New kernel for Rasberry Pi

[Prolog]

Last year, December, 2012 I received my Raspberry Pi board from RS Elements. Honestly it takes a long time, about 5 month. My order for the board was sent from July 2012. Actually I received several message from RS Elements that the order would take several months.

Anyway, this week I already finish my setup for raspberry, below picture represents my current setup.

My setup consists of below items:

• Raspberry Pi board Rev 2.0

• FTDI RS232 TTL, this devices for serial logging

• Raspberry PI GPIO cable, this cable to avoid direct connection to Raspberry Pi GPIO pins

• Female to male jumper cables to connect FTDI RS232 TTL to Raspberry GPIO pins

• Class 10, 8 GB micro SD card with SD card housing

• Micro usb power adapter, 5v, 700mA. (Raspberry Pi needs at least 700mA)

[Serial output configuration ]

Since I don't have TV / Monitor for raspberry pi specific use, I decide to debug and checking via serial log. To get serial log from raspberry pi you need to have FTDI RS232 TTL, and by connecting the devices' UART pin to raspberry pi UART pin.

Serial log is not always enabled by any images, anyhow Raspbian images that I used is already enable serial this serial log. But to make sure serial log is enable or not, you can check it on /boot/cmdline.txt files, the contents of that file should be like below:

dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=ttyAMA0,115200 kgdboc=ttyAMA0,115200 console=tty1 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline rootwait

The line “console=ttyAMA0,115200 kgdboc=ttyAMA0,115200” enables serial log for kernel debug output.

In other hand, you also need to make sure that serial console is activated as well after Linux is completely boot. You can check on /etc/inittab files and make sure below line is not commented or missing

T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyAMA0 115200 vt100

[Linux Kernel Compilation Preparation]

Before we go further, I would inform that we will use git extensively to download toolchains and Linux code for raspberry pi. So, it's highly recommended to install git in your Linux system.

In this post, I will reports my trial cross compiling Linux kernel for Raspberry Pi using my Slackware box. Before we go compiling, we need toolchains and as you know raspberry is on arm architecture so we need arm compiler to do this trial. You can download the toolchains from below path.

git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/tools.git

That command will create tools-master directory which contains toolchains.

Now we have the toolchains and next we need to download Linux source for Raspberry pi, you also can download it from github using below command.

git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux.git

You will find out new “linux” directory which contains Linux source code.

[Build New Kernel]

Clean Linux code using below command:

$ cd <linux code path> $ make mrproper

In this case I want to use “.config” from Raspbian image. The way I retrieve the “.config” file is like below:

• Boot up your Raspberry using Raspbian image
• Insert USB drive and mount it using below command

  # mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/

• Copy Raspbian “.config” to usb, in my case I'll copy “.config” file as raspbian_config in usb drive

  # zcat /proc/config.gz > /mnt/raspbian_config

• Also you can use <linux code path>/arch/arm/configs/bcmrpi-defconfig as your .config file
  But I have not try this one.

Copy Raspbian “.config” and use it as our linux “.config”. Insert your usb drive which contains Raspbian “.config” into you Linux system and copy it into Linux code directory as “.config”.

$sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt $cp /mnt/raspbian_config <linux code path>/.config

After that we need to set prefix compiler of our toolchain for compiling.

$ export CCPREFIX=<your tool-master directory>/arm-bcm2708/arm-bcm2708-linux-gnueabi/bin/arm-bcm2708-linux-gnueabi-

Our “.config” file can be from older version of our kernel code, so we need to sync it with our kernel by using below command. After executing the command some questions regarding new feature of new kernel will come out and need to be answered.

$ make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CCPREFIX} oldconfig

And after synchronization of “.config” is done, we can go to build kernel and modules using below command.

$ make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CCPREFIX}

$ make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CCPREFIX} modules

If building process is successfully done, we need to gather all modules in one directory to make easier to control by using below command.

$ export MODULES_TEMP=~/modules

$ make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CCPREFIX} INSTALL_MOD_PATH=${MODULES_TEMP} modules install

Then, we can find our new kernel in: “<linux_code_path>/arch/boot/Image” and modules in “<linux_code_path>/modules/”. The next step is copying kernel and new modules into current raspberry rootfs in SD Card by using below command.

$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt (in assumption your sd card is on /dev/sda1)

$ cp <linux code path>/arch/boot/Image /mnt/boot/kernel.img

$ cp $MODULES_TEMP/* /mnt/lib/*

After that insert your SD Card into your Rasberry and reboot, if booting process is done successfully it means new kernel and modules is no problem.

