Yeah i was looking into getting slapt-get, but again i have a few other things to work out... like that security thing with USB sticks and Cd roms... but ill get there... and don't think that i am giving up just yet, so far i am enjoying the challenge.

anyway, thanks everyone.

-matt

Matt,

I've been using Slackware for almost a year now. It really grew on me, but it took some time. People around here say that Slackware is simple, but I think that's not quite the right word for it. After all, any task seems simple after you've learned how to do it. It's actually not that simple (at least to a newbie) to do some tasks with Slackware that are rather simple in other distributions. Ubuntu and OpenSUSE, for example, go out of their way to make tasks simple for users.

But what they lack is what Slackware has in abundance -- transparency! Everything that makes Slackware work is exposed and accessible to the user. The result is that, after a little bit of time and some help from this forum and other easily found resources, user tasks become simple because the user can understand exactly what's happening with his or her Slackware system. The transparency leads to simplicity.

It also leads to self-reliance. If I want to try a certain software program, I have the means (at the very least) to make a package from source code and install it with Slackware's package tools. I don't need to wait for a program to show up in some official repository. I do, however, usually read the official change log and apply patches and security updates when they're available from Slackware.com (or one of its mirrors).

The advantage to all of this transparency is that when something goes wrong, it's relatively easy to fix.

The disadvantages of Slackware really depend on your point of view. Doing something like configuring wireless access can be more involved on Slackware than on OpenSUSE or Ubuntu. In Slackware, one needs to use the WPA Supplicant program and edit its configuration file. In OpenSUSE 10.2, I was able to do the whole process through the YAST configuration tool and Knetwork Manager without even looking at a configuration file. However, after reading Alien Bob's guide on WPA, setting up the same thing in Slackware seems...well...simpler -- or at least far more transparent.

Regards,

-Drew

Well I'm certainly not about to give up yet.

I've come this far, managed to get a decent looking system running, compiled my own kernel, gotten my fancontrol under control, and lots more accomplished in just a few short weeks. And I'm a Linux newbie as WELL as a Slackware newbie. Quite proud of myself actually.

I'm not frustrated with Slackware fellas... just frustrated. If I can just get beyond this dependencies hurdle and get a decent dvd-authoring program running with subtitle support, I'll be in hog heaven. Perhaps I'll start a new thread and ask for suggestions. I have a sneaking suspicion I'm making this dependencies issue more difficult than it really is.

One thing I'll say about Slackware, and this will sound a bit snobby I guess... but somehow just using it over the last few weeks and learning everything I already have... I feel a bit more intelligent than I did before. And yes, dare I say it, a bit cooler as well. LoL.

I do believe I'm a slacker for life now. I really love it. But how can anyone NOT love a distro that derives its name from the Church of the SubGenius?

Dig

See the sticky thread entitled "12.0 and HAL"

Well, i want to disagree with that becouse its the same as:

If you have a gun, you`re cool

Better is: If you know how to control Slack, you`re cool.

Anyway stay cool :-)

Been there and done that. I can't say that I undedrstood the whole thing, but I took what I did understand and I got it to work. So thank you for the info in the thread.

Anyway, I have a few quick questions.

1) How do i change the computers name ( the user@_____ )?

2) what is the recomended network manager? I have wlassistant and i compiled it, and it seems to work (yay! my first compiled program in Slak!) but i would like to find somthing a little more effective, that is more reliable with my wireless card. I have a linksys Wmp54gs...which from expierence linux doesn't like, but i got that running with Ndiswrapper.

3) how do i edit the "Sudoers" so that my user account can use sudo and not just root? i know i have to use visudo but then i don't know what to do.


Thanks again everyone... LQ has quite a nice community.. i like it.

Hey digger95, which dvd authoring package are you trying to install?

Specifically, what do you need to do? I have a handful of packages compiled on Slackware 12 which I use for converting video files to DVD compatible mpeg2 and authoring DVD content.

The biggest two are Mplayer and dvdauthor. There are a couple of others, but those two do most of the work.

YOU are the 'package manager'
After a while you'll only use: installpkg, removepkg, upgradepkg (with --upgrade, --reinstall, etc).
No need for auto-deps checking, you'll take care of them and learn exactly what's on your system and become very familiar with it, you are also free to shoot yourself in the foot :P
I guess i agree with previous posts.
(I was so used to debian's apt-get, now i can't imagine going back to it).
Welcome to Slackware.

Edit /etc/HOSTNAME to change it to what you want.
Then, run this:
It will be set automatically from then on from rc.M at boot.

There's not really much in the way of this for stock Slackware.
NetworkManager, as it currently exists, requires quite a bit of voodoo (there's a thread somewhere here on LQ about it, so no need for me to repeat that).
I hear good things about wifi-radar, and there's a build script available for it at SlackBuilds.org, but I've not personally used it. I find that my needs are met by using rc.inet1.conf and friends - it's a bit more work at first, but it does work :-)

The /etc/sudoers file has some decent examples in it that should help you get started. Play around with those, and if you can't figure it out, follow up with a more specific request of exactly what you want to do, and we'll go from there.

okay, i will give a few things a shot.

thanks rworkman.

