proper shutdown of Slackware

[ShuckyD]

I have Slack 10.2 on my laptop here, im using it for PHP/mySQL stuff as well as just learning some of the commands and the environment. Ive always gone towards the more GUI based and easier to use distros, but i sorta like the "Slackware Difference."

When i boot up and go into KDE (startx) and i do whatever it is im doing, then i shutdown, which all it does is end the session and go to a bash prompt. Then i type in "shutdown now" and then it will bring me to a login area where i would log back in as root or whatever. I then have to manually hit the button on the laptop to shut it off. When I turn it back on it always has to go through and check the hard drive, which takes a little while because it says it wasnt properly shut down. Well how do i properlly shut it down, i tried when i end the session to "umount /dev/hda1" but it says that its busy, which i know is true. its what im running off of

Maybe im just missing something here, maybe a step, or maybe its not working right, i just want some ideas/suggestions on how to avoid having it check the hard drive each time i boot as well as some other helpful hints.

Thanks

[GroundZero3]

Have you tried the poweroff command?

If i remember correctly, shutdown is the ungraceful way of shutting down.

[ShuckyD]

typed it in..

i guess "flusing ide devices: hda hdc" is the key?

but now is at the "Power Down" thing where i have to manually hit the button, which is fine. I rebooted it and it didnt even scan the hard drive like it was a problem, so thats a good thing. now if i could only get it to recognize i have a laptop and show me my battery power, etc.. any suggestions for that one? I have it hooked to a LAN connection, so couldnt I just use it to update it or install something for Slack?

[flashingcurser]

halt

Works fine in slackware-- as slackware doesn't use systemV.

Just a side note: you CAN use kdm, xdm in slackware. Though it is nice not having to start x.