What's the deal with Slackware? [Archive]

quip

09-11-2004, 09:57 PM

I can only speak to why I like slack. When I first tried it, I felt the same way as you. Then, later on, I learned that it does have a package manager, and a good one at that, but the package manager had no easy update management. This, combined with the lack of slack packs (esp. compared to rpms, apt-get, etc.) made it seem inferior.
Fast forward a while. I discovered Swaret, which keeps me up to date beautifully and easily. It even resolves dependencies. I also found that some of the software I used before slack I had to compile. Checkinstall creates slackware packages of the things I compile by hand. All package problems were solved!
I tried it again. Now I'm hooked. Simple, stable, with everything were it's supposed to be (LFS) I imagine that's what appeals most to slackers. At least it does me. :D

Hayl

09-11-2004, 10:03 PM

Originally posted by endoalpha
I do not use slack however. I like gentoo, and a mandrake/gentoo hybryd I am working on. (gentoo portage system with mandrake configuration tools)

just thought i'd let you know... if you are looking for easy gui-configuration, you should try emerging gnome-system-tools (unless u are a kde-only person)

you get:

/usr/bin/network-admin
/usr/bin/time-admin
/usr/bin/boot-admin
/usr/bin/services-admin
/usr/bin/users-admin

JohnT

09-11-2004, 10:38 PM

If you managed to use 3 different versions and did not discover "pkgtool" and "swaret", by what un-orthodox method should you be enlightened?:D

CoffeeMan

09-11-2004, 10:53 PM

I just want to know why it is so popular when better distros like debian and gentoo are out there?

jymbo

09-11-2004, 11:20 PM

Originally posted by CoffeeMan
I just want to know why it is so popular when better distros like debian and gentoo are out there?

I've used "better distros" like Debian and Gentoo...and found that they weren't better after all. I like to think of these distros as "the lazy man's Linux", in that you can simply apt and emerge yourself into oblivion without ever blowing a tarball or going through the output of ./configure --help in your Linux lifetime.

Debian and Gentoo make it easy for those who don't want to deal with packages. Slackware doesn't provide on-board package management becasue it assumes you are apt (no pun) enough to do all the hunting, gathering, and compiling on your own, without the use of some mammoth package-repository-in-the-sky and a magikal incantation.

Although it IS magikal how you can just apt or emerge a package into existence on your hard drive, I prefer the do-it-yourself method. I prefer the Slack way. ;)

paj12

09-11-2004, 11:24 PM

I just want to know why it is so popular when better distros like debian and gentoo are out there?
If you don't like Slackware, don't use it. But don't be so obtuse as to say there is only way to do Linux.

As for me, I'm a SuSE guy. I'll never run anything else on a comp that can push the amps for the latest version SuSE, but when I wanted to set up a server to share the dial-up connection in my home, Slackware was the obvious choice. It lets you install exactly what you want without having to deal with the choices made by the distributor.

I put the lastest version of Slack on a PC with an AMD-K6 200MHz, 32MB RAM, and a 2GB Hard Drive. Some might have said this computer was obsolete, or relegated to running old software like Windows 95/98. But this little box has a DHCP server, an industrial strength firewall, an SSH server for remote connections, and a connection to the Internet. Futhermore, the system can go from powered-off to ready-to-serve in under a minute with no intervention required. Pretty sweet if I do say so myself.

CoffeeMan

09-12-2004, 12:23 AM

I want to know why they call it SLACKware if you have to go to the work of compiling your own software.
And there is nothing magical about apt, all it is doing, is downloading and installing AND handling dependencies.
I think it's a fine distribution, but I think it should at least have the swaret package manager on board.

bufferman

09-12-2004, 01:30 AM

Yeah I've thought about that myself.
Why is it called "Slack-"ware when it's such a hands-on distro. Maybe someone can enlighten us.

rbrimhall

09-12-2004, 01:34 AM

Because once it's up and running it stays up and running... that's where the slack comes in... I've abused the sh*t out of my install and can easily get it back to the previous state... something I could never do with rpm based distros or debian (try going full sid and pulling back to sarge someday... geez... might as well reinstall)... and I'm just to dang impatient to wait three days to get a gentoo system up and running with X and gnome or kde (yeah, I know you can use prebuilt binaries and do it in a couple of hours... just trying to make a point)...

my 2 cents for what they're worth...

