[2024-feb-29] Sad news: Eric Layton aka Nocturnal Slacker aka vtel57 passed away on Feb 26th, shortly after hospitalization. He was one of our Wiki's most prominent admins. He will be missed.

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HOWTO articles - Hardware

This section contains How-To articles for for hardware drivers and configurations including virtualization platforms.

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Overview of Slackware Administration HOWTOS

PageDescriptionTags
Slackware 14.0 on an Acer Aspire One ZA3Slackware 14.0 on an Acer Aspire One ZA3 Slackware 14.0 easily installs on an Acer Aspire One ZA3, but X windows crashes. I found a fix that works from another Slacker. When Slackware 14.0 boots up log in as root and enter this command: # rmmod poulsbo psb_gfx,
The ARM Machine Architecture NumbersThe ARM Machine Architecture Numbers If you want to know what is the correct Machine Architecture Number for your device you might want to have a look here. There is also a good primer on ARM boot-loader basic operation here Sources howtos arm author louigi600, , ,
Automatically Set System Time On ARM DevicesAutomatically Set System Time On ARM Devices Most users know how unforgiving the Slackware operating system is when the date and time is not set relatively accurate, and rightly so. Inaccurate time can give rise to all kinds of problems, and is often the bane of a system administrator's life. Particularly on ARM devices, where this can be a continual annoyance when the system time has no way of setting itself correctly and/or those responsible [often] forget to do it., , , , , , , , , ,
Slackware ARM GCC aarch64-linux cross-compiler for the Raspberry PiSlackware ARM GCC aarch64-linux cross-compiler for the Raspberry Pi Preface I was thinking about the Cortex-A53 64-bit CPU on my Raspberry Pi 3 and why I'm mainly using Slackware ARM 32 bit operating system on it. Then I started to wonder if it would be possible to build an arm64 kernel and modules to run with Slackware ARM. After reading about how this could be achieved it seemed clear that some cross-compiling would be required. Although I have some experience in building Linux kernels, espe…, , , ,
Slackware ARM gcc-9.2.x armv8 arm64 aarch64 cross-compiler for the Raspberry Pi 4Slackware ARM gcc-9.2.x armv8 arm64 aarch64 cross-compiler for the Raspberry Pi 4 Preface With the recent congruous updates to Slackware ARM [~24 June 2019 - “A MILLION THANKS to MoZes!”] and the surprise arrival of the Raspberry Pi 4, this just had to be done. Creating a 64-bit gcc-9.2.0 arm64 aarch64 cross-compiler with the intention of building aarch64-linux binaries from source code and turning them into Slackware packages., , , , , , , , ,
Slackware ARM current gcc-10.3.x armv8 arm64 aarch64 cross-compiler for the Raspberry Pi 4Slackware ARM current gcc-10.3.x armv8 arm64 aarch64 cross-compiler for the Raspberry Pi 4 Preface With the recent updates on Slackware ARM (December 2020) to gcc-10.x this is an ARMv8 aarch64 cross-compiler bash script that's intended for building binaries from source code and turning them into Slackware packages. Or whatever use you may find for this script., , , , , , , , ,
Slackware ARM current ARMv8 AArch64 cross-compiler build script (gcc-12.1.0) for the Raspberry Pi 3/4Slackware ARM current ARMv8 AArch64 cross-compiler build script (gcc-12.1.0) for the Raspberry Pi 3/4 Preface With the updates of Slackware AArch64 to gcc-12.1.0, this is an ARMv8 AArch64 cross-compiler bash script that's intended for building binaries from source code and turning them into Slackware packages. Or whatever use you may find for this script., , , , , , , , ,
Slackware ARM current ARMv8 AArch64 cross-compiler build script (gcc-12.2.0) for the Raspberry Pi 3/4Slackware ARM current ARMv8 AArch64 cross-compiler build script (gcc-12.2.0) for the Raspberry Pi 3/4 Preface With the updates of Slackware AArch64 to gcc-12.2.0, this is an ARMv8 AArch64 cross-compiler bash script that's intended for building binaries from source code and turning them into Slackware packages. Or whatever use you may find for this script., , , , , , , , ,
