ProtonVPN via OpenVPN

Posted on Mar 22, 2025 by kingbeowulf

Slackware64 iMac 2007 Redux

Posted on Sep 14, 2024 by kingbeowulf

A year ago, I refurbished a vintage 2007 iMac: 1TB SSD and new(-ish) power supply and it has been working pretty good for the most part.

Installing Slackware64-15.0 on an iMac 2007

Two issue still remain: Bluetooth (BT) and a tendency for the power supply over heat. I still haven't found a solution yet to the BT driver; this will wait for the next Slackware stable release "when it's ready; real soon now."

The mid 2007 iMac did have a tendency to overheat. Having poked around inside, there just isn't enough air flow to cool the power supply which can run extra hot under load. We can adjust the fan speed manually as root, once you figure out which fan cools both the CPU and the power supply. For example:

Slackware 15.0 AMD RX 6000 series (NAVI 23) power and fan issues

Posted on Jun 18, 2023 by kingbeowulf

After a recent purchase a few months ago of a MSI Mech Radeon RX 6650 XT ($280 US, newegg.com, now $250), I noticed a peculiar behavior whenever the monitor powered down: The admgpu/drm crashed. The system had to be shutdown and power cycled to restore GPU function. Same issue on both motherboards:

Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
Kernel 5.15.94 Mesa-22.2.5 libdrm-2.4.115
Gigabyte 27-in 2560x1440 170 Hz IPS

Gigabyte X570 I AORUS PRO WIFI AMD Ryzen 7 3800X
Kernel 5.15.94 Mesa-21.3.5 libdrm-2.4.109
Samsung 28-in 4K 60 Hz IPS

An example or the errors in /var/log/syslog:

Repurpose Old Cellphones as Home Security Cameras

Posted on Feb 25, 2023 by kingbeowulf

Instead of buying expensive security cameras or USB webcams, older cell phones (iOS and Android) can be repurposed as internet (IP) cameras via WIFI. SIM card not required. In this post, I'll describe a two camera security configuration with ZoneMinder video surveillance software system.

Wi-Fi network IP Camera software

For each phone, you'll need to install software to stream the camera video in format accessible to web browsers (Firefox, etc). For my cameras I chose:

• iOS: ipCAM ($2.99)
• Andoid: IP Webcam (Free with ads, Pro $4.99)

These apps will allow you to stream video inside your WiFi network without internet access via http access. There are others; choose wisely.

Configure Wifi Router

I recommend setting the phones for a fixed IP address so that the same IP is assigned should the phone restart. One way (recommended), is to set your router to provide static leases and block traffic to the internet (WAN). In the iOS and Android settings, under network, look up the MAC address of your phone.

NOTE: Some Android configurations set up a random MAC address. You'll need to turn this off and use the actual hardware address.

My Wifi router utilizes OpenWrt firmware. Others are similar. To set the static lease and profide a fixed IP address when the phone connects to Wifi:

Network -> DHCP and DNS -> Static Leases -> Add

Enter in the camera hostname, MAC address and IP address to use. Enter the values in the --custom-- field. The values below are examples. You will need to select an IP address that doesn't conflict with any other devices on your network.

A Year in the Life of Slackware64-15.0

Posted on Jan 22, 2023 by kingbeowulf

Slackware 15.0 has been out in the wild for nigh on a year now. So far I am quite pleased. Modern and versatile for my varied requirements. I won't do a review here; that you can get elsewhere. For me, Slackware for many years has been my daily driver at home for general purpose office computing, simple image and video editing, internet access and video games. I was recently laid up at home on medical leave after surgery. Between Steam (native and Proton), WINE and DOSBOX, I made a bit of a dent in my Linux, Windows, and old MSDOS game collections. One Slackware box is dedicated to host my Gopher, Mumble, local LAN time servers, as well as my Valheim dedicated game server. It was also my backup NAS until I added added a separate Synology DS220+.

(Aside: If you haven't played Valheim, you are missing out on a great Adventure. Fun solo, but best with friends!)

