Is Slack for me?

[jrbush82]

I'm fed up with Mandrake 8.0 because of its proprietary compiler, and all the crap that it seems to install that I don't want, and the other stuff the for some reason it doesn't install, even if I go through and select every package individually. Slack seems like my best alternative, but I am limited on my knowledge of Linux. I am still fairly new to linux, I know some of the file structure for the Mandrake distribution and some of the key config files and such, along with some of the command line config programs. I know my hardware setup fairly well, just from what I've heard, Slack is great, just not aimed for the newer user. What is the primary stuff I need to know in order to get Slack working for me without having to many (if any :)) problems.

Thanks,
jrbush82

[Gnu/Vince]

Only you can answer this question. This means: get a CD, try it and decide for yourself. No one here can answer to that question

[lilrabbit129]

I recently took the plunge myself, i first installed slack a few weeks ago... couldn't get X working.. has something to do with having to compile "agpart" into my kernel...

but yeah, it's just stuff like that that you have to do yourself that RH or Drake did for you..

[ronmon]

It sounds to me like you're ready to make the move. Yep, Slack is much less automatic than Mandrake. The payback is that it is much more configurable. You'll find yourself manually editing config files instead of using GUI "Wizards", which leaves you with a much better understanding of what makes your OS tick. The files are all heavily commented to help you make the right choices. Installation is straightforward, though not as pretty as Mandrake's.

Do you prefer a stick shift over an automatic? Gauges over idiot lights? If so, give it a try. Check it out here (http://www.slackware.com/).
It's all about contol.

[ 14 August 2001: Message edited by: ronmon ]

[jaygee432]

I graduated from mdk to slack, glad I did. It's true as stated, that you learn more about configuring text files and such, but once you get used to it, it is really no harder. The site www.slackware.com (http://www.slackware.com) has faqs and docs that can be of great help to a slack newbie, such as getting sound or printers to work. Love them tarballs yum yum! ;)

[xIcculusx]

question , why did you bypass the red hat option ? i too got a lil fed up with mdk 8 and moved to RH 7.1 with pleasant results , involuding my sound finaly working in q3

aside from a slight HD problem ( which im positive is a matter of configuration) i am quit happy

and RH is not MDK

[jrbush82]

I think I'm going to go for it, I have roughly 480 megs of it downloaed (I'm on dial-up 56k!). The reason why I skipped RH was because of how much I've heard Mandrake and Red Hat to be much of the same idea. Automated. I am definately a power user, and I don't like my system doing stuff I never told it to do. :) Another thing, anybody ever got their digital output on an SBLive! to work? It'd be kewl if I could do that and get rid of these cheap analog stereo speakers.

Thanks,
jrbush82