Slackware ARM 15.0 ARMv8 AArch64 cross-compiler build script (gcc-13.2.0) for the Raspberry Pi 3/4/5Slackware ARM 15.0 ARMv8 AArch64 cross-compiler build script (gcc-13.2.0) for the Raspberry Pi 3/4/5 Preface With the updates of Slackware AArch64 to gcc-13.2.0, this is an ARMv8 AArch64 cross-compiler bash script that's intended for building binaries from source code and turning them into Slackware packages on 32-bit Slackware systems. Or whatever other purpose(s) you may find for this script and its possibilities., , , , , , , , ,
Hacking information from the XZPAD700Hacking information from the XZPAD700 This refers to the XZPAD700 (aka zeligpad) ARM based tablet (AL-A13-RT713 pcb) based on an Allwinner A13 SOC but is technically applicable to all Axx SOC's as to my understanding the all boot in the same manner., , ,
Slackware ARM on the HummingboardSlackware ARM on the Hummingboard There are many ARM devices on the market at the moment, with even more appearing regularly, and it's not possible to provide support for them all in the main Slackware tree. The Hummingboard, by Solidrun, is supported outside of the official Slackware tree by the Slackware community., , ,
Interfacing I2C Devices To Your SystemInterfacing I2C Devices To Your System Inter-Integrated Circuit (I²C or more often written as I2C) is a multimaster serial single-ended computer bus invented by the Philips semiconductor division (see the wikipedia article for more information on I2C) and commonly used in many modern electronic devices including, , ,
Slackware Package naming conventionSlackware Package naming convention * Author: Stuart Winter <mozes at slackware.com> * Date....: 18-Mar-2020 * Version : 1.00 * Purpose : Provide a best practice for naming packages for Slackware ARM. ARM package naming convention Exposition of the package name format:, , ,
nginx on Slackware ARMnginx on Slackware ARM Nginx in brief Created by Igor Sysoev and first publicly released in 2004, Nginx is a high‑performance, highly scalable, highly available web server, reverse proxy server, and web accelerator (combining the features of an HTTP load balancer, content cache, and more). Nginx offers a highly scalable architecture that is very different from that of Apache (and many other open source and commercial products in the same category). Nginx has a modular, event‑driven, asynchrono…, , , , , , , , , , ,
Setting up Slackware ARM 14.0 on the OLinuXino A10S Micro from scratchSetting up Slackware ARM 14.0 on the OLinuXino A10S Micro from scratch This document can also be found at <http://www.malaya-digital.org/setting-up-slackware-arm-14-0-on-the-olinuxino-a10s-from-scratch/> NOTE: The documentation below needs updating. I recommend that you use the link I've just given above as it leads to updated documentation. I'll have the text below updated when time permits., , ,
Qemu Support in Slackware ARMQemu Support in Slackware ARM This document describes the process of installing Slackware ARM inside of QEMU. * QEMU is a full system emulator that can emulate a range of real hardware architectures. In this case we will use QEMU to emulate the ARM Ltd., , ,
Slackware ARM on the Raspberry Pi 1Slackware ARM on the Raspberry Pi 1 Since there are so many ARM devices coming on to the market, it is not possible to provide support for them all in the main tree. The Raspberry Pi is supported outside of the official Slackware ARM tree by the Slackware community., , ,
Slackware ARM on the Raspberry Pi 2Slackware ARM on the Raspberry Pi 2 The Raspberry Pi 2 has a quad-core ARMv7 (Cortex-A7) 900MHz CPU and 1GB 450MHz LPDDR2 SDRAM. This revised and upgraded ARM single board computer supplants it's predecessor, the Raspberry Pi (1), and is considerably more powerful. Which is great for running Slackware ARM because every thing happens so much quicker and running/executing/compiling times are slashed dramatically in comparison., , ,
Slackware Network Install on Raspberry Pi 3Slackware Network Install on Raspberry Pi 3 Introduction This is an abridged version of the SARPi (<http://sarpi.co.uk/>) installation guide dealing with the 'headless' install case for installing Slackware 14.2. There is nothing wrong with the original guide, it is very, , , ,
Wireless Access Point With a Raspberry Pi 3Wireless Access Point With a Raspberry Pi 3 Introduction This HOWTO shows you how to replace the WiFi element of your home network setup with a Raspberry Pi running Slackware. Other HOWTOs explain how to setup DHCP and so on for your wireless devices, but this tries to keep things really simple and just give you an ethernet, , , , , ,