Astronomy Device Control In Slackware-15 and -Current

Posted on Aug 23, 2022 by kingbeowulf

I've updated the INDI libraries and drivers on Slackbuilds.org (SBo). INDI Library is a collection of programs designed to control astronomical equipment, such as, cameras, telescopes, etc. In addition to the drivers and modules provided in the main INDI distribution, there are a number of third party drivers available. For more information on INDI refer to https://www.indilib.org/

Stellarium (https://slackbuilds.org/repository/15.0/academic/stellarium/) has INDI support to directly control telescope positioning. Kstars, included with Slackware's KDE, Provides INDI support via the built-in EKOS client. Besides telescope control, numerous devices are supported, including CCD cameras. Why pay good money for proprietary and expensive telescope GOTO and astrophotography software when perfectly functional opensource alternatives exist?

To get Kstars/Ekos operational in Slackware (or whatever other Linux distribution. I won't judge.), you will need to recompile Kstars. INDI is a compile-time dependency; therefore, the Kstars package included with Slackware does not include INDI functionality.

Feedback is appreciated, for bugs and improvements, via sbo@linuxgalaxy.org

For Slackware (What? Are you still using that *other* distro?), follow this build order. Everything needed is included either in the main Slackware tree or on SBo. Note that the SBo buildscripts for libindi-libraries and libindi-drivers are optional. These include the third party drivers not present in the main libindi build. This list is also the recommended build and installation order. If you do not know what drivers you need (!!), install everything.

Dependency

libev
libnova
wcslib
stellarsolver

[optional for third-pary drivers]
gpsd
libdc1394
libftdi1

INDI

libindi
libindi-libraries (optional)
libindi-drivers (optional)

Kstars INDI Client

Kstars in Slackware-15 is a bit too old. Grab the Kstars source from Slackware current or from https://invent.kde.org/education/kstars/-/branches (version 3.6.0 as of this post). On Slackware current, this should be enough to recompile Kstars so that INDI gets incorporated. Example is for Slackware-current downloaded to '/data/ and assuming KDE is installed.

Slackware-current Graphics Stack Upgrade

Posted on Aug 09, 2022 by kingbeowulf

After the release of Slackware-15.0 (stable), not only is our BDFL* keeping up with security updates, but Slackware-current is progressing at at relentless pass. This week the Slackware gaphics stack gets upgrades for Mesa, X.org and Wayland, but more significantly, also removes a bunch of legacy drivers.

Site Migration to Slackware 15.0

Posted on Jun 04, 2022 by bkoenig

After celebrating the release of Slackware 15.0, it was time to migrate LinuxGalaxy.org. Since the new OS includes a working python3 stack by default, getting my CMS and other tools up and running was much easier.

Previously, this site was using a custom compiled python3 installation with various python modules installed using pip and venv. This made it difficult to track what versions of these modules were installed using the tools I'm accustomed to. It also presented problems with reproducible builds. Using pip (and various other web-based package managers) make it difficult to maintain consistent versions of a given module across multiple machines.

To work around that issue, you either need to tell pip which versions you want installed, or build your own custom packages. Since 15.0 includes several of the most common python modules, the latter option requires significantly less effort on my part.

Other than that, the migration from 14.2 -> 15.0 is no different than it has been for any previous version. While there are a lot of new packages and systems the standard Slackware experience is no different than it was 10 years ago.

Slackware 15.0 is released!

Posted on Feb 03, 2022 by kingbeowulf

As a fan and user of the best Gnu/Linux distribution by far, I am all a-quiver with this new release. Slackware-14.2 still worked well as a desktop operating system, but after 6 years, even for an LTS, it was getting a bit crusty. Read the announcements and enjoy! Don't forget Slackware now has a live boot image if you just want to take Slackware for a test drive.

Slackware.com

Slackware 15 Release Announcement

Slackware 15.0 Release Notes

Live Edition of Slackware 15.0

Just announced, Slackware 15.0 takes another step closer to release!

