Thoughts, feelings on Slackware Linux?

[BaldAvenger]

Hey all,
I am thinking about getting a Linux distro to try out (see how the other half lives). I have read a bit on slackware and I was thinking about getting it. However, I wanted some input before I bite the bullet. I don't mind it being a bit difficult, but I am NOT a code monkey. I( much prefer a GUI. General thoughts and suggestions are appreciated. Thanks for your time.

BTW, my plans for it are to get somewhat comfortable with it and setup my own server. I also am thinking about running it on my laptop, but I'm not sure yet.

 

[Dissipate]

I haven't tried Slackware myself, but I have been told that distro has a very steep learning curve. Good luck.

 

[Nothinman]

I would avoid it, it's got no package management and uses the BSD init system. Distributions are supposed to make your life easier and IMO Slackware doesn't do that at all.

 

[stars]

It's really a matter of what one prefers. You will probably change distro's a few times while learning Linux. If you dislike Slackware just grab another distro and repeat till you find one that you enjoy. I've used Slackware for the last four or years or so as my main desktop. I like it because its very simple to maintain and very stable. I've yet to find a distro I like as much. The learning curve is no worse than any other distro unless you want an OS thats very dependant on GUI.

 

[sourceninja]

I never had any problems with slack, but its not really my style. I found I spent more time getting things setup right then using it. But some of my friends really love it.

 

[BaldAvenger]

Good info. Thanx guys. From what I gather, Slackware is somewhat GUI agnostic. I know that it offers a few, but they seem to be more of a secondary option. However, I am thinking that I might go ahead and get it. From all your posts and the info I have googled I think it might be what I need. Thanx again, folks.

 

[bersl2]

I love Slack. It's transparent; there's less getting in your way. Sometimes it would be nice to have many pre-built packages, for times when you are lazy or can't seem to figure out something at the moment. And for that, there's LinuxPackages.net, which has many user-contributed builds.

The few problems I ever have aren't exactly the distro's fault, but they aren't automatically covered up or worked around. So what sourceninja says is very correct: you do spend some time getting things right. However, once they're in place, you've learned how the config file works, so making changes is easier than when you began.

 

[Nothinman]

Good info. Thanx guys. From what I gather, Slackware is somewhat GUI agnostic. I know that it offers a few, but they seem to be more of a secondary option. However, I am thinking that I might go ahead and get it. From all your posts and the info I have googled I think it might be what I need. Thanx again, folks.

All Linux distributions are GUI agnostic, most ship a default of Gnome or KDE but you can install whatever you want after the fact.

 

[Tbirdkid]

dude, dont do slack... use ubuntu... its package management, its gui, and its ease of install and support are the best...

 

[BujinZero]

I'm in the same boat as bersl2. It can take a little more time, but once you figure out how something works, you own it.

Slackware was my first distro, and I couldn't make it run initially. After flipping between distros, I learned enough to make Slackware run enough to use, and kept learning more and more as I demanded more function. It makes so much sense once you understand it, and now I can set up a Slackware system the way I want in no time because I know what to change and how. FAR less time than a Windows install. Now, I like Slackware more than all the other distros. And Slackware's package management is really quite good, in my opinion.

Remember, distros aren't drugs. You CAN try them all and not hurt yourself!

 

[Nothinman]

dude, dont do slack... use ubuntu... its package management, its gui, and its ease of install and support are the best...

Quoted for truth.

 

[Desireisis]

Perhaps the best characteristic of this distribution I have heard is this: if you need help with your Linux box, find a Slackware user. A Slackware user is more likely to fix the problem than a user familiar with any other distribution.


Says it all but check out distrowatch.com

 

[Nothinman]

Perhaps the best characteristic of this distribution I have heard is this: if you need help with your Linux box, find a Slackware user. A Slackware user is more likely to fix the problem than a user familiar with any other distribution.

Doubtful. There is nothing that makes slackware users better than the rest, infact if your problem revolves around something distribution specific like package management or network configuration a slackware user will most likely not have any clue how to help you.

 

[pcthuglife]

I was going to try slack once, the installation process scared me and I ran back to Ubuntu. Manual drive partitioning, manual package selection? I like to think as little as possible when i install an OS.

 

[stars]

Doubtful. There is nothing that makes slackware users better than the rest, infact if your problem revolves around something distribution specific like package management or network configuration a slackware user will most likely not have any clue how to help you.

To say that about Slackware or any other distro that people use is crap. Its a very close minded comment. Disappointing since most of you're posts are normally enjoyable to read.

To the others in this thread that are crying about manual partitioning etc. Don't cry about a damn OS because you're simply to lazy to learn it.

 

[pcthuglife]

To the others in this thread that are crying about manual partitioning etc. Don't cry about a damn OS because you're simply to lazy to learn it.

Not crying about it, just giving my opinion on slack (thats what this thread is about right?). If you're a "do it yourselfer" that enjoys configuring everything manaully thats great. Personally, I'd rather get the installation over with as fast & easy as possible so i can start using my machine. Its all just personal preference.

 

[Nothinman]

To say that about Slackware or any other distro that people use is crap. Its a very close minded comment. Disappointing since most of you're posts are normally enjoyable to read.

So I should have said that user's of any distribution are better than the rest? Seems sort of impossible to me.