References:

http://elinux.org/RPi_Hub

http://elinux.org/Rpi_kernel_compilation

Ways to convert several DOS files into UNIX file

Usually I use the same vim scripts in Windows and Linux. Sometimes I copy the scripts from Windows to Linux and they still in dos format. Therefore when the scripts executed some errors come out because of the difference between Windows' and Linux's carriage line format.

Below is my way to convert several dos files into unix file

Using dos2unix

Using dos2unix tool is the simplest way, I just run below command $ find ~/.vim -name "*.vim" -print0 | xargs -0 dos2unix

Using fromdos

To use fromdos tool I need to make a bash script like below: #!/bin/sh list=`find ~/.vim -name "*.vim" -print` for files in $list; do fromdos < $files > $files-x mv $files-x $files done

Changing Time Zone in Slackware 13.1

Travelling to different countries makes you experience different timezone, it can some hours ahead or after of your country timezone. Sometimes I experience this!, at the first time I was ignoring the time difference in my laptop. But this time not.

So below is the steps to change your timezone configuration in Slackware 13.1, you should do these steps as root.

1. Change time zone links in /etc: "/etc/localtime-copied-from" to your current timezone in /usr/share/zoneinfo/xxx/xxx (xxx is depends on your timezone area)
   # ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/xxx/xxx /etc/localtime-copied-from
   
2. Replace your "/etc/localtime" with your current "/etc/localtime-copied-from"
   # cp -rf /usr/share/zoneinfo/xxx/xxx /etc/localtime
   
3. Update your time using ntp server (pool.ntp.org)
# ntpdate pool.ntp.org
# hwclock -w

Isn't it simple? In my opinion this's simple, but sometime we can't do the simplest thing.

Vim 7.3 Released

On 16 August 2010, I had received an email from Vim google mailing list, this mail announce that Vim 7.3 was released to public finally. You can check below quote for release note by Bram Moolenaar.

Hello Vim users,

Announcing:  Vim (Vi IMproved) version 7.3

This is a minor release of Vim.  It consists of Vim 7.2 plus all
patches, updated runtime files and some more, see below.  It has been
two years since the 7.2 release, thus it's not that "minor".  But not
"major" either.  Something in between, don't know how to call that.

The most notable additions since 7.2:
- Persistent undo and undo for reload
- Blowfish encryption, encryption of the swap file
- Conceal text
- Lua interface
- Python 3 interface

Once you have installed Vim 7.3 you can find all the details about the
changes since Vim 7.2 with:
        :help version-7.3

Gratitude
---------

If you like Vim, this is the way to say thanks:
http://iccf-holland.org/clinic.html

Where to get it
---------------

The best way to obtain the latest Vim 7.3 is using Mercurial.
Summary:
        hg clone https://vim.googlecode.com/hg/ vim
        cd vim/src
        hg update vim73
        make
More information here: http://www.vim.org/mercurial.php

All downloadable files can be found below this directory:
        ftp://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim/

Direct link to the MS-Windows self-installing executable:
        ftp://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim/pc/gvim73.exe

Information about which files to download for what system:
        http://www.vim.org/download.php

A list of mirror sites can be found here:
        http://www.vim.org/mirrors.php

UNIX:
unix/vim-7.3.tar.bz2           sources + runtime files, bzip2 compressed

MS-WINDOWS one-size-fits-all:
pc/gvim73.exe                  installer for GUI and console executables,
                               includes all runtime files, many features

VARIOUS:
doc/vim73html.zip              help files converted to HTML

MS-WINDOWS separate files:
pc/vim73rt.zip                 runtime files
pc/gvim73.zip                  GUI binary for Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP
pc/gvim73ole.zip               GUI binary with OLE support
pc/gvim73_s.zip                GUI binary for Windows 3.1 (untested)
pc/vim73d32.zip                console version for MS-DOS/Windows 95/98
pc/vim73w32.zip                console version for Windows NT/2000/XP
pc/vim73src.zip                sources for PC (with CR-LF)

DIFFS TO PREVIOUS RELEASE:
unix/vim-7.2-7.3.diff.gz               sources + runtime files
unstable/unix/vim-7.3f-7.3.diff.gz     sources + runtime files

Omitted in this version are:
- Extra and lang archives, these are now included in the main source
  and runtime archives.
- The 16-bit DOS, OS/2 and Amiga versions, these are obsolete.

