You extrapolated a lot from my funny post.

I was quite serious.

There is automation. Xorg 7.4 can run without an xorg.conf file. The Xorg developers actually implore you to leave configuration to the detection mechanism. There is a new scheme to override the auto-detection in the form of fdi files.

You can as well revert to the old behavior of config file editing.

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AutoAddDevices" "False"
End Section

I help people in windows chatrooms.. cause 1. i'm really good with windows, and i'm an EXCELLENT googl'r too. I never say (when someone says they have this problem or or that crash blah blah blah in windows) "use linux" ..

Linux itself will NEVER be desktop of the year, and the year of the linux desktop will NEVER COME ..why do you ask? glad you asked..

for 1. windows has to satisfy EVERYONE and EVERYTHING , thats why so much can and has gone wrong with it , why its so easily targeted and so easily hacked, smacked, cracked and hi-jacked
2. Linux is a "CHOICE" the average person that "chooses" to use linux of any distro/variety, knows they are in for a NON-windows experience.. whether they chose a distro that JUST WORKS or one that they have to WORK just to make it WORK, is THEIR CHOICE.

my first distro was pclinuxos, an incredible distro, never crashed, very stable..,then ubuntu, ubuntu ultimate, mint, zenwalk(didnt like it), installed slackware, but wasnt "ready" for the work involved at that time, tried pcbsd, didnt like the "feel" of it, then back to ubuntu 64bit since pclinuxos2009 is not 64bit, and I like using all my ram, but seriously..(i mean isnt linux actually JUST A KERNEL?) the package manager, philosophy of the devs, and the lil perks and tweaks that come with it all are all just "window dressing" (pardon the word "window")?

with over 500 choices for linux , itll NEVER EVER be the "YEAR" of the linux desktop, cause choice being linux's BIGGEST strength, is also it's even BIGGER weakness..
when people even bash people cause of their distro choice, this is an internal type strife thatll turn more people off of linux(this along with RTFM,go back to windoze, and try a kiddy distro), then all the malware,viruses,hi-jacks, bsods, registry and ID10t errors of windows itself.

in closing i say "Use what you can AFFORD, "CREATIVELY ACQUIRE" or figure out" and leave everyone else's choices ALONE unless you are actually HELPING THEM use linux and respect the choice(S) they've made.

thank you
that was my .02 now i'm broke

installed ubuntu, it DID NOT asked me what to install. it booted itself. i need a problem and i tried to compile it (old habits hardly dies) and bam no gcc at all. after that i deleted ubuntu, broke the cd and never ever tried it ever again.

if you want unix, use SLackware or some *BSD. if you don't, don't use Slackware

and some quote from qbd.us

<Montag> "Ubuntu" is an ancient African word, meaning "I can't configure Slackware".

+1
ubuntu is my first linux distro that i use.it help me grasp the concept of using linux system, which is very different with what im used to, windows. there was a time that you could call me a "fanboy", advocating to use linux instead of windows to all the people i meet (silly me). after i learned the basic of using linux, i wanted to expand my knowledge about this os. i tried different distro and i found out that different distros have different "characteristics" on its own. you could say that different distros have different personality.some distros is more than glad to babysit you in using linux, while others are like our granddad who will just tell us the basic and let our common sense and good judgment direct our actions on what we want to do.

after a while of distro-hopping, i settle using zenwalk.this distro teach me a lot about linux more that the other distro i have tried(maybe because its the 2nd longest distro i used).this distro taught me to be unafraid of the CLI.but this distro does not still exactly fit according to my preference.there is still something lacking(at least for me) that made me try slackware.after i installed slackware, i found the perfect os according to my need. it let me do more work and let me enjoy my linux experience.thats the reason why i stay and intend to stay longer in slackware.

also, during my time of learning linux, i learn to appreciate that different users have different needs. there is no reason to push on other person what works for you.rather, let the person decide for themselves what is best for them.linux is about freedom, right?we have this great community which helps other linux user solve their problem regardless of their choice of distro.you could encounter some "fanboy", but there are more persons here who knows how to respect other people's choice. and i can assure you that they are more knowledgeable than the "fanboy".

to conclude, read as many as you can about particular distro.if you have time and resources, try it yourself. only then that you can decide which distro fits your needs and let you enjoy using linux.

btw, im no longer a "fanboy".but i like slackware most .

This, I thought, was a good post. I don't usually respond to threads like this, but because I use both distros, I thought I would take a look. I have quoted the part of your post that keeps me away from Windows, but I hardily agree with the damage that "my distro is better than your distro" causes. It's silly and unnecessary.

I also agree with this, but I do not think that the average dedicated Linux user would care less about this accolade. Those of us who chose Linux as our OS of choice did so for a variety of reasons, but I doubt that anyone chose it because of its popularity. We chose it because, for us, it satisfies what we need and want and for many of us it is a very satisfying experience to learn it.

I definitely agree with this. We don't have to "creatively acquire" Linux or its accompanying applications. They are free, normally. I am only guessing, but according to a number estimates, at least 10% of all Windows users STOLE their OS by using pirated or illegal copies.

