What's wrong with subpixel rendering of an image that's not fullscreen???

The subpixels being rendered by the software won't match the physical locations of the subpixels in the LCD hardware.

Thanks again for the input! Very helpful! If I decide to do a disk partition, how does that figure in terms of the backup drive I have? Does that need to be partitioned as well? I use a WD external hard drive for backup but as of now it's configured for just one program. I would imagine that needs to be partitioned as well.

It doesn't.

Just keep using your backup drive as you do normally. Just like you would in Ubuntu.

I'm confused as to why you would have thought otherwise.

One point that is missed with any amount of google-ing or forums is that slack is vanilla -


This means that any software packages you install, any, will be as their authors/developers intended - not remixed, rehashed, eaten digested and thrown up ready for you to install as [INSERT_DISTRIBUTION] would assume you would like them.


As I say in my above post - Ubuntu and Can0n1cal have done a fab job worthy of much kudos for exposing linux to a much wider demograph other than sheer enthusiasts - but slack is slack and Ubuntu is ubuntu. The feel of the community is testament to this - your experience on this official slackware forum and ubuntus' soon show you it's not just about the software you install - with open-source its so much more - the community, help, support and your own contribution.

Ubuntu is a good starting point - but as many have said; once you slack you never go back - beware ;-P


Slackware-14.0 - Slutty Snake (nah - didn't think so)!

I'd go for dual boot.

However, if a friend ask me advice on how to play around with Slackware, I will suggest using a VM. It is safe and doesn't need a lot of support/commitment in case your friend's machine got problems.

So, use VM instead. If you are adventurous enough, then go dual boot.

With many distros' they are released planned to a cycle (with Ubuntu every 6mths) - slackware is only released when it's stable and ready - any security updates are posted - make sure you (email) subscribe to the security update:

see my post http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...0/#post4406484

Note how even slackware 11.0 (is still) to-date updated with appropriate security updates. No Long Term Support (LTS) cr4p for only some releases - whatever slack you install - you know there is a top-class group making sure it performs as one would expect!

As with any advice on here - don't feel like you have to update this update that - edit this edit that immediately - take it on bit at a time and enjoy a first-class GNU/Linux OS -

Unless the image is stretched, they will.

Hi Yuhan i just wanted to say i moved from ubuntu to Slackware, and with very small ubuntu experience; the only commands i knew when i came to slack from ubuntu were, 'cd', 'cd ..' and 'ls' so you don't need to know a shit load to get Slack up and running. I've been running it for a couple months and finding it very enjoyable. You do need to read stuff though, read the documentation on the disk, the mail pat sends you ect. When i was leaving ubuntu, i'd made up my mind that i was either going with Debian, or Slackware. I'd heard slackware was really hard, and wanted to learn a bit about it first so i downloaded this podcast,
By Chess Griffin, a very passionate linux user, and this episode mentioned a lot of useful hints about Slackware dispite the version being old, it's still relevant. He goes through an install, talks about slackware re-sauces and tools, and explains a lot about the things you need to know. I highly recommend this podcast if your thinking of switching to Slack, because this podcast really depics how great, and easy Slack really is. This Podcast helped me make the decision of going with Slackware.
BTW, if you go ahead and do the install, at the partitioning part, i recommend cfdisk over fdisk, unless you know how to use fdisk.

Except Ubuntu has no runlevel 3, only has one proper tty set up by default, doesn't install C headers for the libraries you install, is difficult to run custom or multiple kernels on, has so many packages that many of its users are uncomfortable with ./configure && make && sudo make install, and has an absurd number of periodic updates. I started on Slackware ~7 years ago and went to Kubuntu for a year for technical reasons and there are definitely noticeable differences far beyond initial installation and setup. In my opinion, you at least need to be able to log into a real tty and do some sysadmin work to appreciate Linux.
Kevin Barry

Hi Kevin, I have no strong interest in defending Ubuntu, as I am not an Ubuntu user myself. (Nor do I work for their PR department!)

Nevertheless I think it is important to give the original poster accurate and helpful advice.

It is true that Ubuntu and Slackware have some differences, for example runlevels and package management, as you mention. No argument there.

I would however disagree with your assessment that Ubuntu is unsuitable for sysadmin work. Ubuntu features the same tools as any other Linux distro for compiling applications from source, building custom kernels, server/security/networking, etc. Their "long term support" offering has 60 months of enterprise support available and is the choice of many prominent businesses, schools, and governments.

In short: Ubuntu is a "serious" distro by any measure. (So too is Slackware, obviously! )

Except the number of TTYs and the number of updates all that is also true for Debian and almost any Debian derived distro. What does that prove? That Debian is not a serious distro? The difference between Ubuntu and Slackware when it comes to learning is that you can learn on Ubuntu but are more or less forced to learn on Slackware.

In response to Dugan above, the reason I was curious about the backup is that I presently have just a single partition and a single program: Ubuntu. I was wondering whether partitioning the hard drive and having a dual boot--both Slackware and Ubuntu--would require having a partition on the backup drive as well. As the primary hard drive is backed up onto the external drive, could there be a conflict in terms of knowing what information is to be allocated where? Could the external drive, in other words, get "confused" as it backs up information from two separate systems? I realize that both are Linux but there are still significant differences between these two programs.

I'm amazed that this topic--Ubuntu to Slackware--has generated such passionate and lively discussion! It's all very useful to me!

VirtualBox is a software which emulates a real PC "inside" yours real one. You can install other oepration systems on your computer "over" it without any risk of destroying the main, so called host OS. (And others are called "guest OS".) Other OSes will run in a separate window and you will be able to work in them, to start and stop them, to reboot, to install software and so on.

In Ubuntu you can install this software by typing "sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install virtualbox".

PS: some words about the second PC. My desktop for example has pretty old hardware and when I tried to install other distributions in VirtualBox, my PC could hardly do this work, it hanged up and so on... I do not know about topicstarter's sutuation but in my city it's much cheaper to buy an old PC that to upgrade my desktop. :-) But of course everything depends on the software installed. And that cheap old PC will not be the best solution to run the latest KDE. Though, XFCE or something more light and tricky will be OK.