I'm going to embark on an epic journey where I use nothing but Slackware for thirty days and report in on my findings. I have some previous linux experience with Ubuntu linux and the Gnome desktop environment but other than that I am a Linux n00b =P. Check out my blog for updates on my 30 day pilgrimage
http://linuxedge.blogspot.com
and the post explaining my journey
http://linuxedge.blogspot.com/2008/0...of-distro.html
its going to be a good time

Good luck in your journey! Very happy to hear you're moving up to Slackware:-) Once you Slack.....you never go back.

Let us know if you run into problems.
I'm not saying you'd do this, but one of my pet peeves is "reviewers" who don't read any of the release notes and other documentation and then whine about things, so please check with us if something doesn't seem right.

Oh, and unless you've already installed 12.0, please use 12.1 (the newest release).

Enjoy yourself, and like rworkman says, If you run into a problem ask here. We don't (usually) bite The odd nibble or two, maybe.

I wish you good fortune in your endeavor and look forward to your reporting.

I must admit a little skepticism about installing KDE4 as part of your journey. Not that I am opposed to experimenting, it just seems that you will be rather missing a large component of the Slackware "experience" in that Slackware as delivered is a complete and extremely well-tested distribution and KDE4, at least by Slackware standards, has been evaluated as "not quite ready" (see January 30th entry in the Changelog).

If your intent is just to have some fun and learn about GNU/Linux then great; however, I suspect your evaluation will tend more towards an assessment of installing and configuring KDE4 than of Slackware itself (which can itself be a worthy goal).

Hi nerdman:

I wish you all the best! I used Ubuntu for quite some from Dapper all the way through to Hardy RC, dual booting with Slackware 12 for the last period so I know the learning curve you are headed for :-)

I read your blog and you may be a little disappointed to know that Slackware does not as yet come with kde 4. Not sure if perhaps PV has planned this for Slackware 13?

My only tip:

http://www.slackbuilds.org

All the best,

Andrew

Hey good luck!

I'm a Slackware noob myself so what you are about to embark on is still very fresh in my mind. I'll leave the technical advice to the experts but I do agree that you should start out with a default Slackware 12.1 install which includes kde 3.5.9. I fear that if you try to take on kde4 too soon you may run into trouble and it could unfairly bias you against Slackware. I'd get a nice stable installation going, see how great Slackware is when it really hums, then by all means tackle kde4 later.

Package management by the way can be a real ballbreaker at first. Dependency-checking alone can cause hours of frustration just trying to get one piece of software working properly. Don't let it get you down though. Slackware's designed to put you in control and once you get the knack of it you'll feel like the master of your machine (if not the whole universe).

Dig

I also started with Ubuntu. Slackware is great for learning linux. I have learned a lot more using Slackware than I ever could have learned if I stuck with Ubuntu.
For compiling software for Slackware checkout slackbuilds.org:
http://slackbuilds.org/
Most of what you would likely need or want is probably already there.

Good Luck on your "epic journey". Slackware's got a reputation for being difficult to install and run, fostered by people who've either never tried it, or tried it without reading all the available documentation properly, as mentioned by Robby. Just stay calm, read read read, and take your time. You can do it.

Yeah - totally agree with that. Maybe you're throwing to many variables into the equation. Slackware is new to you and KDE4 is new to Slackware (not official). You may be asking for trouble.

I'd definitely stick with s standard Slackware install (KDE 3) till you're familiar with the OS,

That's a very good point, I see that way to often. There's some blogger that does something like this and then says it sucks, but then when you check, the guy didn't do any research, and didn't try very hard to solve any problems. I'm beginning to wonder if that's the mentality of most bloggers ... if it is, it must change asap.

I updated my blog in response to feedback I received from you guys and the Ubuntu forums

Good luck and definitely ask for help here in these forums. These are the official support forums for Slackware. If you decide you want to install some third-party packages, I suggest you check out SlackBuilds.org which is a great resource for SlackBuild scripts (which are the native way to build software). Also, check out slackbook.org and slackwiki.org.

Enjoy!

I keep a notebook at my Slackware computer and jot down everything I do so I can refer back to it. This has been especially helpful in keeping track of packages I install and what dependencies were required, notes on kernel compiling, editing config files, etc. I can't tell you how many times I've already flipped back through my little Slackware diary thinking 'now how did I do that again'? Sometimes they're just random little notes like 'remember to run /sbin/lilo after editing lilo.conf'. It's growing into quite the useful resource for me.

I intend to do the same thing, but online! =D