Gogeta_44

09-12-2004, 01:39 AM

I want to know why they call it SLACKware if you have to go to the work of compiling your own software.

From Slackware Linux for Dummies by Paul Gallegos:

"Slackware. Then name itself has certain connotations, like "no support" and "for slackers only". The name origina from an Internet group called the Church of the SubGenius, whose goal is to acquire more "slack" by doing less work --- hence slackware, meaning doing more with less. Then again, maybe the name just sounded cool."

I like slackware because it works. You don't have the dependency problems you have with rpm based distros, compiling from source actually works most of the time, it never goes unstable, and it works on most systems. It's Stable, Solid, Simple, and Sensible; those are the 4 S's of slackware.

CoffeeMan

09-12-2004, 01:56 AM

I apologize,
I see that Slackware has a loyal following. I never question any of the four S's, but I still think that Debian is better. (My opinion)

matt2kjones

09-13-2004, 01:16 AM

Originally posted by CoffeeMan
I just want to know why it is so popular when better distros like debian and gentoo are out there?

Well no one distribution is better than the other because it al depends on the users preferences...

Some reasons i like slackware:

pkgtool has no dependancies.... if you remove something your not meant to u screw up the system..... but at least you *can* remove it. It gives you the freedom to control what you have on your system not what the package manager thinks you should have by installing 20 other packages with the 1 package you want.

Quite a wide variety of window managers

--current folder on the slackware servers containing all the most current software..... not what everyone wants but i find it stable enough.

A good install that really gives you a good choice on what you want installed and what you dont want..... im not forced into having 1gb of crap i dont want

Of course some people would prefer RPM Depenancy hell but i prefer slack packs :)

One thing im not happy with about slackware is that i run an AMD64 machine, but slackware doesn't have AMD64 packages, which leaves me with just an AMD64 compiled kernel and a few self compiled applications optabmised for AMD64, everything else is i486

Raoul_Duke

09-13-2004, 07:06 AM

I think one the best features of Slack is that it's simple. Not simple in the way that a first time linux user would find it easy, but simple in that everything is as you'd expect......no distro-specific config tools or other things that make the major distros all a bit incompatible.

There's a certain elegance to a distro that takes a back seat and lets you get on with just using it. When i wanted something flexible but quick and easy for my laptop, Slackware was the only real option. I installed it with a custom rolled kernel in under an hour!

As a Gentoo user, i appreciate people who don't understand a distro with no advanced package-management (i don't swaret myself) but Slackware shouldn't be written off. It's not the oldest distro around for no reason ;)

janet loves bill

09-13-2004, 07:08 AM

Originally posted by CoffeeMan
I just want to know why it is so popular when better distros like debian and gentoo are out there?

and who says these are better?? I wouldn't use Debian if it was the last distro on earth, simply because I don't like the way GNU/Richard Stallman is trying to take ALL the credit for inventing Linux!!

And I'd rather use LFS than Gentoo........

asarch

09-13-2004, 11:09 AM

Why don't you do like me, I use the four main distributions:

Slackware
Debian
Fedora Core
Mandrake Linux

and let the time tell you which one of them is better for you?

P. S.

You could replace of one them with your prefer distro.

hard candy

09-13-2004, 11:15 AM

I wouldn't use Debian if it was the last distro on earth, simply because I don't like the way GNU/Richard Stallman is trying to take ALL the credit for inventing Linux!!

