Debian and Slackware

[MacDaddy]

Hi all,

Just thinking about moving up in the world of Linux. I have had lots of experience with Mandrake and I want to try out something a little more advanced. I Have been thinking about Slackware and Debian. What are the differences between the two, and what are the benefits of each?

There is one thing that I am particularly interested in. I read that with Debian 2.2 Potato, you need to alter a few things for it to work with 2.4.X kernels. Is this true? Why is this? Why couldn't you just slap a 2.4.X kernel on there?

Any reviews on Debian and Slackware would also be appreciated as well. I can't find many good ones. Thanks.

-Gordon

[X_console]

Well if you make a search for Slackware and Debian or Slackware vs. Debian you might come up with a few threads. The main difference would be that Debian has a great package manager that allows for easy upgrade. Slackware has a simple package manager that works, but lacks features such as autoupgrade (there are tools out there that do it though).

I use Slackware. I like it. Others use Debian and they like it. My suggestion would be to try both.

[scanez]

I agree with X-console, try both and see for yourself which one is better. You can't always go buy what others tell you because they may be biased or have certain experienecs that you won't have. Try both and decide for yourself.

Most likely, the reason it says that about Debian Potato is because you need to upgrade modutils and whatever else is needed for a 2.4.x kernel. If you are trying both, might I suggest you try woody or sid instead of potato. I think those would give you a better experience with Debian than potato would.

Have fun
SC

[danrees]

Slackware distributions have a reputation for being secure and stable (they're released some time after major bug fixes have been applied).

I love Slackware because it just has an extremely clean feel to it - you really do have control over what is installed and how things are setup.

Debian is a pain in the backside for dial-up users, because the only available CD package is the 2.2r3, which is completely out of date. If you have a cable modem or similar, then upgrading is easy, but otherwise is too much hassle.

[DrDebian]

Originally posted by danrees:
<STRONG>Debian is a pain in the backside for dial-up users, because the only available CD package is the 2.2r3, which is completely out of date. If you have a cable modem or similar, then upgrading is easy, but otherwise is too much hassle.</STRONG>
This is pure nonsense, check ftp://ftp.kando.hu/pub/CDROM-Images/debian-unofficial for all sorts of Debian ISO-images. Apart from that, I have installed woody on my laptop by upgrading potato on a 34k modem dial-up. It took 5 hours, but that's not such a big deal.

[MacDaddy]

Thanks for the info guys. I think I have decided that I am going to try Debian first. I like the package feature a lot. A little easier than compiling and saves lots of time.

Thanks again.

-Gordon

[fateswarm]

Slackware 8.0 is what I'm running for a month and these are my two cents:

Slack will not confuse you as some people try to prove.

When it is secure it is also simple.

Simple means it is not filled with wizards that you don't know what they actually do to you.

The first and only installation readme will just say "Take a look at /etc dir and edit the files" and you will edit the files *knowing* what you do to the system.

And you will eventually start thinking : "Wow! I am becoming a linux expert".

And yes, slackware is the distro to create simple and fast knowledge base to the newbies while it is actually the most stable distro, - if not, it's one of the top 2 - for all purposes. no catch.

[danrees]

Originally posted by DrDebian:
<STRONG>
This is pure nonsense, check ftp://ftp.kando.hu/pub/CDROM-Images/debian-unofficial for all sorts of Debian ISO-images. Apart from that, I have installed woody on my laptop by upgrading potato on a 34k modem dial-up. It took 5 hours, but that's not such a big deal.</STRONG>

My mistake - always happy to stand corrected.
I just wasn't able to find any when I was looking for some a few months back.

[ 21 October 2001: Message edited by: danrees ]