I agree completely. I use virtual box extensively because I do .NET and some SQL programming. When I worked on a marketing project I had to build a server real quick and settled on Ubuntu for the OS. I "sell" the linux idea to people who don't have time or the knowledge to dive in on their own with Ubuntu/Kubuntu. Since Slackware doesn't have Gnome (and I don't want it) I can't use Monodevelop because I haven't had the time yet to build it. So I set up a Kubuntu virtual machine for that.

I was *almost* sold. Almost caved to the convenience of automatic package management and almost upgraded my laptop with Kubuntu.

The thought was almost like thinking about leaving my fiance. I've made the commitment to her and been with her for years, but now it's inconvenient? So, much like the process I went through when I decided to buy that ring, I went through the barrage of little tests.

No matter how I looked at it, I could never understand why I NEEDED to run some script in Kubuntu to change which init level the machine boots to. I kept playing with that virtual machine and decided that compiling an Ubuntu kernel was so much more involved than it *really* needs to be. Echo the above comment with the fstab nonsense.

For both my fiance and my host OSes I'd rather suffer with what I personally consider an inconvenience, tackle it one on one and know what's going on than to seek the convenience of not dealing with the hard parts and keep myself in the dark about what's going on.

It's about personality. I get frustrated when I'm not in control of things for which I should be in control. Like my computer I payed money for, or my fiance with whom I share so much. To me, there's no reason to coast through these things. If I need a program bad enough I will set my mind to getting it done in Slackware. Eventually, I will find out how to compile monodevelop in slackware without having to deal with Gnome. It just takes dedication. Until I have the time to do it, I can play around in my virtual machines...

I have yet to wander away from Slackware. I have used Ubuntu but hated it for the 2 programs i was trying to get installed for a friend, which was a pain. (i guess i am just not used to apt-get) But i love my Slackware. Once you learn about how everything runs and how to configure items it is a god send amongst some of the other distros.

Yup, I know...........I'm just a glutton for punishment.

I agree, VMs are better ways to experiment. I have been using VMs to install different OSs, (not any different distros other than Slackware though, because I feel no need). I have played around with FreeBSD, Open Solaris and Solaris. I tried Solaris on both VMWare and Sun's virtualbox, and both took an obscene amount of time just to boot and install, I'm not exaggerating. I know now why it's called 'Slowlaris.' I don't mean to dump on Solaris, but even when I did an actual install on a real system, it took forever. Why? I haven't got a clue, and needless to say after a reboot, it did not even boot, nor did failsafe option work either. This happened again on a VM too, (it was the Solaris 10.5.08 release).

OpenSolaris was a little better, it launched much faster, installed quicker, and install actually worked, though I can't understand for the life of me when I clicked on shutdown, I got a message saying 'This system will shut down in 60 seconds.' 60 seconds!? You got to be s****ng me! When I tell you to shut down now, I expect NOW and not 60 seconds. I guess I will never understand the way those people at Sun think.

Sorry to all you Solaris/OpenSolaris users out there, but... I haven't been impressed with that system.

So now the only OS I see worth playing and probably using along side with Slackware is FreeBSD, since both are actually the closest to each other, even though Slackware is a completely different system from BSD itself. It boots, installs and reboots much quicker, and things actually seem to work relatively well, like Slackware.

Doesn't this thread belong in the Fedora forum?

cheers,

No, because the OP is talking about his experiences with Fedora compared to Slackware and he has already stated how he feels about Slackware compared to Fedora so the current forum is fine.

Since we're talking about multi booting...
VirtualBox is great for distro testing, but I found a bare metal way to test multiple distro's.
I have a multiboot boot desktop where you can wipe out ANY of the 4 OS's and still boot in the others by keeping the boot loader into the /data slice.
--------------------------------------
Here's How.

Parition your disk with the a swap slice, Multiple OS slices and one large /data slice (we'll call it /dev/sda8 below)

First linux install, install the boot loader into the MBR.
#mkdir /data/boot

#cp -pr /boot/grub/{stage1,stage2,menu.lst} /data/boot

#grub (enter the grub shell)

# install (hd0,7)/boot/stage1 d (hd0) (hd0,7)/boot/stage2 (hd0,7)/boot/menu.lst
(You may have to adjust this command based on which partition is /data. Note that GRUB partitions are zero indexed, so /dev/hda6 is (hd0,5), and /dev/hda8 is (hd0,7). Within the GRUB shell, type help install for more information.)

#grub-install /dev/hda3
(You may be confused why you installed GRUB into both the MBR, and the boot sector of the root partition. In the next step, you'll configure the bootloader in the MBR to "chain" to the various Linux systems.)

Edit /data/boot/menu.lst. The only menu items should be a series of "chainloader" directives, and possibly an item to launch future network installs without a CD. For example:


title Windows XP
chainloader (hd0,0)+1

title Linux on hda3
chainloader (hd0,2)+1

title Linux on hda6
chainloader (hd0,5)+1

title Linux on hda7
chainloader (hd0,6)+1

title Install
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/linux.inst install=ftp://<your_net_install_path> vga=791
initrd /boot/initrd.inst

*Now the next time you install an OS, make sure to install the boot loader into the slice and never overwrite your MBR again.
-----------------------------------------
FYI: This is not mine, I read someone else's awesome tutorial and made the above notes to myself (lost the original link)
It works great for trying a new disto bare metal and not messing with my beloved Slackware..

Very cool, mm07! I run a dual boot with Slackware 12.1 and FreeBSD 7.0. Here is my lilo.conf:

... which can be easily created by oneself..

You could compile a Gnome from scratch with your bare hands - ah, no, wait - even that works relatively smooth under Slackware..

I stopped trying new distributions years ago - no matter what new feature they offer - it's never tempting enough to leave the convenience of simplicity and clarity.

Problem solving in other OS's/distributions means Googling for bug reports. Problem solving in Slackware means looking for my typo.

I've tried Gentoo for "excitement". I have to say I'm pretty satisfied with it. It has the stability/speed of Slackware, but with package management and more exotic programs and features available. If you're like me and like to stay up to date with newer software then Gentoo provides more excitement than the "boring" Slackware that just runs too damn well.

I have to say Slackware is the only distro that comes close to the speed of Gentoo (compiled from scratch). In fact, I can't really see a difference between the two! Haven't tried LFS yet...

Zenwalk (Slack-based) is pretty good also. I suffers from the same "problem" as Slack though: runs too well, few updates, nothing to do. The only criticism I have of Zenwalk is that they are slow to keep up with security updates for Firefox.

I hear a lot of good about Gentoo, but I've been allergic to ports-based systems ever since my dubious flirtation with FreeBSD a few years ago. Everything was looking good until I tried to build an updated PostgreSQL. It told me that version of PostgreSQL wasn't approved for that release of FreeBSD and stopped.

As the kids like to say today, "OMG LOL wut?"

Maybe there was some command/parm/crucifix-and-holy-water I could have waved at the thing to make it give me what I wanted, but the whole thought of doing that for everything, every day and forever, was just offensive to me. It took me less than ten minutes to swap my Slack drive back in and I haven't looked back.

You mean OMG LOL WTF ?

That too, and all possible variations.

Alright, I take it back. Slackware is actually faster than Gentoo on my system.

I agree that with this type of package management, it feels like you're not in control. The OS decides how and what version to install and if you want something else, then you have to figure out a way to override it somehow.