-matt

I've started using linux 2 years ago with fedora and i learned only fedora and not satisfied with it. but after seeing so many slackers in lq i decided to give it a try and started with slack 11 and now slack 12 and no looking back to other distros. slack has taken my long learning linux with its much unix like interface. the things most impressive in slack is it is highly customisable and stablity. slack rocks like others say install slack if you want to learn linux.

Hi,

I was trying to install ManDVD from the KDE-apps website. It looked good and has a high user rating (92%). Unfortunately it has a LOT of dependencies, and many of those dependencies have many dependencies of their own, and it just got very confusing for me trying to track down and install all the little libraries I needed just to get one thing going. I'm sure it will get easier for me with time, but meanwhile I loaded wine and am using convertxtodvd which I have a license for. I don't like doing that because I wanted to put together an all-linux machine, but at least I have a workable solution while I continue to work on the linux apps.

Dig

Hi

It *does not* cause problems at all, so it must be witchcraft!

Advantages: it's stable, it's nice, it doesn't manage dependencies, everything can be compiled from source, everything can be directly configured.

Disadvantages: it's stable (so I have to invent an excuse if I want to make an experiment), it's nice ("it doesn't look like Windows!"), it doesn't manage dependencies, everything can be compiled from source ("who wants to compile from source?"), everything can be directly configured (which can be problematic for some people).

"The plague has come. That man, who usually washes his hands before eating, is still healthy. Therefore HE IS the cause of the plague, and he has poisoned the wells!"

Hi digger95. I looked at ManDVD's website and saw that it requires Transcode. Many of the other dependancies are already installed/easy to install under Slackware 12.0 or available from Alien Bob's repository... BUT TRANSCODE is a REAL BALLBREAKER to install under Slackware, because it has about a million dependancies of it's own, many of which are outdated and won't even compile or have dependancies which won't compile. So don't feel bad that you're finding this a difficult task. It really is.

Since upgrading to Slackware 12.0, I have chosen to avoid transcode and any software which requires it. Devede (while probably not as powerful as ManDVD) has worked for me as far as converting files of various formats to DVD compatible mpeg2 and generating DVD content/iso files. It also has a relatively short dependancy list, many of which are good to have in place anyway.

Good luck! (and sorry to the OP for going OT )

Having read the discussion here, I decided to throw my two cent's worth in. When it comes to advantages, I have to say that being able to do what you want to do without the need of digital training wheels is the thing I like the most about Slackware!

No computer operating system is really fully ready to run out of the box. When DOS and Windoze 3.1 ruled the earth, part of the installation process involved editing the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files in order to get DOS operating in an efficient manner. Installing Windoze brought about the need for even more tweaks.

The same goes for all versions of Linux. If this is so, then why not start out with the best, most configurable system in the first place?

I installed numerous Linux distributions for a series of articles I wrote. Everyone of them needed something in the way of tweaking or additions to make them truly useful.

Even after installing all of those systems, up to and including open Solaris (which left me wondering how anyone who makes a UNIX style operating system would still use the antiquated 8+3 DOS file format), I still keep coming back to Slackware.

The only disadvantage I know of to Slackware is it won't run Cool Edit Pro. If I could make that happen, at least as reliably as it does under Windoze, I'd be ecstatic! I would definitely give Windoze the big heave ho! Until that day comes, I unfortunately have to pollute my hard drives with Redmond regurgitation.

Ironically, Windoze Vista didn't run Cool Edit Pro all that well, and completely refused to install a Borland C++ compiler. Go fig!

As far as dependencies, compiling your packages, and so on, frankly, I like the idea that I can do an incremental upgrade on my system as new stuff becomes available. Both my laptops are running kernel version 2.6.22.10, and I have updated a few other packages.

However, I must confess that at times, it becomes unnerving searching hither and yon for source code, then getting it only to find out that it's three years old, and my version of GCC, or perl, or whatnot won't allow successful compilation. Frankly, that can be a real pain in the ass.

Currently, I am trying to get any of a number of DVD rippers/copiers to function. Just getting transcode to function called for all kinds of separate libraries and other dependent files. I spent almost four hours at it yesterday. Still, I have yet to have a functional DVD ripper.

I can't blame Slackware for that. I can only blame sloppy programmers. Unfortunately, the world of open source invites all to the table: the meticulous and the slovenly. This is one of the things that we all must accept.

Still, given all the alternatives, Slackware still far surpasses every other Linux distribution I have tried. I am as convinced of that as I am that the sun will rise tomorrow.

I don't get how being a Slack-head makes me especially cool..but hey, if so, that's just one more cool thing about me. hehehe!

Blessed be!
Pappy