Slackware ARM on a Raspberry Pi

Configure your boot partition for future use

Right now the /boot partition is optimised for the Slackware ARM installer. The initrd.gz RAM disk is still there, a left-over from the install. This file alone takes up more than half of the space on your boot partition, and it's not even required any longer! You are going to remove it, of course, with a simple 'rm' command.

First you need to mount the '/dev/mmcblk0p1' boot partition (remember that one?) in the '/mnt/boot' directory. So, now type the following command:

root@slackware:~# mount -t vfat /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt/boot

Now that's done, you must do some necessary housekeeping on your boot partition before you install any new system files.

IMPORTANT! : BE VERY CAREFUL HERE! If you make an error and delete the wrong file(s) you will find yourself in seriously deep Linux doo-doo! 'rm' is a very powerful command when used by root and can irreparably delete, in the blink of an eye, that which took you hours/days to create! Your Raspberry Pi might not mind at all, but your Slackware ARM system will certainly not be greeting you with a log-in prompt after you reboot if you have deleted the wrong file(s)!!!

Type exactly the command below to remove the initrd.gz RAM disk file from the boot partition:

root@slackware:~# rm /mnt/boot/initrd.gz

Next, type 'df -h' on the command line and you should receive something similar to the following output:

The output tells you that your boot partition '/dev/mmcblk0p1' now has quite a lot of free space. This is exactly what you needed to achieve.

You should remove the initrd.gz RAM disk because it's not needed any longer. Also, when you install new firmware/kernel packages, a certain amount of free space is required on the boot partition in order to install those new firmware and/or kernel updates. With the initrd.gz RAM disk still present you risk filling up your /boot partition. The update process will then not complete successfully, and you will end up with a corrupt system which does not boot!

Now, you need to install the new packages containing the Raspberry Pi firmware and kernel. Type the following command to install these packages:

root@slackware:~# ROOT=/mnt installpkg /rpi-extra/kernel* /rpi-extra/sarpi*

You should see something similar to the screen below when installation of the new packages has finished:

If you've previously mounted a USB memory stick, containing your Slackware ARM source, using 'mount /dev/sda1/floppy' you should now unmount it from the /floppy directory. To do this type the following command:

root@slackware:~# umount /floppy

If you selected the 'Install from Slackware USB stick' option during setup you can unmount the USB stick using the following command:

root@slackware:~# umount /usb-stick

It's now safe to remove the USB stick from the Raspberry Pi.

Rebooting your Slackware ARM Linux system

You are about to reboot the system. When it reboots you will be prompted for a login username and password. Until the Slackware ARM installation and update process has completed, and on any other occasion for which you need to use 'root' access, you should always login with the following credentials:

login: root
password: ** the password you specified for the root user account **


So, without further ado, type the following at the command prompt:

root@slackware:~# reboot

In the event that the 'reboot' command isn't working for you, try 'reboot -f' instead.

That is the end of the Slackware ARM installation. If you've made it successfully this far, "Well done!"

Next you should think about updating your Slackware ARM system with the latest available kernel, kernel modules, firmware, and packages.

So, after rebooting, continue to the next section in this tutorial... Keep Updated.

Updated: 01 Aug 2018 23:41:37