There were lots of threads with this "why slackware is better than some other distro" question. The main advantage for me that it is more similar to bsd based systems, because there is base system (which is required for basic work) and other packages lists. You can decide individually for each package if you want it to be installed, or not.
I've tried Suse. I was impressed with its hardware recognition (you can achieve it with Slackware too), but if we would compare OSes by this aspect, then of course best distro would be windows. However, I believe that the best distro is that which leaves for the user the most possibilities to change different things about its work. That's the Slackware. For example, you can easily upgrade kernel, which would cause some troubles in Suse due to its patched kernel.In Suse you also should follow some system wide/security updates which in certain conditions mess up your system. In Slackware you use your brains, not some "do-not-have-a-clue how-it-works" package management system. Make a LFS and you will have your own Slackware. Don't think that you will ever want to come back to previous distro.

I started with Redhat 9.0 a few years ago. Redhat was popular and I didn't know much about Linux. I was happy it installed right out of the box and it worked fine. Then Redhat changed to Fedora and Enterprise. I liked the Redhat auto-update feature in 9.0 ... I even was a paying customer. Redhat let 9.0 die. Redhat went highend and I was wanted to be a learner.

My machine was old and I was frustrated because I wanted to learn Linux. I reformatted and repartitioned my drive and decided to go Character User Interface, Text, Non-Graphical. I wanted to stay current so I read up on a bunch of distro's. I liked how the Slackware user community seemed so knowledgable. So I dumped Redhat and ran with Slackware. I've learned a ton! I've been frustrated cause I can't figure things out very fast. I even went out and did it all over again with Ubuntu. Ubuntu was great... all automatic, but I didn't learn much about Linux. I've gone back to Slackware again... each time I've tried new things. I'm learning Linux!

By day I must live in the Microsoft XP world with SQL Server and all the .Net stuff. The apps I live with are definitely proprietary and many of the Internet Explorer applications require Active X and so the browser based apps won't run on a Linux box.

But I believe Server and Desktop market will continue to shift. I want to be ready. I want to know how Linux does stuff. So I'm sticking with Slackware and learning how to configure the system with stick and stones figuring it out one little piece at a time.

Bob

Let me get this right I haven't nor I plan to use deeply RedHat, Fedora or Mandriva (SuSE maybe just to try 64bit support). So if I have one of those installed and I'd like to compile my own kernel, properly downloaded from http://kernel.org, it won't work???

It certainly will work. I've upgraded the kernel on a number of SuSE boxes (as well as upgraded x.org), and, surprise surprise, it worked! It's still Linux, and it can still be tweaked, no matter what face you put on it.

This is one reason I avoid the likes of DeadRat, er, RedHat like the plague. They license on a per-CPU basis. The source comes with the distribution. Why the HELL would I pay for a dual-CPU or quad-CPU license when I can just recompile the kernel and get that level of SMP support for free with ANY distribution?

Novell has done some interesting things in their kernel, but there is absolutely no reason you cannot replace it.

At first, i was Mandrake (now it has been changed to Mandriva) users (from Mandrake 9.0 until Mandriva 2005). I changed to Slackware when i bought my laptop and tried to install Mandriva 2005 on it. It was installed perfectly, but it always displays a kernel panic message, so i tried to install another distro (Ubuntu i guess), but didn't work either, so i tried Slackware 10.1 (at that time is the latest version) and it worked perfectly, so up to now, i have used Slackware and also migrate my desktop from Mandriva 2005 to Slackware

Or other OS's also (Evil Microsoft)
That is the reason I love Slackware.

In Redhat , I saw the vi program ( some calls vim ) is really nice . It supports highlight that not available on others .

Slackware also includes VIM

I don't know why but I started to like Vi.

On RedHat and Fedora , vi has high-light property . It means that you write source code , it highlight the keywords ... But on SuSE , this is not right . I wonder if Slackware using vim ( vi ) as editor program , is it highlight ?

And by the way , vi is one of many many utilities modified by Red Hat . So I think if we use modified-Linuxs ( RedHat , Fedora , SuSE ...) , I've got many advantages of the specific distributions .

Do someone have the same idea ?

Well, If they can modify Vi, then so can we It's more work us but we still get what we want. I personally dislike vi, mainly because I don't know how to use that. I should be correcting that soon as I've read that vi is "the" editor

Here few useful links about Vi:
http://www.cpqlinux.com/vi.html
http://ex-vi.sourceforge.net/viin/paper.html
http://ultima-inet.kicks-ass.org/ult..._know_about_vi

Oh no, please, here we go again. Red Hat does *not* have per-CPU licensing. In fact, if they want, they can't even do that. The kernel is under the GPL. They have to make the sources available, and anyone can compile the kernel with they options they want.

In fact, Red Hat does not even provide RHEL licenses. Red Hat provides subscriptions, and subscriptions include support. So, they are basically saying that with a cheaper workstation subscription they will only support machines up to two CPUs, and with a more expensive subscription they will support machines with more CPUs. Have you ever supported machines with 16 CPUs? The chance that they won't work is simply much greater than a 1 or 2 CPU machine. If you have a > 2 CPU subscription Red Hat will try to fix it, if it does not work. That will not happen with Slackware or non-enterprise SUSE. You are just paying for support. Do you want to use more than two CPUs on a Workstation subscription? Fine, no one holds you from building a new kernel. Red Hat just does not support it, because it is not what you paid for. But you can go to LQ to get help.

Besides, if you want Red Hat without the subscription costs, you can download CentOS. Though, many companies without the in-house knowledge would rather shelf out the cash for a subscription with support. That is why Red Hat makes profit.

Excuse me for posting this in a Slack subforum, but KimVette has been spreading misinformation about Red Hat before.

I have been using Slackware now for something like four years, and in that time I have also periodically tried other distros. I have used RedHat, Mandrake, Suse, Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, Gentoo and Mepis (that I can recall) mostly after hearing rave reviews about them. And they were fine. Generally there was nothing wrong with them at all and they all had their good points. But, in the end, they just aren't Slackware.

There is a lot of talk about which one is better, and arguing back and forth. To me it is like arguing about which is the best whisky, and comes down to comfort and taste. (But, its Laphroaig by the way. ) I can never say why I think Slack has the rest beat, but it certainly does. I try the others, sometimes even like them, but always come back to Slackware. It just works for me. I like the installer which is clean and easy, having the perfect balance of ease of use and functionality. (I can get a full installation done on a new machine in something on the order of twenty minutes. Suse takes at least an hour for me.) I like that it doesn't get in my way so that I can set things up to do what I want. And, of course, it is as stable as any OS I have ever used.

Slackware puts things where they belong and would be expected, keeps it simple and dependable and then lets you do what you need to do. It has everything I expect and need from an operating system. And when I do run into the odd problem I can ask at a forum like this and get an answer usually within an hour. What more can you ask, or want, form your OS?

i think u r mentioning abt vim(vi improved)vi wont have igh-light property, but vim have. for vim to work efficently u need vimrc file. i like vim and comfortable with tht

i use ot for latex editing with vim-latexsuite, for programmers vim is the best choice, run compile edit without moving ur hand from keyboard. no other better than vim.

i uses slack and no problem with vim(my first post was where is my vimrc)