSWAP' and pressing the key is what you should do next.
Next you are required to setup your swap space.
You'll notice in our screenshot below there are two /swap partitions. This is because we have left our NVMe SSD connected to our Raspberry Pi 5 while using it to install Slackware Linux. So if you are confused or wondering why it is there, that's the reason. It's probably better to ignore the '/dev/nvme' device from here in this guide.
Having the NVMe SSD installed is certainly not going to cause any problems, but it will greatly assist us with installing Slackware Linux. We basically have 24GB /swap space available. For installing Slackware packages it's going to be quite phenomenal.
The only partition you should be concerned with is '/dev/mmcblk0p2' (or whichever is your designated /swap partition device name) and you can just press the key to accept this setting. When asked to check the swap partition for bad blocks select < No >. You will receive the following confirmation screen where you can just press the key to continue:
Now you need to specify which partition you want to use for your root. The partition for this is on the microSD card - '/dev/mmcblk0p3' - so select it and press the key.
On the next screen, select 'Quick format with no bad block checking' and press the key. If you would like to check the integrity of your storage device then select 'Slow format that checks for bad blocks', but we aware that this option may take some time depending on the size of the partition.
Formatting the root partition could take up to an hour, depending on the speed of your microSD card and Raspberry Pi version.
You are able to format the root partition using various filesystem types. Throughout this SARPi guide 'ext4' is the root filesystem type that's used. Select your preferred filesystem type for the root partition in the list and press the key to format it.
More information on Linux filesystem types can be found in the Slackbook - "Working with Filesystems" section.
Your partition is now being formatted.
Once formatting has completed you would normally select '< OK >' and press the key. We'll select '< Continue >' because we do not want to format our NVMe SSD root partition.
Press the key to accept and enter the new setting into your /etc/fstab.
For systems without a real time clock (RTC) you will be asked if you want to skip 'fsck checks' (filesystem checking) at boot time.
You should select < Yes > and hit the key to turn off 'fsck checks'.
Now you will see this next screen which tells you there are FAT or NTFS partitions found on your system.
Select < Yes > and proceed to the next screen for a list of partitions.
In the example screenshot below; the '/dev/mmcblk0p1' partition is the FAT32 /boot directory on the microSD card. The '/dev/nvme0n1p1' partition is the FAT32 /boot directory on our NVME SSD. The '/dev/sda1' partition is our 16GB USB memory stick containing the Slackware Linux source. The microSD card's FAT32 /boot directory is the only partition in this list that you'll want to add to your /etc/fstab entries.
With '/dev/mmcblk0p1' highlighted at the top and < Select > at the bottom, press the key.
Select 'Root has read/write access, users have no access' and press the key.
The next screen asks you where the partition is to be mounted. You want it mounted as your boot partition. Type /boot in the text box and press the key.
Select < OK > on the next screen at continue.
When this screen refreshes, select < Continue > and do not add any more FAT or NTFS partitions. If you have your USB memory stick plugged in, this should be the only other FAT partition listed. We have the NVME SSD drive installed and this is why it's listed.
Now you can continue to the next section of this guide... Selecting Slackware Linux source media
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