Tools for Slackware
Scripts to install the latest web browsers
Here are some scripts that make it easy to be up-to-date on web
browsers. These find and download the latest versions and make a
Slackware package of them. Optionally, they will also install the package
when using the -i flag. Thanks to Ruari Oedegaard for the idea and
writing his scripts
for Vivaldi,
Opera, Firefox,
and Chrome .
- latest-chromium-ungoogled.sh,
a script to download the latest ungoogled chromium, make a
Slackware package of it and, optionally, install the package.
- latest-librewolf.sh, a script to
download the latest LibreWolf, make a Slackware package of it and,
optionally, install the package.
- latest-tor-browser.sh, a
script to download the latest Tor Browser, make a Slackware
package of it and, optionally, install the package.
Some useful tools for running Slackware on 2012 Apple MacBook Pro
laptops
The 2012 MacBook Pro laptops are excellent hosts for Slackware. Since
Apple abandoned the hardware in 2020, the 2012 MBPs have been available
on eBay for very reasonable prices, often running between $50 and $150
for machines in good to excellent working condition.
Unfortunately, the stock Slackware installation doesn't include some
important drivers for Apple hardware. The stock SMC controller doesn't
allow setting thresholds for the battery charge, so it will always be
charged to 100%, shortening the battery's lifetime. And, there isn't a
daemon for controlling the fan speed, so the CPU will thermally throttle
unless the fan comes on. The below tools should work on other Apple
hardware besides the 2012 MBP. The Broadcom BCM4331 is supported by the
stock kernel, but only on the 2 GHz wifi channels. The broadcom-sta
driver, wl, unlocks the 5 GHz channels, at the cost of tainting the
kernel. The SDHC card reader works, albeit somewhat slowly, if the kernel
is passed the sdhci.debug_quirks2=4 option at boot time.
- Slackbuild for Chris Osgood's
AppleSMC-next patch
to the Linux kernel's applesmc driver to allow the System Management
Controller to set the maximum charge level to which the battery will be
charged. This will increase the battery life. This also works with
kernels that use cryptographically signed modules.
- Slackbuild
for Andrew Gaul's mbpfan, a
daemon to control the fan speed on MacBook Pro computers.
- Slackbuild for the
broadcom-sta driver that works with kernels that use
cryptographically signed modules. If you're not using signed modules,
then it's better to use the
broadcom-wl
build on SlackBuilds.org or
AlienBOB's
broadcom-sta SlackBuild. You'll also need the
Broadcom firmware.
- A ~/.gkrellm2/sensor-config for a
reasonable set of sensor readings if you're using gkrellm.
- A /etc/sensors3.conf file for the 2012 MBP.
Other useful tools for Slackware
- Slackbuild for packaging
Craig Rowland's Sentry
Tools logcheck script.
- Slackbuild for packaging
leetronics's infnoise
software for the Infinite Noise open hardware true random number generator
USB
dongle.
The package includes udev rules for automatically starting and stopping
the daemon when the USB dongle is inserted or removed.
- Slackbuild for packaging the Adobe 35
fonts for PostScript. (Fonts not included!) These and other PostScript
fonts are no longer available for purchase from Adobe.
- Slackbuild for making a Slackware
package for bzt's usbimager
minimal GUI app for writing compressed disk images to USB drives. A nice
replacement for Balena Etcher.
- Slackbuild for making a Slackware
package for stapler, Fred Wenzel's rewrite of Philip Stark's pure
Python alternative
to the pdftk toolkit. Requires the pypdf2 library.