These are 1.2 MB bootkernel images for Slackware Linux 1.2.0. You'll need one of these to get Linux started on your system so that you can install it. Because of the possibility of collisions between the various Linux drivers, several bootkernel disks have been provided. You should use the one with the least drivers possible to maximize your chances of success. You will be using the bootkernel disk to boot a root-install disk. See the rootdisks directory. A bootkernel disk is created by uncompressing the image with GZIP.EXE (Example: GZIP -d bare.gz), and then writing the image out with RAWRITE.EXE. RAWRITE is interactive and reasonably user-friendly. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's a description of the disks: bare.gz - contains IDE hard drive drivers only. xt.gz - contains IDE hard drive and XT hard drive drivers. cd.gz - contains IDE hard drive, and non-SCSI CD-ROM drivers. net.gz - contains IDE hard drive and ethernet drivers. cdscsi.gz - contains IDE and SCSI drivers, plus non-SCSI CD-ROM drivers. scsi.gz - contains IDE hard drive, SCSI hard drive, and SCSI CD-ROM drives. scsinet.gz - contains IDE hard drive, SCSI hard drive, SCSI CD-ROM, and ethernet drivers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT HELPFUL HINTS: (AND WHAT TO DO IF THE INSTALLED SYSTEM WON'T BOOT) The kernels provided with the Slackware A series (idekern and scsikern) are reasonable generic to maximize the chances that your system will boot after installation. However, you should compile a custom kernel after installing, selecting only the drivers your system requires. This will offer optimal performance. You'll need to recompile your kernel to enable support for non-SCSI CD-ROM drives, bus-mice, sound cards, and many other pieces of hardware. The drivers could not be included with the pre-compiled kernels because they cause system hangs and other compatiblity problems for people that don't have the hardware installed. On a similar note, any time you use one kernel to install, and a different kernel the first time the installed system is started, you run the risk that the second kernel won't be compatible for some reason. If your system fails to reboot after installation, you'll have to compile a custom kernel for your hardware. Follow these steps: 0. If you haven't installed the C compiler and kernel source, do that. 1. Use the bootkernel disk you installed with to start your machine. At the LILO prompt, enter: mount root=/dev/hda1 ^^^^^^^^^ Or whatever your root Linux partition is. Ignore any error messages as the system starts up. 2. Log in as root, and recompile the kernel with these steps. (Comments will be placed in parenthesis) cd /usr/src/linux make config (Choose your drivers. Repeat this step until you are satisfied with your choices) If you are using LILO, this will build and install the new kernel: make dep ; make clean ; make zlilo rdev -R /vmlinuz 1 If you are using a bootdisk, these commands will build the kernel and create a new bootdisk for your machine: make dep ; make clean ; make zImage rdev -R zImage 1 rdev -v zImage -1 rdev zImage /dev/hda1 (replace /dev/hda1 with the name of your root Linux partition) (Now, put a disk into your floppy drive to be made into the new bootdisk:) fdformat /dev/fd0H1440 cat zImage > /dev/fd0 That should do it! You should now have a Linux kernel that can make full use of all supported hardware installed in your machine. Reboot and try it out. Good luck! --- Patrick Volkerding volkerdi@mhd1.moorhead.msus.edu PS - Bug reports welcome. Requests for help may be answered if time permits. I've been happy to do this in the past, but lately I've had both a lot more work to do and a lot more mail to deal with. It's just not as possible to keep up with my mail as it once was.