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I have recently done some work on my ZombieSlack
project. It is much improved, and I am eager to share it with
you.
It can install to an internal or external device. I have
installed an instance of ZombieSlack—made by tweaking Slackware
15.0—to a flash drive. It can boot from whatever compatible
PC hardware I can get my hands on. That includes several PCs and
a few laptops.
You can do this too—read below.
I call this modification of Slackware ZombieSlack,
as it is neither dead (traditional) nor live.
ZombieSlack installs by running a script that I
wrote. It uses three partitions:
A partition containing an rsynced-and-tweaked copy of a
reference installation (basis) of Slackware I
update my basis periodically, but do not
otherwise use it. (You should do the same with
yours.) The rsyncing and tweaking is done by the
installation script.
You may, optionally, add Alien Bob's LiveSlak
ISO to the root of this partition in a directory called
LiveSlak. A Keep partition containing files needed for
implementing ZombieSlack and providing
persistence. (I will provide an example that you may copy or
modify, but you must populate this partition yourself.)
Or optionally these files can be used to tweak
LiveSlak on–the–fly thus giving
it persistence. (And more! You can even add packages or
customize the KDE settings. Did you notice what I did
here? The ZombieSlack install treats either a
traditional Slackware instance or a RAM-resident
LiveSlak instance! I must add, however, that
you may find using ZombieSlack in this second way
to be cumbersome—I haven't shared the details. The
truth is that it was a "proof of principle", a helpful step in the
development of ZombieSlack. Still, it may
serve as a useful backup in a pinch.) A swap partition—just in case.
To install ZombieSlack to a target device you need
to:
Install SAM and the
SAM.ZombieSlack library to any convenient
device. I keep SAM and its libraries on a
regular (not bootable) flash drive. Download, install, update and set up a Slackware
basis on a traditional PC with an internal
drive.
You may optionally use the tool, up_basis, to
assist with the above. It is included in the library.
You first boot the basis, then use this tool.
It downloads and installs the slackpkg key if needed, then runs
slackpkg: update, install-new, upgrade-all and
clean-system. Start SAM and run the library's
install command. You will need to specify the
device names for the basis and the target of the
install. Midway through the install you will be prompted to
populate the Keep partition.
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