Mailing lists
-------------

For user questions you can turn to the Vim mailing list.  There are a
lot of tips, scripts and solutions.  You can ask your Vim questions, but
only if you subscribe.  See http://www.vim.org/maillist.php#vim

If you want to help Vim development, discuss new features or get the
latest patches, subscribe to the vim-dev mailing list.  See
http://www.vim.org/maillist.php#vim-dev

Subject specific lists:
Multi-byte issues: http://www.vim.org/maillist.php#vim-multibyte
Macintosh issues:  http://www.vim.org/maillist.php#vim-mac

Before you ask a question you should search the archives, someone may
already have given the answer.

Reporting bugs
--------------

Send them to ...@vim.org>.  Please describe the problem precisely.
All the time spent on answering mail is subtracted from the time that is
spent on improving Vim!  Always give a reproducible example and try to
find out which settings or other things influence the appearance of the
bug.  Try starting without your own vimrc file: "vim -u NONE".  Try
different machines if possible.  See ":help bugs" in Vim.  Send me a
patch if you can!

Happy Vimming!

--
Q: Should I clean my house or work on Vim?
A: Whatever contains more bugs.

 /// Bram Moolenaar -- B...@Moolenaar.net -- http://www.Moolenaar.net   \\\
///        sponsor Vim, vote for features -- http://www.Vim.org/sponsor/ \\\
\\\        download, build and distribute -- http://www.A-A-P.org        ///
 \\\            help me help AIDS victims -- http://ICCF-Holland.org    ///

Bad Evince Font in Slackware

When I install evince on my Slackware, sometimes I encounter a strange problem which is the font is not display correctly or looks weird, as like the picture below:

You can see that there are fonts look too bold and inconvenient to read. After diving in google, I found that the problem comes from the Nimbus font in slackware package. To check and fix it you can follow instructions below:

• Check fonts in pdf file

$ pdffonts file.pdf
name                                 type      emb sub uni object ID
------------------------------------ --------- --- --- --- ---------
Times-Italic                         Type 1    no  no  no       5  0
Times-Roman                          Type 1    no  no  no       7  0
Times-Bold                           Type 1    no  no  no      13  0
Courier-Bold                         Type 1    no  no  no      18  0
XOEOHB+CMSY10                        Type 1    yes yes no      21  0
Courier                              Type 1    no  no  no      23  0
RXRCVR+CMSY7                         Type 1    yes yes no      26  0
CRMLEZ+NimbusRomNo9L-Regu-Slant_167  Type 1    yes yes no      32  0

• Check"Times" compatible font

$ fc-match "times"
n021004l.pfb: "Nimbus Roman No9 L" "Medium"

• Find n021004l.pfb location

$ su
password:
# find / -name "n021004l.pfb" -print
/usr/share/fonts/Type1/n021004l.pfb
/usr/share/libwmf/fonts/n021004l.pfb

• Download new n021004l.pfb
As I get from searching in google, the problem is n021004l.pfb in Slackware package is not updated yet, so we need to replace it with the new one. In this case I'll replace it with the Fedora 13 URW fonts package. You can download the package from http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=138570
• Extract the rpm package

# rpm2cpio urw-fonts-2.4-9.fc13.noarch.rpm | cpio -idmv 

• Copy fonts file and reboot

# cd usr/share/fonts/default/Type1
# cp n021004l.pfb /usr/share/fonts/Type1/n021004l.pfb
# reboot 

After reboot then I check evince display, and the result is like below. There we can see that the font looks better and convenient than before.

I hope this tutorial is helpful.

Upgrade to Slackware 13.1

Slackware 13.1 has been released on 24 May 2010. There are updates for some packages and kernel. Usually every Slackware released I will choose fresh install before use it, but now I won't choose that, I'll choose to upgrade.

Before going further. To keep my configuration files safe I need to backup my /etc folder. In this case I backup it by creating iso image of /etc and keep the owner and permission of those files. You can do below method for your important files aswell.
# mkisof -o ~/etc-backup.iso -R /etc
And then check it
# mount -t iso9660 -o loop=/dev/loop0 ~/etc-backup.iso /mnt/tmp
# ls -ll /mnt/tmp

Next step is based on UPGRADE.TXT instructions, you can find it in root directory of Slackware distribution package. There area some steps to do to Upgrade your slackaware:

• Create packages folder
• Switch to single user
• Upgrade package utility and related tools
• Upgrade glibc shared libraries
• Upgrade packages and install new packages
• Remove obsolete packages
• Fix or install new configuration files
• Finishing
• Reboot

Create packages directory
You need to create directory which contains Slackware 13.1, you can download it one by one or download it in ISO format. In my case I download ISO file from one of this mirror and extract it into "Slackware packages" directory
# mount -t iso9660 -o loop=/dev/loop0 slackware-13.1-install-dvd.iso /mnt/tmp
# mkdir /slackware
# cp -rf /mnt/tmp/* /slackware/*

Basically I can use /mnt/tmp as "Slackware packages directory" but I prefer to copy it to another directory as my "Slackware packages" directory. It's only for safety and stability.

