What exactly do you *do* with Slackware?

dc_eros · 10-07-2010, 08:02 PM

Web development.

But I think I forgot that I can vote more than one category

Anyway, I use Slackware (aside from web development) for home use like watching movies and playing games.

zbreaker · 10-07-2010, 08:46 PM

Pretty much everything a general "family" computer does.
E-mail, web, office, gaming, photos, multimedia and some other geeky things that I dabble with.

damgar · 10-07-2010, 09:19 PM

I also use Slack on my laptop for field work with an ISP. Vista that came on it left a tower climber 200 feet in the air when we were trying to troubleshoot a new radio installation because it decided that there was no longer an ethernet port and only a reinstall fixed. Ubuntu cost me several hours of my life because it had a nasty habit of deciding there was no wireless adapter and the only way to fix that was removing the battery. Slack always "just works." It's still 13.0 with GSB. I figure there's no point in fixing what isn't broken.

frankbell · 10-07-2010, 09:51 PM

I have used Slack for everything I do on a computer, including self-hosting my website for five years (now the site is out on GoDaddy--the MySQL database outgrew my computer), file server for my home network, email and newsgroups, websurfing, web design, office software, etc. and so on.

Slackware always works, it never breaks.

rfernandez · 10-07-2010, 10:17 PM

I found Linux to be the greatest OS to do scientific jobs, with great support for mathematical analysis and simulation. You can also compile a package to take advantage of the system, thus making faster calculations. I chose Slackware because it's a "everything system", meaning, I don't have to do so much dependencies tracking about dev-packages or source; it's all there, so I'll just have to worry about the scientific programs dependencies.

Also, because Slackware Works. :-)

hitest · 10-07-2010, 11:29 PM

I use Slackware for: Web browsing, some gaming, e-mail, website design, web server, socializing(IRC), work related stuff (logging in to my work data base), and generally tinkering with the best OS on the planet.

b0uncer · 10-08-2010, 12:59 AM

Right now,

Quote:

Web deisgn or development

which I assume ought to be "design"

SuperTico · 10-08-2010, 04:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smoker

I'm not a slack user, but I feel this is pertinent.
From the issues I see posted on LQ, and the posted solutions, it appears that if I were to install slack I would be taking a step back in time to when I was expected to compile drivers and configure scripts to get my modem working. To be Frank (and why not, Franks a nice bloke) I don't need that "excitement" anymore. Fedora, for me, gives me steady updates, on the edge but not losing so much blood that I die. I am also working on a degree, and I have no "stability" issues with Fedora, but then I'm still on 12 as traditionally, odd numbers are bad news in any incarnation IMHO.

For me Fedora gives me Bluetooth, LVM, reliable and consistent naming of external devices, cool graphics, power and adaptability, all without the hassle. Maybe that's not good to learn on, but it does the job. I still can't forgive them for taking the "open terminal" option out of the context menu, but there are ways around little things like that.

I'm not bashing slack, but I would rather spend my time doing rather than attempting to do.

YMMV

(p.s. I will attempt to install the latest slackware (as a VM) this weekend, just to see which end I'm speaking out of)

So install Vector. It's Slack...kicked up a notch

Lufbery · 10-08-2010, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b0uncer

Right now,

which I assume ought to be "design"

Ugh.

Lufbery · 10-08-2010, 06:59 AM

Thanks, everyone, for the replies. Keep 'em coming.

So far, there are a few surprises in the results. I didn't expect GIS to be so obscure (if the other two GIS users want to drop me a line, that would be nice).

I also didn't expect multimedia authoring to be as popular as it is; same thing with graphic design/page layout. I think that's a testament to how far along Linux applications have come in recent years.

Regards,

Hangdog42 · 10-08-2010, 07:13 AM

I use Slackware for pretty much everything because it is such a nice, stable, and customizable platform. It works great on my server, where it is pretty much bulletproof. It works great on my laptop and runs almost every type of software I need to run a business and get my work done. It also works great as a customizable, lightweight platform for my netbook. I'd put it up against Ubuntu Remix any day.

unclejed613 · 10-08-2010, 08:12 AM

just about everything.... where i work i use it as a virtual web server to test home entertainment equipment which isn't allowed on the company network.

Scott271 · 10-08-2010, 08:23 AM

I use it for the basics, browsing, email, watching movies, IRC/IM/Skype, torrents. I also have it on an old Thinkpad T22 for my 6 year old daughter to use GCompris and Tux Paint/Math/etc. I.m planning on setting up an old desktop for a file server in the near future which will run Slackware.

For me, I like the simplicity and stability of Slackware, and the lack of bloat. I run Xfce, so I like a minimal type of system that I can build up and customize, but not be too minimal to start off with.

hughetorrance · 10-08-2010, 08:33 AM

I use it to win friends and impress enemies and to install the little Slack icon on the post...oooops Debian this time !

octoberblu3 · 10-08-2010, 09:27 AM

MythTV backend/frontends
file server
web server
db server
office
internet
email
photo processing
some light gaming
developing, compiling, and running my grad student simulation code
composing research articles in LaTeX