Posted on Jan 13, 2022 by kingbeowulf

From today's change log:

KDE/Plasma5 Lock Screen Missing Password Prompt

Posted on Dec 03, 2021 by kingbeowulf

Every so often the KDE lock screen is missing the password prompt. The mouse cursor moves around, wakes up the display, with no way to get back to the desktop. Normally I'd just force a log out or SHIFT-CTRL-BACKSPACE, but I had a bunch of stuff running that I didn't want to unceremoniously kill. Of course, searching for another answer these days provides all sorts of nonsensical systemd stuff. One post mentioned loginctl, part of elogind. I then remembered that Slackware switched to elogind. I remoted in from another desktop - running Xfce which does not seem to suffer from this lock screen issue.

Slackware 15.0 Release Candidate 1

Posted on Aug 17, 2021 by kingbeowulf

After a week if nail biting silence, the first release candidate dropped for Slackware 15. From the changelog announcement:

Slackware Linux 15.0 Beta released

Posted on Apr 16, 2021 by kingbeowulf

Slackware 15.0 Beta (current branch) released earlier this week, and it's shaping up quite well. From the ChangeLog:

Replacing Pulseaudio with Pipewire

Posted on Feb 03, 2021 by bkoenig

On Linux, all of the layered subsystems required to play sound from your speakers are exposed to the user. For those interested in trying out Pipewire, the latest user-space daemon in audio device management, here's a short guide.

Replacing Pulseaudio with Pipewire

Posted on Feb 03, 2021 by bkoenig

On Linux, all of the layered subsystems required to play sound from your speakers are exposed to the user. For those interested in trying out Pipewire, the latest user-space daemon in audio device management, here's a short guide.

Weekly Updates Tracker - 1/30/2021

Posted on Jan 31, 2021 by bkoenig

Weekly update statistics are here for January 30, 2021! This is where Official updates in the Slackware changelog are retrieved, summarized, and presented for YOUR viewing pleasure.

Enjoy and be sure to visit the Official Slackware Changelog for full details!

http://www.slackware.com/changelog/

Dev activity in Slackware

Posted on Jan 22, 2021 by bkoenig

As a Slackware user, I often run into situations where I find myself having to prove that Slackware is in fact a current and up-to-date Linux Distribution. Since we now live in an era of "data driven" decision making here are some statistics that showcase the pace of Slackware development.

Getting Started with Slackware

Posted on Jan 10, 2021 by bkoenig

The biggest challenge with Slackware in any use case is getting things set up after the initial installation. By default Slackware does not provide any functionality or services beyond those required to boot the kernel and basic background services. This can present a significant change from what people are accustomed to on other platforms, so I'm going to list the things I do immediately after installing Slackware on a new PC.

Slackware makes the jump to kernel 5.10.x and Xfce-4.16

Posted on Jan 03, 2021 by kingbeowulf

The pace of Slackware Current updates in December was incredible. Fast on the heals of KDE/Plasma 5, we have updates to Kernel 5.10 and then, just in time for Santa, Xfce-4.16. Numerous fixes and additional updates are happening throughout. Refer to the change logs for details: Slackware Change Logs

After the start of the New Year, can a Slackware 15.0 release be far behind?

Disappearing Optical Drives

Posted on Mar 19, 2020 by kingbeowulf

One of my Slackware systems has two optical drives: Blu-Ray and DVD: /dev/sr0 and /dev/sr1. In 14.2 as well as current, if neither are used for awhile, some of the udev symlinks to /dev/sr0 disappear. This becomes maddening (as in WTF?) when I'm trying to run my qemu VMs and I get the error:

Slackware64-Current (15.0): mini-ITX Benchmarks Part 2

Posted on Dec 31, 2019 by kingbeowulf

To close out the old and ring in the New Year, I've added my EVGA GTX 1060 6GB GPU to the benchmark comparison. Both the GTX 1060 and GTX 950 are short, single fan ITX form factor cards that will fit the mini-ITX case. We'll have to wait for CES 2020 to see what GPUs AMD announces, and what form factors manufacturers push out. Rumor has it the the second generation Navi will be twice as fast as the current Radeon 5700 XT series. I noticed that the XFX RX590 is a dual BIOS card with a switch - the "perf" run is with that switch set for a more aggressive fan curve (1660+ rpm at idle) vs. quite mode (880 rpm). It didn't provide a significant performance increase but did keep the GPU about 10C cooler. All runs were with VSYNC off but all other settings (driver and phoronix) at default values.