Switch to single user
I just do a simple command to switch into single user
# telinit 1

Upgrade package utility and related tools
Before going further we need to upgrade tools that related to packaging
# upgradepkg /slackware/a/pkgtools-*.tgz
# upgradepkg /slackware/a/tar-*.tgz
# installpkg /slackware/a/xz-*.tgz
# upgradepkg /slackware/a/findutils-*.txz

Upgrade glibc shared libraries
# upgradepkg /root/slackware/a/glibc-solibs-*.t?z

Upgrade packages and install new packages
If you want to upgrade and install all new packages, you can use command below
# upgradepkg --install-new /root/slackware/*/*.t?z
If you want to uprage and install new package based on package group you can use command below, just add and remove package group in looping.
#!/bin/sh
for dir in a ap d e f k kde l n t tcl x xap y ; do
    ( cd $dir ; upgradepkg --install-new *.t?z )
done
You can check the description of those package group below:

A : The base system.
AP : Various applications that do not require the X Window System.
D : Program development tools.
E : GNU Emacs.
F : FAQs, HOWTOs, and other miscellaneous documentation.
K : The source code for the Linux kernel.
KDE : The K Desktop Environment.
KDEI : Language support for the K Desktop Environment.
L : System libraries.
N : Networking programs.
T : teTeX document formatting system.
TCL : The Tool Command Language, Tk, TclX, and TkDesk.
X : The base X Window System.
XAP : X applications that are not part of a major desktop environment.
Y : Games (the BSD games collection, Sasteroids, Koules, and Lizards).

Remove obsolete packages
You can remove obsolete packages in Slackware 13.1 by using command below:
#removepkg bluez-libs bluez-utils cupsddk device-mapper epic4 gqview \
     kdelibs-experimental lbxproxy libgtkhtml liblbxutil libungif \
     libv4l loadlin mpg321 mplayerthumbs proxymngr xf86-input-citron \
     xf86-input-elographics xf86-input-fpit xf86-input-hyperpen \
     xf86-input-mutouch xf86-video-newport xf86-video-xgixp

Fix or Install New Configuration file
Upgrading means you will have new configuration files in etc, if you brave enough you can apply script below to apply it.
#!/bin/sh
cd /etc
find . -name "*.new" | while read configfile ; do
if [ ! "$configfile" = "./rc.d/rc.inet1.conf.new" \
    -a ! "$configfile" = "./rc.d/rc.local.new" \
    -a ! "$configfile" = "./group.new" \
    -a ! "$configfile" = "./passwd.new" \
    -a ! "$configfile" = "./shadow.new" ]; then
    cp -a $(echo $configfile | rev | cut -f 2- -d . | rev) \
        $(echo $configfile | rev | cut -f 2- -d . | rev).bak 2> /dev/null
    mv $configfile $(echo $configfile | rev | cut -f 2- -d . | rev)
fi
done
You should upgrade/merge your man.conf file and vimrc with these file:
/usr/man/man.conf.new
/usr/share/vim/vimrc.new

Reboot
# reboot

Finishing
If you've installed some packages that are not in Slackware default, you need to recheck it functionality, and if you find problem I think you need to recompile the software or it's dependency.

Slackware 13.1 has been released

Yes, it's that time again! After many months of development and
careful testing, we are proud to announce the release of Slackware
version 13.1!

We are sure you'll enjoy the many improvements. We've done our best
to bring the latest technology to Slackware while still maintaining the
stability and security that you have come to expect. Slackware is well
known for its simplicity and the fact that we try to bring software to
you in the condition that the authors intended.

Slackware 13.1 brings many updates and enhancements, among which
you'll find two of the most advanced desktop environments available
today: Xfce 4.6.1, a fast and lightweight but visually appealing and
easy to use desktop environment, and KDE 4.4.3, a recent stable release
of the new 4.4.x series of the award-winning KDE desktop environment.
We continue to make use of HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) and udev,
which allow the system administrator to grant use of various hardware
devices according to users' group membership so that they will be able
to use items such as USB flash sticks, USB cameras that appear like USB
storage, portable hard drives, CD and DVD media, MP3 players, and more,
all without requiring sudo, the mount or umount command. Just plug and
play. Properly set up, Slackware's desktop should be suitable for any
level of Linux experience. New to the desktop framework are ConsoleKit
and PolicyKit. ConsoleKit handles "seats", things like dealing with
devices when switching from one user to another. PolicyKit is a system
for fine-grained access control, allowing a non-root user to run certain
tasks with elevated privilege, but more securely than if the entire task
were simply run as root.