What has Richard Stallman got to do with Debian? Two folks named Deb and Ian started Debian in their kitchen literally. That's why it is called Deb-ian.

thaddaeus

09-13-2004, 12:17 PM

I will have re-iterate the ease of use for expirenced users, and the ability to install from source without dep problems, The time it takes to install a package from source makes up for the amount of time spent searching for the right dep (if i install using webmin) for my mandrake system. Also many programs i find to test and use need to be installed from source not rpm's which really takes a lot of worry about having the program install stuff to wrong areas. Besides it installs off one disc, not 4 or 5 like mdk and fedora

jymbo

09-13-2004, 01:04 PM

Originally posted by hard candy
What has Richard Stallman got to do with Debian? Two folks named Deb and Ian started Debian in their kitchen literally. That's why it is called Deb-ian.

The way I heard it is that the inventor named it after his gf Debbie...

Say, how do YOU pronounce Debian?

1.) Deh-bee-anne
2.) Day-bee-anne
3.) Day-bee-awn
4.) Deh-byan
5.) Deh-byawn
:D

hard candy

09-13-2004, 01:53 PM

Initial Debian Announcement (http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=CBusDD.MIK%40unix.portal.com&output=gplain)

Ian Murdock was, I believe, married to Debra Murdock (which would explain the similarity of the last names :) ) and since good manners call for ladies to go first, Deb + Ian = Debian.
There's a lot to be said for good manners, especially since "Iandeb" doesn't sound like a popular distro.

I did not realize this, " The creation of Debian was sponsored by the FSF's GNU project for one year (November 1994 to November 1995)." That may be where the idea Debian was started by Richard Stallman came from.

rbrimhall

09-13-2004, 01:56 PM

Originally posted by hard candy
Initial Debian Announcement (http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=CBusDD.MIK%40unix.portal.com&output=gplain)

Ian Murdock was, I believe, married to Debra Murdock (which would explain the similarity of the last names :) ) and since good manners call for ladies to go first, Deb + Ian = Debian.
There's a lot to be said for good manners, especially since "Iandeb" doesn't sound like a popular distro.

It's better than what my wife and I's distro name would be:

carrob...

hard candy

09-13-2004, 03:48 PM

It's better than what my wife and I's distro name would be:
carrob...

Well since I'm divorced, it would be "Joe + ex (for ex-wife)= Joex or as my ex-wife might call it, "bumex". :D

rocketpcguy

09-13-2004, 03:48 PM

we should start a new thread with wife+husband distro names

rbrimhall

09-13-2004, 03:58 PM

Originally posted by hard candy
Well since I'm divorced, it would be "Joe + ex (for ex-wife)= Joex or as my ex-wife might call it, "bumex". :D

LOL

rbrimhall

09-13-2004, 03:59 PM

Originally posted by rocketpcguy
we should start a new thread with wife+husband distro names

Go for it... I'll post!

Rinias

09-13-2004, 04:24 PM

Originally posted by rocketpcguy
we should start a new thread with wife+husband distro names

Didn't see a thread...

Mine would be kinda cool though:

"SofTone"

;)

jymbo

09-13-2004, 04:27 PM

Mandy and her husband Drake...

rbrimhall

09-13-2004, 04:29 PM

Well,

You forgot Red and his wife Hatley...

fatTrav

09-13-2004, 05:04 PM

Back on topic....:D

The biggest advantage of using Slackware is the fact that every package (nearly) that is on the install disk is "pure." meaning it is the same on the slack disc as it is if you'd d/l the source from the author. You install apache from a slack pack, you can expect to find httpd.conf in /etc/apache. Try that on Gentoo...which breaks up httpd.conf into 3 different files in two different locations.

Slackware isn't fancy. But pkgtool allows you to config most of the important things. It is quite honestly the easiest distro to get up and running. Perhaps the biggest advantage is an intimate knowledge of slackware translates more quickly into an intimate knowledge of other distros.

psi42

09-13-2004, 05:39 PM

I run slackware because I like calling the shots on my computers.

I don't like playing nice around some massive packagemanager that breaks if I install some package from source or change one of those "DO NOT EDIT" config files.

I hate when distros modify a package so that the original documentation no longer works at all. The program writers know how their program should be packaged: let them do it the right way.

~psi42

Alex Cavnar, aka alc6379

09-14-2004, 07:10 PM

Originally posted by psi42
I run slackware because I like calling the shots on my computers.

