This is just general observation, please do not take it as invitation to rant.

I use many distributions, not just one or two. As a general case, I find that they all work pretty well with the default desktop. Some of them work well with a WIDE range of desktops, and have the right pieces to manage them about equally. Others, not so much.

Where there is a small team (or single person) maintaining the distribution, and only a single desktop is in use, there is more risk that switching desktops and resulting issues will not be addressed. For those distributions, there are more important ways for the maintainer(s) to spend time. Where there is a larger maintainer group that agrees on almost NOTHING except getting it RIGHT (Hello? Debian, did you get that?) it is more likely that all of the options have been executed and every obvious bug grilled, whipped, and beaten into a better meal.

Something like MINT (which comes either Ubuntu or Debian based) generally handles desktop changes well, because a large team and community SLAMMED the beta version with all of the likely changes a user would commonly make. Often this process had happened before the MINT maintainers even got the packages, back in the parent distro! When it looks transparent and easy to make major changes, it is because that team MADE it easy and transparent: FOR YOU.

We need to help. $$ is nice, and needed, but feedback and detailed analysis of problems can also help. It can make the difference between a maintainer needed three weeks to try switching desktops to find and fix a rare issue, or one afternoon replicating and then fixing the specific problem. Those minutes come out of their family and professional life, and anyone who faults them for spending time with the kids and wife (or husband) instead has the wrong focus. Help them, provide the best and most detailed report you can. Pay it back.

1 members found this post helpful.

Thank you for the reply, but no. On the official Slackware site, it lists one DVD. "Slackware 14.2 x86_64 DVD ISO (Includes everything except for source code)" is listed as one dvd.

I would want Slackware Xfce to try out in a Live Disc, then install it if the video and other stuff works. It's kind of unbelievable for me to think the disc you try out is not the one you install, when all the other distros I've used do it.

It's like going to a car lot to get a Toyota, they have you test drive a Volkswagen to decide if you want the Toyota. Unbelievable.

It would be really nice to see a good distro based on Slackware, but have the not good stuff fixed. That's why I tried Slacko (puppy).

Chris.

Well then,

https://www.salixos.org/

http://www.slackel.gr/forum/about.htm

My systemd free needs are handled by

http://antix.mepis.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

But I have installed and run Fluxbox versions of Salix and Slackel as well on my touchscreen netbooks.
My screenshot in a previous post showing hot swap desktop choices in the menu is all AntiX.

OMG!!! OK, I just went through the Salix website. This is so cool!! Just what I was looking for. I like the "one application per task". That fits me really good also. I always wondered why you have a program that works good, you need 3 more that do the same thing that don't work as good.

A couple things I'm unsure of but can't remember right now. Going to bed and install tomorrow. Wish Slackware had a version like this, that way I could say I use "Slackware" instead of Salix.

Thanks for the tip.

Chris.

"Once you go Salix, you don't go back"

One thing bad I found is I looked at the Salix forum. After you read the one or two posts from 2015, most of them are from 2011-2013. Not much of a pool to get help from. I agreed with the one that said Slaix is what Slackware should be.

Chris.

Perhaps because there have been so few significant problems in the last three years?

1 members found this post helpful.

I received prompt excellent help when I asked for it politely and included lots of details there.

https://forum.salixos.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6131

As you can see. Don't put the cart in front of the horse with assumptions made with flawed Logic and deductions.
My Salix and Slackel gear has been trouble free since that install. The Slackel forum is even smaller but
djemos. The Slackel developer. Was on the ball ricky tik and replied knowledgeably with politeness when I had a question and asked nicely on his forum also.

That's because Slackware, unlike most distros, does not apply all sorts of preconfiguration and tweaks to the system (look and feel as well as default applications and startup services) to suit a single use case. Because of this, in other distros, switching the DE can cause all sorts problems, ranging from visual annoyances to crashes. That's why they have dedicated "spins" for different DEs.

If you want a distro that allows you to easily switch DEs and window managers, use one like Slackware or Arch that does not include all sorts of preconfiguration. The other side of that coin is that you will need to do more configuration of your system yourself. I see that as a good thing, personally.

(EDIT: I'm not saying that switching DEs on one of those preconfigured distros will necessarily cause problems, but it might. Most likely they would not be the show-stopper type.)

Most spins only change the default desktop installed.

They don't change the system. Some will add different tools (MySQL instead of MariaDB for instance), but that doesn't change the system.

You can still add (usually) the other desktops.

Gnome (being screwed up anyway) makes mandatory other dependencies (dbus for one, and I understand it is also beginning to require systemd) - so those will screwup anyway.

The portable desktops only use X as the only dependency. No fuss, no muss, and everything just works.

Thanks for all these replies. I got asked to help a friend today and am busy tonight so I'll have to wait to install Salix. I can hardly wait. I like the whole idea of Salix.

Thank you,

Chris.

I have tried most Window Managers at one time or another, and usually have several installed. As far as I understand it, it is not the WMs that cause the problems, but the libraries associated with them. XFCE, Mate and Cinnamon (and many of the smaller, less popular ones) tend to have work done to them to work nicely with Gnome programs. KDE programs tend to be the worst for crashes (in my opinion), because of how closely integrated they are with the WM; for example, the notifications etc.. Having said that, I have been a long time user of Karbon and Krita, which work fine in XFCE, Mate, LXDE, LXQT and Cinnamon; they used to crash a lot. On my Mint Cinnamon system, I have KDE and Gnome services running at startup, with no noticeable issues, or speed changes, which is what is often warned about on forums.

One other thing to check, from my experience, before installing a new WM, is whether you have already got a WM that uses Openbox, and whether the new one also does. If so, it is quite possible for ObConf to be changed, and mess up the new WM or the old.

Normally, it is completely up to the application as to where the window is opened. By default the display is :x.0, so unless something makes it :x.1 it will open on the default screen. You then MOVE it to x.1 via the window manager.

But unless SOMETHING directs the application to the alternate display, it won't go there.

I have to agree that there are issues when using more than one DE. I use XFCE by default but often install KDE and Gnome as well as things like Cinnamon and MATE. What I tend to find is installing Gnome plays havoc with my XFCE install (I'm still trying to work out how to stop my laptop shutting down when I close the lid on battery power) but if KDE will install it works fine and doesn't interfere. Cinnamon and MATE seem to have some interaction with XFCE also.

Now, the above is just for me using Debian Sid but, I seem to recall an issue where I had to log into Gnome to alter a setting that was bugging me when using XFCE on a Slackware install once. I don't recall for certain it was Slack ware but I've enough suspicion that it was I'll hazard a guess there's some interaction there. In other words things like power saving, Gnome themes and anything else which change potentially shared configuration files (which can occur on any distribution) could cause issues no matter who packaged the DE.

I should point out that I use Slackware as an example because I have installed it on bare metal a few times and have used it enough to trust and respect it. Almost "If it can happen there it can happen anywhere...".