Slackware uses the 2.6.33.4 kernel bringing you advanced performance
features such as journaling filesystems, SCSI and ATA RAID volume
support, SATA support, Software RAID, LVM (the Logical Volume Manager),
and encrypted filesystems. Kernel support for X DRI (the Direct
Rendering Interface) brings high-speed hardware accelerated 3D graphics
to Linux.

There are two kinds of kernels in Slackware. First there are the
huge kernels, which contain support for just about every driver in the
Linux kernel. These are primarily intended to be used for installation,
but there's no real reason that you couldn't continue to run them after
you have installed. The other type of kernel is the generic kernel, in
which nearly every driver is built as a module. To use a generic kernel
you'll need to build an initrd to load your filesystem module and
possibly your drive controller or other drivers needed at boot time,
configure LILO to load the initrd at boot, and reinstall LILO. See the
docs in /boot after installing for more information. Slackware's Linux
kernels come in both SMP and non-SMP types now. The SMP kernel supports
multiple processors, multi-core CPUs, HyperThreading, and about every
other optimization available. In our own testing this kernel has proven
to be fast, stable, and reliable. We recommend using the SMP kernel
even on single processor machines if it will run on them.


Here are some of the advanced features of Slackware 13.1:

- Runs the 2.6.33.4 version of the Linux kernel from ftp.kernel.org.
Also included is a kernel patched with Speakup to support speech
synthesizers providing access to Linux for the visually impaired
community. The 2.6.x kernel series has matured into a stable
kernel, and provides reliable performance for your desktop or
your production server.

- System binaries are linked with the GNU C Library, version 2.11.1.
This version of glibc also has excellent compatibility with
existing binaries.

- X11 based on the X.Org Foundation's modular X Window System.
There's been much activity in the X development world, and the
improvements in terms of performance and hardware support are
too numerous to mention them all here.

- Installs gcc-4.4.4 as the default C, C++, Objective-C,
Fortran-77/95, and Ada 95 compiler.

- Support for fully encrypted network connections with OpenSSL,
OpenSSH, OpenVPN, and GnuPG.

- Apache (httpd) 2.2.15 web server with Dynamic Shared Object
support, SSL, and PHP 5.2.13.

- PCMCIA, CardBus, USB, IEE1394 (FireWire) and ACPI support. This
makes Slackware a great operating system for your laptop.

- The udev dynamic device management system for Linux 2.6.x.
This locates and configures most hardware automatically as it
is added (or removed) from the system, and creates the access
nodes in /dev. It also loads the kernel modules required by
sound cards and other hardware at boot time.

- New development tools, including Perl 5.10.1, Python 2.6.4,
Ruby 1.9.1-p378, Subversion 1.6.11, git-1.7.1, mercurial-1.5.2,
graphical tools like Qt designer and KDevelop, and much more.

- Updated versions of the Slackware package management tools make it
easy to add, remove, upgrade, and make your own Slackware packages.
Package tracking makes it easy to upgrade from Slackware 13.0 to
Slackware 13.1 (see CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT). The slackpkg tool can
also help update from an older version of Slackware to a newer one,
and keep your Slackware system up to date. In addition, the
slacktrack utility (in extra/) will help you build and maintain
your own packages.

- Web browsers galore! Includes KDE's Konqueror 4.4.3,
SeaMonkey 2.0.4 (this is the replacement for the Mozilla
Suite), and the immensely popular Firefox 3.6.3, as well as
the Thunderbird 3.0.4 email and news client with advanced
junk mail filtering.

- The KDE Software Compilation 4.4.3, a complete desktop environment.
This includes the KOffice productivity suite, networking tools, GUI
development with KDevelop, multimedia tools (including the amazing
Amarok music player and K3B disc burning software), the Konqueror web
browser and file manager, dozens of games and utilities,
international language support, and more.

- A collection of GTK+ based applications including pidgin-2.7.0,
gimp-2.6.8, gkrellm-2.3.4, gxine-0.5.903, xchat-2.8.6, xsane-0.996,
and pan-0.133.

- A repository of extra software packages compiled and ready to run.
This includes the Java(TM) 2 Software Development Kit Standard
Edition, an MPlayer browser plugin, and more (see the /extra directory).

