Slackware's a bit ... overwhelming
 

I wanted to test the discs that I made for Slackware and instead of being brought to a nice and friendly installer and get dumped into a command line. I only went a small distance into it, but does it get better? Is the install like this the entire way? Is Slack hard to use? True, I could probably figure out quite a bit of info that I just asked but I can't figure this out tonight, sleep is more important. If I ever get through this install does Slack look nice and is easy to work with? I've only used RH 9 before so it'll probably be completely different but I'll try it. Anything to look forward to for tomorrow's install? Anything to watch out for? Any good information will be appreciated. Thanks.

Re: Slackware's a bit ... overwhelming
 

Yeah, the fdisk part freaks most people out. :D After that, you run 'setup' or whatever and get a *very* simple and straightforward set of text-based menu options. Not 'pretty' but Slack's installer is the best. Then, as far as using Slack, I find most other distros *impossible* to use and find Slack one of the easiest, but I'm weird. The thing with Slack is that in one sense you have to learn *a lot* and in another, you only have to learn a tiny set of things: everything is in a file somewhere so learn your files and learn your editor. And everything can be accomplished with your shell and the system utilities. Know sh and vi and you know Slack, in a sense.

You *can* try to do most stuff with KDE and so on, though, so it's not like Slack has to be all that different from any other distro with KDE slapped on top of it. Just stick with it, I guess, is my advice. Be prepared for having to figure things out and, if you get the point of being comfortable with it, you'll love it. If not, then I guess try something else. :)

OK thanks for the help. I am relieved that a setup screen will show up eventually. As for Slack, I guess I just have to be patient and ask questions here if I have have any problems. I'm going off for the night, thanks again.

Oh, one more thing - Slack comes with several files, or you can pick them up at the site - read the Help part of the menu if you want and the text files - README.TXT, RELEASE_NOTES, Slackware-HOWTO, FAQ.TXT, and so on. Pat has taken the time to give an overview of the system and some common questions, problems, methods, etc. Also, while the Slack book at the site is out of date, it's still basically accurate as far as getting it running - there may be an extra menu now, for instance, but it walks you through the install and let's you know generally what's up.

And, definitely, if you have questions, post up. Always ten Slackers around to give you a dozen answers. ;) Post back tomorrow either way if you want and say how it's going.

Stick with it. I spent a month looking at various distros and in the end chose Slack. The learning curve was steep initially, but now, four months later, I wouldn't use anything else.

I actually find Slacks installation a breeze, but I had to learn the ins and outs of fdisk before fully committing myself to the installation. Read the documentation as suggested and pay a visit to the website coz there is a lot of help and answers to F.A.Q's.

I made a menu install of Slackware 10.0 on an old laptop and had no problems with this. If you have a grasp of the Linux file system and the essential configuration files, it should be no problem.
I trashed it for Slack-based VectorLinux instead (which is a little easier to administer, but a little more confusing to install - and it gets good performance from older hardware), but Slackware is actually very nice to work with. Still, there is a bit too much work in updating it, so I put first Ubuntu, then FC3 on my stationary PC instead.