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Sindi Keesan wrote:
> 
> Will the BL3 kernel and modules still work?

I see no reason to change.
 
> It is getting harder to find even SW71.  

Really?  I knew Slackware 3.5 was getting hard to find, 
but last time I looked there were still several sites 
carrying 7.1. Perhaps I need to check again.

> Will all the programs from SW81 work on BL2 with glibc
> upgraded to 2.2.5?  

I doubt it.  

> I bet some people think you cannot hybridize things
> like that.

The kernel doesn't care what library is on the filesystem.
It doesn't even mind if there is no library.  The BL3
initfs filesystem has no libraries and it runs fine.
The only reason you need a library is to run a binary
that depends on that library.  While it is true that most
Linux distributions depend on libraries, there is nothing
fundamental about that.

> So what is the advantage of putting the swap file in ext2 
> rather than the DOS partition?  

A swap file is a file.  If you put a file on a DOS partition
it is subject to DOS problems, eg fragmentation.

> how to specify which partition and directory the swap file 
> is on.  

It is just a file.  You can move/copy it to any partition or
directory you wish.

> Is it made in whatever directory you are in when you make 
> it?

It depends on what you put in the "output file" parameter
of dd (of=).  If you put just the filename, then it will
appear in the current directory.  If you put a path, it
will appear there.

> Is it always a good idea to make it twice the size of 
> the RAM, no matter how much RAM you have?

Probably not.  With 8mb RAM or less, I would do 3X.
With 128mb or more, I would do 1X.  For amounts in 
between I would do 2X.

Naturally this all depends on how much HD space you have.
With a small HD, I would drop that 3X to 2X. 

Cheers,
Steven