The RX590 ekes out a few more fps over the GTX1060, but generally the performance is nearly equivalent.

Slackware64-Current (15.0): mini-ITX Benchmarks Part 1

Posted on Dec 22, 2019 by kingbeowulf

Here are some initial Phoronix-test-suite benchmarks for the miniITX Rysen 7 with various GPUs I had on hand. For Nvidia, we used the their proprietary driver; for AMD, the open source radeon and amdgpu drivers provided in Slackware64-current kernel 5.4.2, 5.4.3, 5.4.5 (nvidia, radeon, amdgpu, resprctively - Slackware updates were fast and furious this week!).

The CPU cooler is a low profile SilverStone SST-KR01 so that the power supply would fit. Power is provided via a Rosewill HIVE 650S 650W ATX power supply. The Nvidia EVGA GTX 950 is an ITX form factor GPU; and thus, the results are with the case closed. The 2 radeon GPUs are huge and are attached via a PCI-E riser with the case open.
Phoronix Test Suite from Slackbuilds.org; stock KDE4; system and tests use default settings. For the RX590, the "HIGH" run references setting the GPU power management to "high" from the default of "auto".

New Slackware64-Current (15.0) test build: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X and mini-ITX

Posted on Dec 15, 2019 by kingbeowulf

It was a shame to toss a perfectly good mini-ITX case (Coolermaster Elite 110), so with the assistance of a mysterious benefactor, and fellow Slackware fan, I now have the components:

The HP d530 Pentuim 4 is dead; Long live the Lenovo M91p i5-2400s

Posted on Sep 30, 2019 by kingbeowulf

It was only a matter of time, I suppose, but my old Pentium 4 box used as a hobby server is no more. A fast thunderstorm with hail moved through our area. Of course, we lost power for several hours. Rather than hope the UPS will last long enough, I powered the ol' box down. Unfortunately, the P4 had issues powering up and booting. When it did boot, it was missing some memory and a had number of other motherboard glitches. I was planning on moving everything to the M91p with the release of Slackware64-15.0, anyway.

It is time.

Welcome our "new" server!

[UPDATE: Now running on a Slackware Linode with Wagtail CMS. -KB Jan 2, 2021]

Slackware64-current and NetworkManager

Posted on Jun 17, 2019 by kingbeowulf

On the Lenovo T510 laptop I use to track and test Slackware-current, everything I've played with has been good so far. About a week ago, after another kernel update (4.19.48 and .49), the wifi kept dropping off when using Network Manager via the KDE network applet in the systray. Wired connectivity was fine. I at first though the Netgear R7000 router was gimpy since I had just updated it's firmware as well. The laptop would drop the connection after a few hours, and DHCP would take several minutes, if it connected at all. Usually, '/etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager restart' (or stop, start) would fix the issue for a while. However, other devices (phones, tablets, Slackware-14.2...) remained connected with no issues. Using the command line nmcli and nmtui worked with no connectivity issues for several days. There has been another kernel update, and I haven't tried Xfce yet.

UPDATE: Looks like the updates from last week (kernel 4.19.51 now) seemed to fix this odd Network manager applet glitch.

Slackware and SlackBuilds.org (SBo) cited in a scientific publication

Posted on Mar 16, 2019 by kingbeowulf

Announced on the SBo mailing list and his blog, a long-time Slackware user and SBo buildscript maintainer, has cited both Slackware and SBo in a recent publication from his research group. Read more in his blog and paper below.

Be Still my Heart...

Posted on Oct 25, 2018 by kingbeowulf

Slackware-current popped in kernel 4.19. After X.org and Mesa updates, will that finally allow me to drop the horrors of Nvidia driver management for a full AMDGPU open source gaming platform? One can hope!

Phoronix: Trying Out AMDGPU DRM-Next Ahead Of Linux 4.20~5.0