Slackel 6.0.4 openbox

[djemos]

While we are waiting for the Slackware 14.2 when this will happen, God knows
I have worked on Slackel 6.0.4 a new release. The main target was the testing of installing on efi gpt partitons with grub. This is done by grubconfig which is part of grub package. Slackel 6.0.4 openbox 32 bit image includes both PAE and non-PAE kernel with older hardware support.
The source code of iso-creation scripts from gapan, which has been changed a bit since Slackel has root user also, used to make the iso can been found on github
The source code for grub package is here where can find the SLKBUILD and grubconfig for salix also.

grubconfig script has been further developed and installation has been tested on efi gpt as well on bios pc's.
updated grub package will uploaded to package submissions.

Also installation using (e)Lilo also has been tested.
A video for installing slackel 6.0.4 64bit on efi has been produced to help users.

This is good also for the future releases of Salix.
You can read more here

[gapan]

Great work djemos!

[Atip]

If I have openbox-6.0.3 updated to current including latest kernel
will there be a need to install openbox-6.0.4?

[djemos]

If I have openbox-6.0.3 updated to current including latest kernel
will there be a need to install openbox-6.0.4?

No.

[Papasot]

I have issues while installing Grub2 that way. I followed djemos' video, and my disk setup is pretty much the same as in the video (except that I have 2 Linux partitions (/ and /home). The disk is /dev/sdb (1 Tb), and it's solely used for Slackel (there is a second disk with... that other "operating system" but I guess that's irrelevant).
Slackel installation goes as in the video (I just pick the "minimal graphical install" option, instead of installing everything). The difference comes after I pick Grub as my install loader. I don't see the window saying "This will install the GRUB2 boot loader on EFI" (2:40 in the video); Instead, I am asked if I want to install Grub on MBR, as if I installed Slackel without EFI. If I proceed that way, the system won't boot (Grub hangs and turns in rescue mode).
I tried exiting the installer and running grubconfig manually: this doesn't work either: I am getting a window saying I have to install Grub on /proc and, even if I do that, system won't boot again (I expected that won't work). I guess I am missing something here. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Note: I used slackel64-openbox-6.0.4.1.iso from SourceForge.

[djemos]

I think efi have always exist on /dev/sda1 while the system can be on dev/sdb
But Installer since you choose sdb for installing slackel will create an efi on this disk and not on /devsda1.
Also since grub shows mbr this means your partition table is not gpt. It is bios with mbr. And this will not work.

Be sure for these:
1. First have to create a gpt partition table using gparted from installer. Then create a fat32 partition and sign it boot,esp.
2. Then create partitions for /root, /home and swap.
3. Because you use a second disk to install slackel. I have never tested this installation as grub has to installed on first disk sda1 the efi partition and slackel on /dev/sdb

Then after installation do not reboot but you have to chroot to installed system
sudo mkdir /mnt/install
sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/sdb2 /mnt/install (suppose that use ext4 and install the system on /dev/sdb2 change these if they are different)
sudo mount -o bind /sys /mnt/install/sys
sudo mount -o bind /dev /mnt/install/dev
sudo mount -o bind /proc /mnt/install/proc
sudo chroot /mnt/install

and from there type mount the efi partition
mount /dev/sda1 /boot/efi
grub-install --efi-directory /boot/efi --boot-directory /boot/ --target=x86_64-efi

umount /boot/efi
exit
sudo umount /mnt/install/proc
sudo umount /mnt/install/dev
sudo umount /mnt/install/sys
sudo umount /mnt/install
reboot
NOTE!!!! This has not been tested so do it at your own risk.

[Papasot]

Also since grub shows mbr this means your partition table is not gpt. It is bios with mbr. And this will not work.

Before installing anything, I created a GPT partition table using gfdisk, as included in Slackel disk; then created partitions as in the video (except I have 2 Linux partitions, not one). gfdisk didn't complain at all; it wouldn't let me creating an EFI partition if it wasn't GPT, I guess. Still, I had no option to install Grub on EFI, only MBR. Does it makes sense to follow the steps you suggested given that?

Edit: obviously, I mean cgdisk, not gfdisk, sorry for the typo.

[laprjns]

Still, I had no option to install Grub on EFI,

If you have no option to install grub on efi then you are most likely booting the installer in bios mode. Are you sure that your computer has UEFI firmware? Is is it running in CSM mode? What version of Window is installed on sda?
You can check if you are running the installer in UEFI mode by checking to see if the /sys/firmware/EFI directory exist.

[Papasot]

Good point, laprjins. I bought that computer recently, it's a used one, 2 years old - but very powerful. So I blindly assumed it supports UEFI... and I was wrong, or at least I can't find any sign of it; following some guides online also revealed there is no UEFI firmware.
So I just recreated the partition table, this time in the old BIOS/MBR mode, and installed Slackel the traditional way, which worked perfectly and, after getting rid of gdm and with some openbox/fbpanel tweaking to my liking, I got a very lightweight system that simply does its job, and doesn't stand on my way.

A few remarks for djemos:
* For some reason, formatting the partitions as ext4 (which seems to be the default on Slackel) takes forever, even if I pick the quick format option. I just interrupted it after waiting for 15 minutes to "quick" format a 450 Gb partition. The disk is brand-new and checked for bad blocks using computer's BIOS built-in system checker (3 passes). Now, if I pick the xfs option, Slackel installer formats my partitions in an eye blink.
* Grub seems not to work the old MBR way, at least not with xfs partitions (which are more or less mandatory, as explained above). After installation, when Grub tries to boot the system complains a lot about "not XFS nodes", and hangs. On the contrary, Lilo worked out of the box.
* The first thing I do after installing a new OS is to install Emacs, but it doesn't work out-of-the-box on Slackel. This is because gslapt does not install libwmf as a dependency, although Emacs won't run without that package installed. I guess that's because I am now in slackware-current waters?
* Some packages available in Slackbuild, most notably alure (which I need it installed for my own libs to work) used not to work on Salix. but they do work on Slackel. Apparently a benefit of using slackware-current.

[djemos]

Did you set the boot flag on efi partition? (boot,esp) First create the partition and then right click with mouse and click flags and check boot. This turned to EF00.
Then proceed with installation.
second if the efi partition is fat16 then has to be 100MB or 200MB
if it is fat32 then has to be 300mb, 400mb or more.
if you did not set the boot,esp flag on efi partition then it will not be used from the grub installer to write there the slackel entry.
it will install grub as a csm bios mbr boot.
Grub cannot used with xfs filesytem. Choose ext4, reiserfs or jfs
Thats why you get the message install in mbr. Otherwise you will not get this message but it will install grub.