Slackware Quirks -- What do you want to see today?
 

Well upon reading a number of threads from users I was interested to see what people would like changed in Slackware for the next version or for an update or what things you do or don't like about Slackware now? Or do you simply like everything the way it is? I personally would like to see the return of Enlightenment (E17 possibly) when it comes out... What about everyone else?

I'd rather have the kernel source than gnome ;)

And something that I personally don't mind (I'm
setting rc.inetX up manually anyway) is that
even though the scripts by default handle
two interfaces netconfig doesn't ;)

Cheers,
Tink

I have to agree.

Just better hardware support, especially for soundcards and ADSL. Other than that it's perfect. Came to Slack from MDK and RH, and i personally prefer it above those distros, and even though it is harder to configure, once it is, it is superb.

Dependency checking (at least during install),
and the kernel source on the disk. (though I like gnome)

Also, include the official Nvidia and ATI drivers. I know it can cause legal troubles, but the few distros that have done it, havent had any problems.


Would portage be able to be "ported" to Slackware, because that would be a cool way to get source, no more endless searching for me. ;)

I'd have to agree with the source thing, and I also like the idea of the nvidia drivers/ati drivers.

The netconfig was one that struck me as really good. I'd really like to see that, I hate having to edit those files and guess which card is which when sometimes I just don't know by looking at the backs of them.

The dependency checking was a thing I saw a few people mention earlier this year on the forum, not sure of what thread, but it was something on the lines of package management with dependency checking I think.

Hardware support = Kernel feature => "not Slack's business" ;)

Really, I am GLAD that Slack only has a stock-kernel,
that makes it easy to get a fix soon... Just looking back
at the beef that one of my colleagues had with that
f*ing MDK box and the Intel i845G chipset, and how
long it took MDK to integrate the fix into their kernels....
It was so depressing :) ... 2.4GHZ CPU and a measly
3MB/s througput on the HDD, the box almost frozen.

/me shudders ... :)

Cheers,
Tink

Ummm
lspci -v
?;)
Then modprob :)

Btw, it won't "detect" more than the following cards:
One funny thing I need to add here :)
In one of my boxes I have a davicom card,
and Mdk and Slack both loaded the tulip module
for it instead of the dmfe :) ... the module loads,
but the card won't work, which I find rather
annoying ;) and without the knowledge what
card it is I wouldn't have found the solution
that quickly ...


And I didn't say netconfig is bad: it just doesn't
save you from editing the files manually if you
happen to have two or more network cards (which
would be the case if you used the box as a firewall/router).

Cheers,
Tink

So netconfig doesnt have all the options you need? I wouldnt know, I use DHCP, and it works fine.

I also like the fact that Slackware is "generic". I always had problems w/ source and other things compiling on those "special" machines, and Id have to look for distro specific install instructions. With slackware. I never have to specify a library path again! :D

Read the whole thread again mate :}

1.) I don't USE it
2.) If you had more than 1 network card,
you wouldn't either ;)

And I LOVE Slack, no way back ;)

Cheers,
Tink

I'd have to agree with the fact that there's "no way back" hehe I like slack for it's "basicness" if thats a word, and if it's not it is now. The only thing I would LOVE to see is that the downloadable version of slackware ALWAYS stays on one disc. That would kill me if I had to download more than one disc to completely install the distro. I hope they keep it minimalistic, and not bloat it like red hate lunix haha

I love Slack as it is, but here are some ways in which to make newbies less scared of trying to install Slack:

1) More detailed description of packages.
I have to say that the one-line description of packages (which also frequently gets cut, especially the long ones) are not detailed enough.

2) Integrate some sort of "live update" package updating system
Maybe swaret can help with that... And maybe a GUI backend can be included with it, again, as to not scare off newbies ;)

I'll think of more soon...

Package management is seeming like a large issue in slackware. Any thoughts on how to make it easier for noobs?

I'd highly recommend SWARET. Just updated KDE to 3.1.2 and main GCC/GLIB libs without a hitch. Easy to use and reliable (so far).

Do you mean during install or when normally using pkgtool. Because during install, if you choose "Newbie" mode, it will give you a paragraph description of each package, including its dependancies.

And there is a way to get the full package description in pkgtool, I just forget how. :D