I do, however, think that the powers at Microsoft are beginning to become a little concerned at the spread of open source. I have no idea whether it is valid or not, but recently it was reported that Linux desktop users had passed the 1% mark. Ten years ago the figure would not even have been measurable (if it is now.) I have a relatively close friend who works for MS (marketing) in the UK, and it is a topic of internal discussion now, when it was not even on the radar 5-7 years ago. The countless frivelous law suits filed by MS (SCO case, which MS financed, etc.) for "stolen code" is another testimony to the fact Microsoft is noticing the erosion, however slight, of their dominance in the desktop marker, having already lost the server market.

So, overall, I thought this was good post with the right observation about "distro" bashing. I am not a Windows hater and I don't think I have ever suggested that someone seeking help "just use Windows." For commercial reasons (i.e. greater hardware vendor support), I hope the percentage of Linux users grows in leaps and bounds. But, for now, I am comfortable wth the rapid progress to date, and I believe we are in for a terrific future.

Odd thing to say, but perhaps I misunderstand. If it did, there would be no linux or mac.

Brian

Hello people...
Interesting thread here. I want to express my opinion in here about Slackware and Ubuntu and why not, other distributions. My first experience with Linux came with Red Hat 7.2. My first real experience came with Fedora Core 1. Then, one time in 2004 someone said to me "hey, if u love linux why don't u try slackware ?" They were at the 9.1 version at the time, but by the time I decided to give it a try the 10.0 was already out so that was my first slackware experience. After that, I began to try as many distros as I found. I have tried at least 100 distros. Of course I tried ubuntu, and I think it's a decent distro. But there's something I really hate at all distros I used, except slackware. All of them had some stupid simple thing that didn't work (in slack's case that worked out of the box, or it was installed in a blink of an eye). For instance today I gave a try to Mandriva 2009 spring, as I found out it was a nice desktop distro. It looks well, but the damn nvidia driver just won't work. I tried to use their own repo, installed the dependencies but the driver won't activate itself. I manually edited xorg.conf, set it done, but the X crashes. I even tried to install a version from the nvidia website, but the installer fails, even though I have kernel-headers and kernel-source installed. The installer also get some stupid looks with no spacing, I almost can't read a thing it tells me. Never seen that somewhere else... Let's talk about ubuntu...recently I installed the new "Jaunty" or whatever the hell it's name is. I got the nvidia driver working, and after a day, when I let the update manager install my updates, the gdm just didn't want to start anymore. I re-installed the nvidia drivers via apt-get, I tried a lot...I had to delete ubuntu from my pc later. Another really stupid thing in ubuntu and so many other distros based on it. I'm also a console lover and of course when the gdm or kdm crashes (that happenes too :P) I try to login into a tty terminal...surprise, they're not available, or it doesn't work...so all those little things makes me throw away the cd's and dvd's I used to burn other distro's. I'm not saying slackware is the best distro out there, I'm saying it's the best distro for me. Of course it really still has some anoying things. For instance the wheel mouse still isn't working by default. Although it's so easy to get it right, it should be solved. I absolutely love that I can play with files, and edit any config file I want. I recently upgraded to current via slackpkg and I got it to work. The new KDE4 which I hated in other distro really works well in slackware, and I'm starting to love it. Damn, I need some stability when I install an OS on my machine as I don't want to get crashes at every update or so...that's what I love about slackware...stability, speed, the power to edit and make your own customized linux distro.

I'm trying out Ubuntu 9.04-amd64 at the moment, and I quite like it - not as much as I like Slackware, of course. Some of the anti-Ubuntu stuff in this long drawn out thread is irrational: breaking the CD because there was no gcc? WTF?? Let's leave all this fanatical garbage to religious loonies, eh?

To throw my two cents into an already very deep well . . .

It comes down to this:
When you've both graduated and it comes time to troubleshoot some ancient UNIX machine on the fritz which runs some horrible proprietary software that some client or your own employer needs and has no replacement for (it happens), all of your friend's experiences with pretty GUIs and "I just installed it and it worked" will not help him at all. He will weep.

Your Slackware experience will give you the resourcefulness, confidence, and experience you need to slice such problems apart like a well-honed blade.

Stick with the slack.

Also, I don't know what your school is teaching you, but weather they teach it or not, learn to code in C. Learn C, dammit, or you'll be sorry.

Slackware in 12 rounds by spit decision

Google is a nice Knowledge Management System. The fact is if you know Google then you will be able to administer any operating system.

Google runs off Redhat servers, saw that in a article. Their developers are encouraged to use some form of Ubuntu in doors.

Something that bothers me is that 2.6.24 and onward runs like crap on older hardware. I was doing some comparisons and found Windows 2000 to be a much better experience on a 1 Ghz Celeron with 1 Gig of ram. Even the XBox 360 runs on 2000.

I really think Shuttleworth should fork the kernel. Torvalds is long in the tooth and Cox, Stallman, and the rest are hindering the experience

Xbox runs on windows 2000, but doesn't xbox 360