Don't get me wrong but Slackware is kinda "bloated"
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Back in 1999 I installed Slack on a 486 with a <=500MB partition to demonstrate. Ran stuff like GIMP without problem, though machine wasn't hooked up to the net. It was a bit of a squeeze then; I'm not sure I could do it today.
In any case it's not difficult to create custom tagfiles to only install what you want (I usually slim down the amount of text editors, mail readers, web browsers - that sort of thing).
Yep. QFT. I love how I can pop in my Slackware DVD and have a fully operational desktop installed in 30 minutes on my older dual core boxes. The extra programs don't slow down or impact the performance of my installation. Slackware works out of the box with all dependencies met. Perfect for my needs.
Yep. QFT. I love how I can pop in my Slackware DVD and have a fully operational desktop installed in 30 minutes on my older dual core boxes. The extra programs don't slow down or impact the performance of my installation. Slackware works out of the box with all dependencies met. Perfect for my needs.
That depends on what do you think is "bloated". In, let's say, Ubuntu's case, bloatness is a lot of runtime dependencies for a lot of packages. Try to install something small and it pulls a mountain of dependencies. Why? Because that small package was compiled with almost everything enabled, and when you start that program, all those libraries from dependency packages are loaded into memory.
Slackware is not like this. Compilation options are carefully chosen, and in most cases you can remove quite a lot of packages without affecting other apps (although in case of some libraries you need to know what you're doing since all dependencies have to be tracked manually). You don't need most of the packages? Don't install them. The installer lets you choose groups of packages (and even individual packages) so you could make the system fit you more or less perfectly.
You can't make everyone happy, so there's a variety of applications for some tasks, like mail reading. Someone likes KMail, someone else might like Thunderbird, other people may prefer mutt or alpine. Slackware doesn't force its apps to you, it lets you choose for yourself. If you don't want to choose during installation, installing everything is a hassle-free way to give you a choice. You can always remove not needed packages later. Or not.
I've been using Slackware for maybe five years and I still keep discovering interesting things about this distribution. My favorite discovery was that Slackware is more or less self-sufficient. You can get a single DVD with its packages and do pretty much everything even if you don't have Internet, like in some far away small towns. It has lots of server and client software to build infrastructure from scratch. Sure, other apps may seem more convenient (for example, not that many people use Sendmail nowadays, but you still can use it to set up a working mail server inside a local network), but Slackware has tools for a lot of tasks.
All in all, I wouldn't call Slackware bloated. More like comprehensive.
P.S.: Sorry if I didn't make much sense.
Well, this explain me a lot about what it's bloated.
I think i agree with you about slackware it's not bloated but just have many tool that we can choose to keep it or remove it.
And take a look at the existing tagfiles. Lots of interesting information in there about what is optional, what is required, etc.
The stuff that will really save you disk space, are the QT libraries, kde(i), xap and some development packages. Those "millions of editors" in A and AP don't really matter.
Last edited by MadMaverick9; 09-14-2014 at 02:20 AM.
Each time I install slackware, there are a certain number packages I choose not to install,
like emacs (I'm a vi user). You have that option in the setup program (even if you
select ``install everything'')...
On the other hand, it's good to have 2 or 3 similar tools. Internet browsers for instance.
Some web pages don't work for certain browsers. So it's good to have an alternative...
Sorry to barge in .. but am I the only one who's really disappointed by most of the answers here... Sane, mature persons giving out borderline rude resposes on a (albeit repetetive) different perspective.. (even accepting that the word "bloat" wasn't used properly)
The truth is that Slackware actually lacks packages (PAM anyone?) and it is intended to be a base system that can go either the desktop (over which there is no default customized WM) or the server way (personally I find it the best one that can actually meet both).. It's also a system in which any extra packages are usually compiled by hand (well, sbo made us lazy :P).. So, no, it's not bloated, nor does it have too many packages.. But this all can be explained in 2, 3 rows without having to jump on the guy because he misused a term (which, arguably he didn't since he fealt like it is and "bloat" is a very subjective term) and without recommending other distros or making him feel uncomfortable just because he has an oppinion..
Sorry to barge in .. but am I the only one who's really disappointed by most of the answers here... Sane, mature persons giving out borderline rude resposes on a (albeit repetetive) different perspective..
The responses are the result of his posting history.
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