- Many more improved and upgraded packages than we can list here. For
a complete list of core packages in Slackware 13.1, see this file:

ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-13.1/PACKAGES.TXT


Downloading Slackware 13.1:
---------------------------

The full version of Slackware Linux 13.1 is available for download
from the central Slackware FTP sites hosted by our friends at
www.cwo.com and osuosl.org:

ftp://slackware.osuosl.org/pub/slackware/slackware-13.1/
ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-13.1/

If the sites are busy, see the list of official mirror sites here:

http://slackware.com/getslack/

We will be setting up BitTorrent downloads for the official ISO
images. Stay tuned to http://slackware.com for the latest updates.

Instructions for burning the Slackware tree onto install discs may
be found in the isolinux directory.


Purchasing Slackware on CD-ROM or DVD:
--------------------------------------

Or, please consider purchasing the Slackware Linux 13.1 six CD-ROM
set or deluxe dual-sided DVD release directly from Slackware Linux, and
you'll be helping to support the continued development of Slackware
Linux!

The DVD release has the 32-bit x86 Slackware 13.1 release on one
side, and the 64-bit x86_64 Slackware 13.1 release on the other. Both
sides are bootable for easy installation, and includes everything from
both releases of Slackware 13.1, including the complete source code
trees.

The 6 CD-ROM release of Slackware 13.1 is the 32-bit x86 edition.
It includes a bootable first CD-ROM for easy installation. The 6
CD-ROMs are labeled for easy reference.


The Slackware 13.1 x86 6 CD-ROM set is $49.95 plus shipping, or
choose the Slackware 13.1 x86/x86_64 dual-sided DVD (also $49.95 plus
shipping).


Slackware Linux is also available by subscription. When we release
a new version of Slackware (which is normally once or twice a year) we
ship it to you and bill your credit card for a reduced subscription
price ($32.99 for the CD-ROM set, or $39.95 for the DVD) plus shipping.

For shipping options, see the Slackware store website. Before
ordering express shipping, you may wish to check that we have the
product in stock. We make releases to the net at the same time as disc
production begins, so there is a lag between the online release and the
shipping of media. But, even if you download now you can still buy the
official media later. You'll feel good, be helping the project, and have
a great decorative item perfect for any computer room shelf. :-)


Ordering Information:
---------------------

You can order online at the Slackware Linux store:

http://store.slackware.com

Other Slackware items like t-shirts, caps, pins, and stickers can
also be found here. These will help you find and identify yourself to
your fellow Slackware users. :-)

Order inquiries (including questions about becoming a Slackware
reseller) may be directed to this address: info@slackware.com


Have fun! :^) I hope you find Slackware to be useful, and thanks
very much for your support of this project over the years.

---
Patrick J. Volkerding

Visit us on the web at: http://slackware.com

Slackware 13.0 released

It was August 28, 2009 when Slackware 13.0 released. In this version Slackware has supported X64 platform and you can enjoy KDE 4 desktop environment.

As usual you can download Slackware 13.0 from some mirror at http://www.slackware.com/getslack. Choose your mirror, check it, download and enjoy!.

Below is official announcement from www.slackware.com:

Yes it's that time again! After many months of development and careful
testing, we are proud to announce the release of Slackware version 13.0!

We are sure you'll agree that the improvements made in this release more
than warrant the major version bump up from the 12.x series. We've done our
best to bring the latest technology to Slackware while still maintaining the
stability and security that you have come to expect. Slackware is well known
for it's simplicity and the fact that we try to bring software to you in the
condition that the authors intended.

Probably the biggest change is the addition of an official 64-bit port.
While the 32-bit (x86) version continues to be developed, this release brings
to you a complete port to 64-bit (x86_64). We know that many of you have
been waiting eagerly for this, and once you try it you'll see it was well
worth the wait.

Slackware 13.0 brings many updates and enhancements, among which you'll find
two of the most advanced desktop environments available today: Xfce 4.6.1,
a fast and lightweight but visually appealing and easy to use desktop
environment, and KDE 4.2.4, a recent stable release of the new 4.2.x series
of the award-winning K Desktop Environment. We continue to make use of HAL
(Hardware Abstraction Layer) which allows the system administrator to grant
use of various hardware devices according to users' group membership so that
they will be able to use items such as USB flash sticks, USB cameras that
appear like USB storage, portable hard drives, CD and DVD media, MP3 players,
and more, all without requiring sudo, the mount or umount command. Just plug
and play. Properly set up, Slackware's desktop should be suitable for any
level of Linux experience.

