advantages/disadvantages of Slackware?
 

Hi, I am new to slackware, and i was wondering what are the advantages and disadvantages with Slackware 12.0.

I am use to Kubuntu, and am slightly acquainted with Sabayon. The biggest thing that i noticed was that here was no package manager. I know there is slapt-get, and if that is worth it, could anyone point me in the right direction? or any other package manger for that matter.

thanks, Matt

If you learn slack you will know every release thats available. So learn slack. Most answers on lq are answerd by slack users. slack is the most unix like distro, highly configurable, stable, stable, and did mention stable.

billairds

Once you go slack, you never get back... believe me. :-)

As they say...

"If you want to learn RedHat, install Redhat. If you want to learn Linux, install Slackware."

Substitute any distro in the first sentence, and it's still true

Slackware is stable, simple, and comes with a full development tool-chain. It does not automatically check for library dependencies, which can frighten some folks, but it's really not that big of a deal. It's fast, really fast, and that's not just my opinion. It uses simple "System V" style init scripts for it's boot cycle, and that's a plus in my book, too. The disadvantages are that you have to learn to configure quite a lot of things by hand, and you will probably have to learn to build programs from source at some point. Neither of these things are hard, but they can get quite involved. Most people of normal intelligence and diligence will find that after a few weeks, you might wonder what everybody that hates the command line is so squeamish about. That was a terrible sentence, but my point is this; if you want a distro that gives you total responsibility and control, then Slack is it.

The biggest advantage, IMO, is that Slackware stays completely out of your way. Some would see that as a disadvantage, because the system also refuses to hold your hand like Ubuntu and Windows do.
Ah, but there is a package manager. Open your eyes. Try typing 'pkgtool' at the command prompt (as root) and see what comes up on the screen.

If you want more packages than those provided, you can download the source code for the program you want and compile/install it. There are sites like Alien Bob's repository and Slackbuilds.org which can help with some of the extra packages you may need.

If any of this seems "backwards" or "strange" to you (CLI's, manual installing, etc...) then you have chosen the wrong distro.

Advantage: I know it well, can do just about anything I want with it, and prefer it to any other distros I have looked at.

Disadvantage: I'm not much interested by any other distro for my own personal use.

The only disadvantage iv'e found so far is the lack of free draughting programs. This really kills it for me as its a primary application that i use and linux has minimal support for it.

You can do just about anything with this os except draw a decent engineering drawing.

my rant is over.

I have to admit that I am really struggling with the package management/dependencies issue right now. The program I want to use for dvd authoring has a half dozen dependencies needed for it to run, and each one of those has libraries of their own that need to be installed as well. Everytime I think I've got them all and try to compile this thing, there's yet another library it says is missing. I've accomplished so much already in Slackware 12, but right now I'm incredibly frustrated.

Hi,

Your frustration should be towards the author(s) of the program(s) not Slackware. I can see how you would have problems but a lot of people/authors don't follow standards therefore you will always run into problems of this sort when this is the situation.

Hi,

Did you look? A simple search shows a lot of cad/cam available. The Synergy CAD/CAM is just one. It supports solids and seems to be a nice package. Sure, it's not free but would meet cad/cam requirements.

You could use Open Cascade. This is open source program that provides;

If you have ACAD then why not try the wine or even vmware route.

You could use GIMP but I know you want the easy CANNED package way.

BTW, the Slackware/LQ forum has a spell checker. Drafting is the word, not draughting.

The main advantage for me is that Slackware encourages me to learn about GNU/Linux, rather than just use it.

The biggest advantage I feel Slackware provides IS its package management.

Except for a very few exceptions, all Slackware packages are built directly from the source provided by the originating project; even the kernel is plain vanilla. This means if you wish to compile the latest version, you don't need to wait around for distro developers to update their source.

The simplicity of package maintenance means you don't have to jump through a bunch of hoops to create a valid SW package -- or you can just 'make install' the source code... you won't have to worry about the package manager getting confused and either overwriting or removing your custom installation.

This mantra of "dependency resolution" in package management tends to ignore a basic premise of system design: don't make the overall task more difficult in order to make one aspect of it simpler. If you install a reasonably complete set of SW packages, you have resolved 99% of your dependency problems. The time freed from having to concern yourself with whether somebody else did their job of creating packages correctly can then be spent on areas where the software you need isn't provided by a pre-built package.

You may spend some effort chasing down a few dependencies from time-to-time, but this will usually be a lot less effort than messing around with dozens of repositories, handling a package with incomplete or erroneous meta-data, or fixing a system borked by a corrupted package database.

Advantages: It's stable, fast, reliable, easy to use and customize (once you understand it), easy to learn Linux on.

Disadvantages: Linux in general is not for people who give up at the first sight of a slight challenge. Slackware is even more so. It's not hard, but don't get discouraged.

Advantage: If you use Slackware, you're cool

Disadvantage: People'll be hatin' on your coolness.

Seriously though, get slapt-get.