If you're complaining about the "will most likely not have any clue" part, I don't see why it matters. It's true, whether it's the exception or the rule. I know that whenever I see posts about Mandriva, Slackware, SuSe, Gentoo, etc I only skim over them because I know that I don't know those systems very well. And I'm not insulted by that fact, it's a choice I made and I'm fine with it.

 

[bersl2]

Originally posted by: stars (sic)

Doubtful. There is nothing that makes slackware users better than the rest, infact if your problem revolves around something distribution specific like package management or network configuration a slackware user will most likely not have any clue how to help you.

To say that about Slackware or any other distro that people use is crap. Its a very close minded comment. Disappointing since most of you're posts are normally enjoyable to read.

To the others in this thread that are crying about manual partitioning etc. Don't cry about a damn OS because you're simply to lazy to learn it.

No, he's actually correct on that point, limited in scope. Don't come to us if the problem is distro-specific, or if you do, don't expect us to know everything about your distro.

However, due to the nature of our distro, you're pretty much guaranteed that a given Slackware user is not a blithering idiot. [Controversial statement!] This is not to say that users of all other distros are idiots; it's just the nature of the user base: you're guaranteed a higher minimum level of competency, because a higher minimum level of competency is required to set up and administrate the distro.

Still, distro of user isn't exactly a precise metric. It's more of an auxiliary heuristic than anything. Don't rely on it.

 

[BaldAvenger]

I'll tell all ya'll one thing...when it comes to *nix distros (I think thats how they say it), its like college football in the southeast. Everybody has a team and they fiercely support them. D@mn, I respect that. I've drawn blood over my LSU Tigers too. (and the hackles begin to rise...) But, really, I appreciate all the suggestions and opinions from ya'll. I have decided to try out Slack. I am kinda looking forward to doing something outside of windows for once. However, I am definetly gonna buy the book. While I like to tinker a bit, I don't want to proceed blindly. Most likely, tho, I will use something diffrent fo my laptop. Thanx, again!

BTW, seeing two heavenly beauties catfighting over their respective teams is a thing to be savored. Just don't let'em get blood on the carpet...

 

[stars]

Nothinman I may have misread your post. If so, I'm sorry if I offended you or anyone else, which I don't think I have. The main point I want to make is: Regardless of distro or even Windows for that matter, they will always be people that know the operating system very well. To single out a majority of any given userbase is naive.
No Linux user should care which distro a person prefers, they should be thankful that more people are considering open source. Without fully knowing what a new user intends to use a distro for we can not point them to the one perfect distro simply because no single one is perfect for the masses. Even then, as they learn more about the new operating system it will open new doors for them.

 

[Nothinman]

I'm sorry if I offended you or anyone else, which I don't think I have.

It takes a lot more than that to offend me =)

The main point I want to make is: Regardless of distro or even Windows for that matter, they will always be people that know the operating system very well. To single out a majority of any given userbase is naive.

But people only know really well what they use. Asking a Slackware user why 'yum install mplayer' isn't working on FC4 is going to get you a blank stare most of the time. Could he figure it out if he had the time and desire? Sure, but will he know the answer off the top of his head? Not likely. I singled out Slackware because that was what the OP was talking about, if the topic was on Mandriva or Gentoo, I would have done the same thing. Hell I even skipped making any jokes about Slackware being the BSD-wannabe distro this time.

No Linux user should care which distro a person prefers

Sure they should. Some distributions like Mandrake (I have no idea what Mandriva looks like now) leave a lot of people with a bad taste in their mouth because of heavy lack of QA. Distributions like Ubuntu are a much better starting point because they have an extremely simple install, a good out of the box configuration of the UI and desktop and they're based on Debian packages which generally are of extremely high quality. Sure there's also a lot of FUD being thrown between camps, but you can't avoid that. People always get emotional about things they care about.

 

[bersl2]

Originally posted by: BaldAvenger
I'll tell all ya'll one thing...when it comes to *nix distros (I think thats how they say it), its like college football in the southeast. Everybody has a team and they fiercely support them. D@mn, I respect that. I've drawn blood over my LSU Tigers too. (and the hackles begin to rise...) But, really, I appreciate all the suggestions and opinions from ya'll. I have decided to try out Slack. I am kinda looking forward to doing something outside of windows for once. However, I am definetly gonna buy the book. While I like to tinker a bit, I don't want to proceed blindly. Most likely, tho, I will use something diffrent fo my laptop. Thanx, again!

BTW, seeing to heavenly beauties catfighting over their respective teams is a thing to be savored. Just don't let'em get blood on the carpet...

This is nothing. You should see vi vs. emacs... now that's a holy war.

 

[stars]

Nothinman, your reply has proven that I misread your original post. I agree with you. Ubuntu, its a great starter distro. It could easily be a long term distro for most users as well. One thing I think that confuses alot new to Linux is the choices that they have. It's overwhelming to them coming from Windows. Then like you said, alot of FUD between distro users come. I think the FUD confuses them even more.
I've tried many distros over the years and could never grasp how anyone could enjoy using some of them. Hopefully those that do try cumbersome distros such as Mandrake will be determined enough to try another distro instead of falling back on Windows. I havent tried Mandrake in years but I'd be suprised if it's changed much other than its name.

 

[stars]

Originally posted by: bersl2
This is nothing. You should see vi vs. emacs... now that's a holy war.

Had to quote that statement because it made me laugh. So much truth in it.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
I would avoid it, it's got no package management and uses the BSD init system. Distributions are supposed to make your life easier and IMO Slackware doesn't do that at all.

You realize this is total bunk, right?