I don't like playing nice around some massive packagemanager that breaks if I install some package from source or change one of those "DO NOT EDIT" config files.

I hate when distros modify a package so that the original documentation no longer works at all. The program writers know how their program should be packaged: let them do it the right way.

~psi42

That was my biggest reason for using Slackware-- I like knowing what goes on when I make a config change. In Red Hat or Mandrake, I found myself making some changes using the GUI or (ugh!) webmin, and then I'd hand-edit some files. But, once you hand-edited a file, usually you break the way the GUI file would edit it.

But, I ended up making the switch to a reasonable middle-groubd withh the BSDs-- there's pretty much only one "DO NOT TOUCH" file, /etc/defaults/rc.conf, but that's because it acts as a safety net with reasonable defaults that you can override in /etc/rc.conf. Since I've found that, working by directly editing the conf files in Slackware has given me the willies ;)

CoffeeMan

09-14-2004, 10:00 PM

It's Me again. I want to apologize about my statement about Debian being better than Slackware, I know that it is all about personal preference, I was simply trying to find out why it was such a hit on this site. I am sorry if I have offended any of you slackers, and I DO have an 8gb Slackware 10 partition next to my 10gb Debian partition. The reason I choose Debian over slackware, is the package management AND the way a Debian Kernel will boot faster than a Slackware, Mandrake, or Fedora kernel, because the installer strips out support that you don't need. Slackware is a fine distribution, as well as Debian. And Gentoo. Hey They're ALL good. Linux is my only way to go!

techwise

09-14-2004, 10:03 PM

if you dont like it, DONT USE IT!

CoffeeMan

09-15-2004, 12:33 AM

I never said I didn't like it, I DO like it, I just wanted to know why so many people liked it more than the more specialized distros. And I know now, so good luck.

Alex Cavnar, aka alc6379

09-15-2004, 12:19 PM

Originally posted by techwise
if you dont like it, DONT USE IT!

Settle down there, killer. :p

Did you read his entire post? He doesn't dislike Slackware, he just prefers to use other distros.

Personally, I like hearing most everyone's opinions on things like this, as I'm not always aware of every nuance of every distro/*nix, not even the ones I use most regularly.

techwise

09-15-2004, 12:46 PM

with someone asking why users of any certian distro like what they use. That is one thing that makes OSS so enjoyable to use.

But it sounds a bit trollish to ask why people like Slackware, admit you dont see the attraction (after haveing used multiple versions) and then state what you think is a better distro. What is the point then? If he is genuine in his interest about why others like Slackware then there is no reason the make the other statements, he would just ask and listen.

That said, if what I see here is a mis-interpretation on my part then I'm sorry. There was time I was impatient with a newer linux user and I think I offended them. Boy I felt terrible about that, so I hope I havent done it again.

Regards

Mike

jymbo

09-15-2004, 12:56 PM

Originally posted by CoffeeMan
It's Me again. I want to apologize about my statement about Debian being better than Slackware, I know that it is all about personal preference, I was simply trying to find out why it was such a hit on this site. I am sorry if I have offended any of you slackers, and I DO have an 8gb Slackware 10 partition next to my 10gb Debian partition.

No worries...

"Better" is highly subjective. When I first started in Linux, I thought Mandrake was better than anything else, 'cuz at the time--and for what I needed, it was. Slackware couldn't have been better for me at that stage as I was terrified of the cli and needed that familiar, safe gui.

But you're spot-on about one thing: AnythingLinux is better than Windows. ;)

connyH

09-15-2004, 01:58 PM

Originally posted by janet loves bill
and who says these are better?? I wouldn't use Debian if it was the last distro on earth, simply because I don't like the way GNU/Richard Stallman is trying to take ALL the credit for inventing Linux!!

And I'd rather use LFS than Gentoo........

Richard Stallman started the GNU project, Linus Torvalds "invented" the Linux kernel and I don't think RMS is trying to take any credit away from Linus or any other kernel developer. He is merely trying to get people to understand that they are using the Linux kernel with GNU software that was around way before Linux.

