I was wondering how these two distributions compare in relation to each other? I'm pretty good with Slackware and I like it a lot but have been wondering about switching mainly because I get bored using the same system over and over Anyways, if you can explain to me what SuSE is like that would be great.

From what I can remember of the last time I used SuSE, it'll be a complete 180 from what you're used to. SuSE is a great distro, but it's aimed more at people who like pretty guis. Someone will probably come along and say that SuSE is the best thing to happen to linux ever, but if you're used to Slack it will be a huge change. If you're looking for a change of scenery you might want to go for Debian, or Rock which looks nice, or my new favorite Gentoo! If you do go with SuSE, it's a very powerful distro especially Yast2. Isn't choice great!

If you compare it to Slack, the big difference is the installation and the config tools. Slack doesn't provide you anything, you have to do everything by hand. But in SuSE, there is yast2, which you can configure most aspects of the system with. Therefore, SuSE is very easy to use and brings a lot of applications (one thing I really like, because i'm behind a 56k modem )
What I personally think is that you souldn't change the distro anmyway, because SuSE won't be a challenge to you in comparison to Slack and if you want still do things by hand, you can simply deinstall yast (I haven't tried that) and all you have to learn is the places of the config files, which are indeed different to slack.

After trying SuSe (and about 7 other distros) I settled on Slack...I found SuSe way too restrictive and proprietary, for me, at least -- kinda made me feel like I was running Windows. Slack is much easier to use. If you are getting tired of the "same old" (as I find myself feeling from time to time) try getting something done with Slack you have never attempted before -- something really difficult and annoying . That's always fun!

biggest difference in those two is that Slack is BSD Styled and Suse is SysV

Why don't you just change Window Manager if you got bored of the "environment"
Or maybe re-arrange your computer room, i bet there's trash everywhere!
Or if you're used to Slack, i suggest you try Debian. I never tryed it, but i heard its great as well.
But, as someone said once: "Once a Slacker, always a Slacker!"
-NSKL

P.S. I used SuSE before, and it's true, it does make you feel like you are back to Windows, it's too "closed", it doesnt give you as much control as Slack, and it's config files are all over the place, also it's almost impossible to compile something on SuSE from source because libraries are scatered everyewhere! (At least in 7.1 that i used)
Hope that helps some
-NSKL

I think im going to try out gentoo. Has anyone attempted this with a dial up modem on here before? I heard its not too fun to emerge with a 56k connection Oh well i can wait

Wait!....ooh, ooh, I know! If you must stray from the slack, if only for a while (cause nuthin' else compares) try LFS!!! Just looks like a lot 'o fun to install. If I ever get some free hard drive space, I will probably do it myself, as a second setup to play with.

Why not try out freebsd or openbsd? While neither are my cup of tea, some admins swear by them and say that the performance is better than anything linux has to offer. I also feel that the ports system may be the way of the future.

I recently read an article which compared perfomance between FreeBSD and linux (debian), and the difference between the 2 where so small that it didn´t matter. Sometimes linux where a tiny bit faster and sometimes it was Freebsd, and it is millisec. that we are talking about...

Actually what happened with this is kind of funny. I did manage to try a few operating systems and I always come back to Slackware. It's just the best Oh by the way, I did like openbsd too though

Why do you want to go from Slack ---> SuSE??? It's like you want to go from a Ferrari ---> Yugo

lol

I agree. If you use Slackware, then stick with it. It is one of the most powerful distributions out there. However, if you _must_ stray from it I suggest you head to Debian or Libranet (which is just Debian).

I think the main hurdle with switching distributions is getting used to their style. I'm very used to the bsd style of Slackware, that's why I use it the most. I think the best way to find out about any other distribution, though, is to just dive right in and try it.

Good luck

I have never used SUSE, so I can't offer any specific help with a comparison. BUT...

Unless you are going to be developing packages, or plan to be more involved than the average user in system administration, the primary differences you will see between distros will be:
1) installation and setup, ie. pretty GUI vs. curses-based functionality
2) perhaps a plus/minus of few minor software packages
3) software management
4) potentially BIG differences in number and frequency of security updates to key software (compare DeadRat, I mean RedHat and Slackware, for instance).

I can tell you a bit about Slackware:
The primary philosophy is adherence to standards, and to a "Linux Standard" filesystem organization. This explains in part why you always found the kernel sitting on the root (although with Slack 8.1 Patrick has moved it into /boot). Back when slackware.com was hosting forums (not so long ago) there were a number of discussions with Patrick about why Apache was laid out the way it was (and similar topics).

Slackware is more bare bones in its package management tools. It does offer rpm though, and a conversion tool to change an rpm file to a tgz file. Also, it is not at all GUI oriented for system administration. There is no centralized panel (like linuxconf, yast, etc) from where you can mysteriously hose your entire system ;-)

That being said, you can install management GUI's for individual systems (if you aren't comfortable with editing .conf files by hand), like Comanche, SWAT, MySQLGUI, etc. I guess that Slackware mostly appeals to people who are comfortable with using su, vi (okay, okay... emacs if you must) and the finer grained details of disciplined system management.

I like Slack because it is designed to be set up and used... tweaking is not really necessary. Install what you need, and then use the heck out of it.

Then there is also the bit about Slack being more "pure BSD" instead of a mix of BSD/SysV like some other distros. For most users (read "minimal sysadmins"), this is a non-issue. Personally, i find the startup of a BSD system MUCH easier to grok, and hence easier to customize and troubleshoot.

Have fun with it... (something you can't really say about Windoze)!