Slackware on a Raspberry Pi 4Slackware on a Raspberry Pi 4 The Raspberry Pi 4 was released on 24 June 2019. The device features a Broadcom BCM2711B0 SoC incorporating a Quad-core ARMv8 Cortex-A72 [64 bit] CPU @ 1.5GHz, VideoCore VI GPU @ 500MHz, and comes in four different variations with 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB LPDDR4 SDRAM @ 2400MHz installed. This revised and upgraded ARM single-board computer succeeds the, , ,
Slackware ARM local mirror repository - SAREPOSlackware ARM local mirror repository - SAREPO It is acknowledged that there are more complete and distinguished Slackware repository solutions readily available. Such as, alienBOB's gen_repos_files.sh and mirror-slackware-current.sh scripts, and Dave Spencer's slackrepo. These are renowned, highly automated, tools for managing Slackware package repositories and mirrors., , , , , , , , , ,
Making it easy for u-boot to find uImage and uinitrdMaking it easy for u-boot to find uImage and uinitrd I often fiddle with testing root images, kernels and initrd on my kirkwood based systems by using usb flash sticks. I found that although Jeff did a brilliant job on uboot, at the time I started fiddling with custom boot images on my dosckstar, his default environment was unable to directly boot all my testing images that were rapidly changing in layout. To work around this I started making canges to his environment., , ,
Slackware on ARM - HOWTO guidesSlackware on ARM - HOWTO guides This section contains information about how to install Slackware on to a range of ARM hardware. The wiki pages on this site are intended for the community to help broaden the architecture support and collaboratively create and share the knowledge base.,
Getting Slackware ARM on the Toshiba AC100 (also know as the Dynabook AZ)Getting Slackware ARM on the Toshiba AC100 (also know as the Dynabook AZ) When all this started off I was using ARMedslack 13.37 but as of version 14 the official Slackware ARM port changed name to Slackware ARM. Any reference to ARMedslack in this short tutorial refers to the, , ,
ASUS eee PC HowToASUS eee PC HowTo Although this howto was written specifically for the ASUS 1005HA netbook, it may be ported to similar machines. With Slackware everything works pretty much out of the box for this Asus EEE-pc model. Function keys, however, are not enabled by default, which means additional configuration steps are required., ,
Audio and snd-hda-intelAudio and snd-hda-intel Overview This HOWTO deals with issues related to sound cards which use the Intel HDA chipset. Do you encounter audio problems such as: * No sound? * Headphones work but speakers do not? * Speakers work but headphones do not?, , , ,
Use BFQ IO schedulerUse BFQ IO scheduler Budget Fair Queueing (BFQ) Storage-I/O Scheduler * Why do I want BFQ? -Seems to speed up disk based IO see the Source section for more info. http://algo.ing.unimo.it/people/paolo/disk_sched/ * First collect your existing kernel configuration. zcat /proc/config.gz > BFQ_CONFIG
Brother printer/scanner installationBrother printer/scanner installation Brother makes a variety of printers and multifunction devices. There is a strong commitment to Linux support, but the driver packages are offered only in .rpm or .deb format. So what does a Slackware user do?, , , , ,
Chromebook PixelChromebook Pixel This HOWTO covers installing and configuring Slackware (tested with -current/14.2) on a 2015 Chromebook Pixel. Older versions of Slackware (older kernel) and the 2013 Chromebook Pixel may run into issues. There are a couple main sources of information for running Linux on the Pixel (see, , , ,
CPU-frequency scaling on SlackwareCPU-frequency scaling on Slackware Introduction CPU frequency scaling is carried out by the kernel, there are currently two main ways of thinking about CPU Frequency Scaling, and these are based on the frequency scaling driver which is in use. By default, , , ,
DisplayLinkDisplayLink DisplayLink 3.0 Devices This HOWTO covers how to configure and install the DisplayLink driver (evdi) for USB 3.0 devices, and has been tested under Slackware 14.1 and newer. For older devices (e.g. USB 2.0), the udl driver should work with minimal configuration needed., , , ,
Linux Multi-Queue Block IO Queueing Mechanism (blk-mq)Linux Multi-Queue Block IO Queueing Mechanism (blk-mq) blk-mq (Multi-Queue Block IO Queueing Mechanism) is a new framework for the Linux block layer that was introduced with Linux Kernel 3.13 and has become feature-complete with Kernel 3.16. Blk-mq allows for over 15 million IOPS with high-performance flash devices (e.g. PCIe SSDs) on multi-socket servers, though even single and dual socket servers also benefit considerably from blk-mq., , , ,