RMS has given alot of his time to develop this free (speech) OS, all we have to do is enjoy it.
RMS deserves all the credit and respect that he is given and alot more.

CoffeeMan

09-15-2004, 03:21 PM

Richard Stallman started the GNU project, Linus Torvalds "invented" the Linux kernel and I don't think RMS is trying to take any credit away from Linus or any other kernel developer. He is merely trying to get people to understand that they are using the Linux kernel with GNU software that was around way before Linux.

I agree, when janet loves bill said that Stallman is taking credit for Linux, he was wrong, he's not. Linux as we know it now is GNU/Linux, even though I only refer to it as linux. Without GNU Emacs and GNU C Compiler, and GNU C Libraries, most of the wonderful opensource softwear you use in Linux would be there. Have a little respect to our forefathers.
Also, Andrew Tanenbaum deserves recognition because of Minix. Without Tanenbaum's Operating System and his book Operating Systems; Design and Implementation, Linus probably wouldn't have written the Linux kernel.

mscole

09-15-2004, 09:54 PM

But it sounds a bit trollish to ask why people like Slackware, admit you dont see the attraction (after haveing used multiple versions) and then state what you think is a better distro. What is the point then? If he is genuine in his interest about why others like Slackware then there is no reason the make the other statements, he would just ask and listen.

When I read the original post my first thought also was that this was transparent trolling, but after reading the entire thread I came to the opinion that it was just a bit of misplaced expression of enthusiasm for Debian and Gentoo. As for why I like Slackware, I have to agree with those who have pointed out that Slack leaves things the way they are supposed to be. For example, if you read the manpage for a package you want to install or compile under Slackware, you can expect that the details you find there about configuration, etc., will be accurate. Also, in my limited experience, compiling under Slackware always works the first time. I cannot say the same for the other distributions I have used (RedHat and SuSE).
Mike.

tmcG

09-16-2004, 04:06 AM

Originally posted by jymbo
No worries...

"Better" is highly subjective. When I first started in Linux, I thought Mandrake was better than anything else, 'cuz at the time--and for what I needed, it was. Slackware couldn't have been better for me at that stage as I was terrified of the cli and needed that familiar, safe gui.

But you're spot-on about one thing: AnythingLinux is better than Windows. ;)

I would have to agree with jymbo. I too started with Mandrake and then discovered Slackware 7.

I found that it made me learn Linux because there are no fancy wizards and guis to do most things for you.

I learnt more from using Slack than any other distro and I have tested a few.

This is, of course, my opinion and I say "Dare to Slack because once you do, you can't go back!"

Rinias

09-16-2004, 04:33 AM

I've noticed that recently (since the release of Slack 10), there's been a lot of Slackware messages on this board. I think there's plenty of reason for it, too...

But my rant comes from using SuSE and Mandrake and Gentoo. I just recieved (I know, it took a LOOOOONG time) my "Novell Customer Communites Linux Technical resource Kit" which was that free offer on the boards a while back. That was cool and I was hyped to try out SuSE 9.1 Pro cause the last SuSE I touched was when I was new to *nix and it was 8.1 Perso. I thought Pro would be a nice upgrade.

Well, I installed the bastard and I didn't want it to mess with my LILO booter for Slack and XP, so I didn't install a bootloader. I just did like I always have and copied the kernel and stuff over. Well, I'm not good at dual-booting I guess cause it doesn't work. (Maybe I should read through saikee's HOW-TO's a bit more... ;) ) Anyways, I just use the DVD to boot into it which works alright.

I've got a modem (USB ADSL) to set up, which is a pain in the arse but I'm really good at it now :D, and I was trying to get it online, but that's kind of a mystery in the world of RPM's. So now I have a system that won't boot and no internet. Next, I put the DVD in to install some soft and when I wanted to take it out to see if I had to install anything for XINE to play DVDs, it absolutely refused to eject. I have no idea why. So with a DVD stuck in my drive, no idea why my internet's not working, and the necessity to boot from the install DVD, I thought: "This is just not worth it".