Slackware uses the 2.6.29.6 kernel bringing you advanced performance
features such as journaling filesystems, SCSI and ATA RAID volume support,
SATA support, Software RAID, LVM (the Logical Volume Manager), and
encrypted filesystems. Kernel support for X DRI (the Direct Rendering
Interface) brings high-speed hardware accelerated 3D graphics to Linux.

There are two kinds of kernels in Slackware -- the huge kernels, which
contain support for just about every driver in the Linux kernel. These are
primarily intended to be used for installation, but there's no real reason
that you couldn't continue to run them after you have installed. The
other type of kernel is the generic kernel, in which nearly every driver
is built as a module. To use a generic kernel you'll need to build an
initrd to load your filesystem module and possibly your drive controller
or other drivers needed at boot time, configure LILO to load the initrd at
boot, and reinstall LILO. See the docs in /boot after installing for more
information. Slackware's Linux kernels come in both SMP and non-SMP types
now. The SMP kernel supports multiple processors, multi-core CPUs,
HyperThreading, and about every other optimization available. In our own
testing this kernel has proven to be fast, stable, and reliable. We
recommend using the SMP kernel even on single processor machines if it
will run on them.

From the beginning, Slackware has offered a stable and secure Linux
distribution for UNIX veterans as well as an easy-to-use system for
beginners. Slackware includes everything you'll need to run a powerful
server or workstation. Each Slackware package follows the setup and
installation instructions from its author(s) as closely as possible,
offering you the most stable and easily expandable setup.

Here are some of the advanced features of Slackware 13.0:

- Runs the 2.6.29.6 version of the Linux kernel from ftp.kernel.org.
Also included is a kernel patched with Speakup to support speech
synthesizers providing access to Linux for the visually impaired
community. The 2.6.x kernel series has matured into a stable
kernel, and provides reliable performance for your desktop or
your production server.

- System binaries are linked with the GNU C Library, version 2.9.
This version of glibc also has excellent compatibility with
existing binaries.

- X11 based on the X.Org Foundation's modular X Window System.
There's been much activity in the X development world, and the
improvements in terms of performance and hardware support are
too numerous to mention them all here.

- Installs gcc-4.3.3 as the default C, C++, Objective-C,
Fortran-77/95, and Ada 95 compiler.

- Support for fully encrypted network connections with OpenSSL,
OpenSSH, OpenVPN, and GnuPG.

- Apache (httpd) 2.2.13 web server with Dynamic Shared Object
support, SSL, and PHP 5.2.10.

- PCMCIA, CardBus, USB, IEE1394 (FireWire) and ACPI support. This
makes Slackware a great operating system for your laptop.

- The udev dynamic device management system for Linux 2.6.x.
This locates and configures most hardware automatically as it
is added (or removed) from the system, and creates the access
nodes in /dev. It also loads the kernel modules required by
sound cards and other hardware at boot time.

- New development tools, including Perl 5.10.0, Python 2.6.2,
Ruby 1.8.7-p174, Subversion 1.6.4, git-1.6.4, mercurial-1.2.1,
graphical tools like Qt designer and KDevelop, and much more.

- Updated versions of the Slackware package management tools make it
easy to add, remove, upgrade, and make your own Slackware packages.
Package tracking makes it easy to upgrade from Slackware 12.2 to
Slackware 13.0 (see CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT). The slackpkg tool can
also help update from an older version of Slackware to a newer one,
and keep your Slackware system up to date. In addition, the
slacktrack utility (in extra/) will help you build and maintain
your own packages.

- Web browsers galore! Includes KDE's Konqueror 4.2.4,
SeaMonkey 1.1.17 (this is the replacement for the Mozilla
Suite), and the immensely popular Firefox 3.5.2, as well as
the Thunderbird 2.0.0.23 email and news client with advanced
junk mail filtering.

- The complete K Desktop Environment (KDE) version 4.2.4, including
the KOffice productivity suite, networking tools, GUI development
with KDevelop, multimedia tools (including the amazing Amarok
music player and K3B disc burning software), the Konqueror web
browser and file manager, dozens of games and utilities,
international language support, and more.

- A collection of GTK+ based applications including pidgin-2.5.9,
gimp-2.6.6, gkrellm-2.3.2, gxine-0.5.903, xchat-2.8.6, xsane-0.996,
and pan-0.133.

- A repository of extra software packages compiled and ready to run.
This includes the Java(TM) 2 Software Development Kit Standard
Edition, an MPlayer browser plugin, alternate Intel video drivers
for X, and more (see the /extra directory).