GPS-devicesGPS-devices Overview GPS stands for Global Positioning System. GPS devices (also referred to as GPS receivers) provide the user with his/her geographic coordinates. GPS sport watches allow to save and export tracks, that is collections of geo-localized points describing the run or any movement that was done. This howto is based on experiences on Garmin Etrex Legend HCx (GPS device) and, on Slackware 15.0, on a Garmin Forerunner 205 (GPS sport watch); but it should also work at least for any Ga…, , ,
Hardware DiagnosticsHardware Diagnostics This is an attempt to document symptoms, open-source diagnostic software, and solutions to hardware failure. DISCLAIMER: * Power off your computer, turn off the PSU, and unplug it. * Wear an antistatic wrist strap. * Ground yourself by first touching the PSU., , ,
Nvidia OptimusNvidia Optimus Some laptops come with what is known as “nVidia Optimus” technology. This is an nVidia and Intel hybrid graphical processing unit (GPU); it is not two separate GPUs in one laptop. It uses nVidia graphics for performance and Intel graphics for power saving during basic usage. Unfortunately, until the release of version 435 in 2019, the closed-source proprietary drivers have not offered a means for adjusting or switching between the two., , , ,
Multi CPU performance tuning<--Reviewed 20130113 by hazel --> Multi CPU performance tuning The Linux SMP kernel (Symmetric Multi Processing - enabled in all 64-bit Slackware kernels as well as the 32-bit “-smp” kernels) does a good job of scheduling processes so that they take maximum advantage of your multiple CPU's or CPU cores., ,
Proprietary Graphics DriversProprietary Graphics Drivers The X.Org X11 graphical system provides many drivers, supplying at least 2D video acceleration for most video cards; however, if a system is equipped with a GPU from AMD (ATI) or nVIDIA, proprietary binary drivers can be downloaded from the web sites of both these vendors and installed., , ,
Slackware installation using a serial terminal on an embedded systemSlackware installation using a serial terminal on an embedded system I'll describe here what steps are required to install Slackware to a machine, using a serial terminal. The boot medium used here is a usb-key, but I think that these steps could be customized for booting from a CD-, ,
Sound Problems on Slackware“”pavucontrol NOTE: on my systems, my default card is 1 and default device is 0 so I will use 1,0 through out this page Sound Problems on Slackware Investigate the problem * See which kernel modules are loaded: lsmod | grep snd Use this information along with your motherboard sound chipset to verify that the correct sound drivers are loading., , , , ,
Set Up Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 & Audigy Rx in SlackwareSet Up Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 & Audigy Rx in Slackware This HOWTO is based on setup experience with following hardware: * Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 ( SB0060) * Creative Inspire T3100 2.1 Speakers * Intel DG965SS motherboard *, , , , , , , , ,
Solid State DrivesSolid State Drives Installing Slackware 14.1 on a SSD drive While some of this could be performed after an installation (changing the LVM settings), I'll assume a new installation, because most parts can't be easily performed afterwards. Partition creation,
How To Sync Your System Time to Hardware Clock ConsistentlyHow To Sync Your System Time to Hardware Clock Consistently Overview If you are booting multiple Linux distributions on the same machine, you might face the problem of inconsistent time zone settings across distributions. For example, assume you are dual-booting two Linux distributions, Distro X and Distro Y. You have set your BIOS hardware clock to show the local time., , , , , ,
Connecting to VirginMobile Broadband2Go with an Ovation MC760 USB modemConnecting to VirginMobile Broadband2Go with an Ovation MC760 USB modem Using Network Manager 1) Plug in your modem. 2) Open the Network Manager “NETWORK CONNECTIONS” dialog. 3) Click “+ ADD”. 4) “CHOOSE A CONNECTION TYPE” ---> “MOBILE BROADBAND, , , ,

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