The same sort of bogus stuff happens in Mandrake, Fedora can't install even though I verified the discs before installing (about 5 times now), and Gentoo without an automatically configured internet connection is like banging your head against a brick wall...

Now- I'm not saying that these distros are bad at all. I'm just saying that Slack is better for me. Why? Because it doesn't do anything you don't tell it to do, and every time you tell it to do something, it does it.

The icing on the cake is when I installed the nVidia driver for my SuSE 9.1 and I edited XF86Config. I tried to fre up KDE and- oops! It doesn't work. It told me a probably had a faulty install- why?! I just installed the damn thing!!! It's probably just a simple question of eliminating agpart from getting loaded- but I didn't tell it to load it! All this supermount and stuff- save it for someone else...

I'm keeping my Slack, cause it simply works!!!

H2O-linux

09-16-2004, 09:28 PM

This was the only distro that worked with my raid board so far. I could not believe the ease of use installing even with the simple text installer. Other distros with fancy GUi installers seemed to confuse my noob mind:)

After 1 week of using SLACK I have 2 PCs one with a true raid array and one with WIFI talking back and forth. Both are also ATI graphic setups and the ATI drivers are installed with full 3D acceleration. WINE used to run WinXp programs also worked with SLACK easily. For whatever reason under redhat and mandrake I was never able to chase down all the problems to set everything up the right way. My best guess is that the bloated fancy GUI distros are what cause all the config problems. The files are where they belong in Slack.

Seriously give Slack 10 a try if you have a raid board (hpt374) and want to get it up and running.

Licaon

09-17-2004, 01:06 PM

i was a un-frequent linux user until Dec 2003 when Slack 9.1 was released...

i heard about slack a long time ago... it just had it's 10 year birthday... beat that !:))

i friend told me that a new version is out, so i downloaded vers 9 (1CD)... it wasnt the latest...damn... download again 2CD version 9.1 .. burn it and play with it... went on compiling 2.6.x kernels and stuff... messing around... and if i broke it, i would just reinstall it... worked fain...

simple install interface... more user friendly that 50000 packages in SuSE 9.1... and i don't know if there is any dependency check while installing... in slack 9.1 if u did not use gnome, u couldn't use XFCE either, STARTUPNOTIFICATION was not installed... this was fixed in vers 10...

now i am a slack 10 user... am using it 50% of the time, while the rest of the time i use a win2003 installation... the storage space on my hdd is in NTFS (damn M$ not helping out with this filesystem... keepin' it all to itself:)) and i cant do much about that now...

about the discussion Interfaced vs. Console type
i'm rather scared if i don't know what's going on under the hood... mainly when i'm only a recent user... if as a long time DOS/win user i know relativly whats going on... if i start learning linux with FC2/SuSE i realise that even switching from the windowmanager(init 4) to the console mode boot (init 3) it's a pain searching for some init.rc or rc.init / rc.d .... while not having the full 'root' power at my disposal... (i observed that Suse treats u like a normal user, while root it's made like a very dangerouse mode... little yellow triangles with black bombs simbols all over the 'root's desktop...:))

'root' mode is a dangerouse mode... but i find it much more educative to break some stuff and then re-build it... than just poking around the docs while i'm the simple user... if i wan't to set my machine on fire using only ifconfig i want to see how that goes in my trusted console!!!! :P

'pkgtool' is the package manager for console and 'kpackager' (!?) the KDE version... and 'slapt-get' /'slapt-gui' looks nice, 'swaret'/'slackins' too... i prefer the old search by hand way... for now....

until now i've played around with RH7.0/7.2 / FC1 / SuSE9.1 / Knoppix / PCLinuxOS / Phlak...

(sorry for the long post :))

JohnT

09-17-2004, 05:06 PM

... if i wan't to set my machine on fire using only ifconfig i want to see how that goes in my trusted console!!!! :P True sentiment of a Slacker.:D

linux12414

09-17-2004, 10:30 PM

Each distro has something going for it, and there's certainly enough of them around to satisfy anybody.