- Many more improved and upgraded packages than we can list here. For
a complete list of core packages in Slackware 13.0, see this file:

ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-13.0/PACKAGES.TXT


Downloading Slackware 13.0:
---------------------------

The full version of Slackware Linux 13.0 is available for download from
the central Slackware FTP sites hosted by our friends at www.cwo.com
and osuosl.org:

ftp://slackware.osuosl.org/pub/slackware/slackware-13.0/
ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-13.0/

If the sites are busy, see the list of official mirror sites here:

http://slackware.com/getslack/

We will be setting up BitTorrent downloads for the official ISO images.
Stay tuned to http://slackware.com for the latest updates.

Instructions for burning the Slackware tree onto install discs may be
found in the isolinux directory.


Purchasing Slackware on CD-ROM or DVD:
--------------------------------------

Or, please consider purchasing the Slackware Linux 13.0 six CD-ROM set
or deluxe dual-sided DVD release directly from Slackware Linux, and
you'll be helping to support the continued development of Slackware Linux!

The DVD release has the 32-bit x86 Slackware 13.0 release on one side,
and the 64-bit x86_64 Slackware 13.0 release on the other. Both sides
are bootable for easy installation, and includes everything from both
releases of Slackware 13.0, including the complete source code trees.

The 6 CD-ROM release of Slackware 13.0 is the 32-bit x86 edition. It
includes a bootable first CD-ROM for easy installation, and everything
from the Slackware 13.0 32-bit x86 release is contained on 6 discs
labeled for easy reference.

The Slackware 13.0 x86 6 CD-ROM set is $49.95 plus shipping, or choose
the Slackware 13.0 x86/x86_64 dual-sided DVD (also $49.95 plus shipping).

Slackware Linux is also available by subscription. When we release a new
version of Slackware (which is normally once or twice a year) we ship it
to you and bill your credit card for a reduced subscription price
($32.99 for the CD-ROM set, or $39.95 for the DVD) plus shipping.

For shipping options, see the Slackware store website. Before ordering
express shipping, you may wish to check that we have the product in stock.
We make releases to the net at the same time as disc production begins,
so there is a lag between the online release and the shipping of media.
But, even if you download now you can still buy the official media later.
You'll feel good, be helping the project, and have a great decorative
item perfect for any computer room shelf. :-)


Ordering Information:
---------------------

You can order online at the Slackware Linux store:
http://store.slackware.com

Other Slackware items like t-shirts, caps, pins, and stickers
can also be found here. These will help you find and identify
yourself to your fellow Slackware users. :-)

Order inquiries (including questions about becoming a Slackware
reseller) may be directed to this address:
info@slackware.com


Have fun! :^) I hope you find Slackware to be useful, and thanks
very much for your support of this project over the years.

---
Patrick J. Volkerding

Visit us on the web at: http://slackware.com

Connected to wireless

I have a Wireless AP with open security and WEP encryption and in other side is My Linux box using Slackware 12.2, whereas wlan0 as my wireless Lan card.

In this case I want to connect my Linux Box to my AP and The AP also as DHCP server.
I have a Wireless AP with open security and WEP encryption and in other side is My Linux box using Slackware 12.2, whereas wlan0 as my wireless Lan card.

In this case I want to connect my Linux Box to my AP and The AP also as DHCP server.

The steps to connect are:

• Ensure your  WLan card has waked up

# ifconfig wlan0 up

• Scan network area and get information about your AP configuration

# iwlist wlan0 scan

• Configure your Wlan card

# iwconfig wlan0 managed
# iwconfig wlan0 essid MYLAN
# iwconfig wlan0 channel 6 (the channel which used by AP)
# iwconfig wlan0 key 12345ABCDE
# iwconfig wlan0 ap  (MAC ADDR your AP)

• Get IP Address and connected

# dhclient wlan0

• Check your connection

# ping www.google.com

Install Fedora-8 via Http Server

Right now we can install fedora via HTTP server, for this we only need http server like apache or other. In this tutorial I use apache as http server, and in my assumption we have set apache server properly.

1. Copy all of DVD or CD content into Document Root directory; in my case I put it all into fedora-install directory.
2. Use fedora boot disc or boot usb, use boot.iso file in images directory to create disc or usb boot.
3. To create usb boot you by using liveusb-creator tool, both for linux and windows, you can get it in https://fedorahosted.org/liveusb-creator/,
4. Boot Linux by using disc or usb boot.
5. Choose install system
6. Choose http install
7. Set your IP, netmask, and nameserver
8. Input your http server.
9. Follow the instruction.
10. Viola, Linux fedora has been installed in your computer