Even though I tend to use Debian more at the moment, I will *always* have a partition dedicated to Slackware. Some other poster said it best--it simply works, period. Plus, it was the distro that I really learned Linux on. Gotta have a place in my heart for that.

AK_Dude

09-24-2004, 02:53 PM

What's so great about Slackware? Lots of things. In no particular order:

1) It's lean. I was able to fit a rather full featured Slack install on a particularly small PC when a relatively minimalist install of Caldera wouldn't fit.

2) Because you don't have all of the config tools, Slack teaches you to do things the hard way. As a result, I can now jump on a FreeBSD box, a Solaris box, a Redhat box or a Cobalt box and find my way around with minimal fuss. This came in very handy when I became an ISP sys admin.

3) It's stable. I can't claim that other Linux distros aren't, because in truth, I haven't really used them that much. I have used FreeBSD, and I'll take Slack hands down over *BSD.

4) Because Slack packages, and yes, as others have noted, Slack *DOES* in fact have a really good package management system, are basically tarballs, you can easily remove switch back and forth from packages to built-from-source with no major hassles.

5) Did I mention that it's lean? :)

Basically, Slack seems to appeal to the kind of people who drive stick shift cars, who use analog watches and who (used to) use manual focus cameras :) If you're the kind of person who *wants* to get your hands dirty, if you don't like machinery deciding for you how your computer should be set up, and if you like to have a little more control over your machine, Slack is a good choice. If you want to learn what makes a Unix system tick, Slack is a good choice (though you might also consider Gentoo in this case). If not, then maybe RH, Suse, or Mandrake are better options?

H2O-linux

09-24-2004, 03:01 PM

I can also add,

Have you ever restored your own car, or remember the satisfaction of building your fist PC? The same can be said about Slack. After a short period of time you can get it totally customized to the way you like it. It rarely breaks down unless you try to get fancy with it and push the limits. As stated above, and if your like me and never buy vehicles with power options due to the fact that there is less to wrong or break down, then Slack is for you.

CoffeeMan

09-24-2004, 04:55 PM

I like this feedback, because I knew Slackware was a huge hit, but I couldn't figure out what the deal was with it.

kimdino

09-27-2004, 10:16 PM

I'm a relative newbie. I spent an initial having spent five months on Mandrake, but I am now going Slack.

I found RPMs a very easy installation method - except when they didn't work I was unable to do a thing. Then I summoned up the courage to try tarballs, & found no courage was needed, when everything was right then tarballs were no more difficult than RPMs. However Mandrake has some strange quirks that meant some libraries could not be found by 'make', even though the libraries were definitely there (eg SDL).

A couple of weeks ago I tried Slackware. I was expecting a failed install but thought "What the hell, nothing ventured etc". But everything went in silky smooth and KDE was there in no time. And it just felt right if you know what I mean. I tried some of the tarballs that had caused grief under Mandrake and they built and installed easily. Some tarballs fail but so did some RPMs, and I generally find the problems easier to solve with tarballs than I did with RPMs.
So who needs fancy package managers? I LIKE Slackware and look forward to being able to migrate fully.

fatTrav

09-27-2004, 10:33 PM

well put. swaret is as good as anything in getting the job done. you can't compare it to emerge or apt-get in terms of the amount of stuff available, but it is quite nice.

slackware is everything I want in a distro with one exception: availability of a large amount of packages in its "format." i love emerge's selection in gentoo but (honestly) dislike just about everything else about the way gentoo is set up or they do things compared to the way things are done in slackware with regard to packages. [gentoo is a fine distro it its own right and is what i'm currently using and dindt intende to bash]

it is a damn fine, pure, distro. it's "nothing special" approach really makes it special because things are done the way Y-program's authors intended them to be done. and things usually work out better when you read up, learn, and trial and error a solution.

Basically, Slack seems to appeal to the kind of people who drive stick shift cars, who use analog watches and who (used to) use manual focus cameras

yep, that's me...both my trucks got manual trannys and my watch is an analog. before my camera broke it was a manual focus. now it no longer focuses...or does anything else for that matter.