What are the reasons why slack users use Dropline over Gnome or vice versa?

With Dropline everything comes preconfigured, you just download all the packages and run the installer and you end up with a nicely integrated desktop that works from the word go. However it does downgrade some packages and messes around with your config files a bit, although it's a good option if you just want a working desktop with no fuss. You can also get automatic upgrades through the installer. However the stock Gnome that comes with slack works just as well IMO as long as you install all the packages.

I've done a fresh dropline install before, ie. downloaded it all and burnt it onto a cd, then done a minimal slack install with no X or gnome/kde on a clean HD, and then installed dropline from the CD. I honestly wasn't that impressed, partly because I realised I don't like gnome, but also because I'd been expecting it all to work flawlessly but is was a little bit unstable sometimes (althoug that could have been a driver issue).

1. Dropline comes with more packages.
2. It is compiled for i686.
3. The themes seems to work better in dropline. (Don't know why)
4. Most of the packages are newer then slack-gnome.
5. More frequent updates.
6. Nice installer, do all the downloading and checking for you.

Well, I wasn't a fan of gnome at first. But after using dropline-gnome, I just love it and got stuck with it.

I installed Dropline gnome after a fresh install and it really looks neat.
The only thing I dislike its the menu labels, I was used to for example open the menu Multimedia --> Xine, now its something like Multimedia --> Movie Player.
Theres another thing with upgrading new releases of dropline, they uninstall and install applications at their convenience. For example I was very pleased with Xine, but since they had some troubles with some libraries at compile time, the next release unistalled Xine and installed Totem. They do basically the same but I liked Xine the most, and had to installed myself again. So the next time upgrading first take a look at the list of files that are being upgraded, and decide for yourself which of them its worth, that way you regain a little bit of control.

I installed dropline gnome, after recompiliing the bare slack 9.1 kernel for my Athlon machine. After rebooting and starting kdm now kde won't launch. The nice thing however is that I let it run overnight, the automated installer fininshed probably shortly after I went to bed. I had tried Ximian Gnome which also has an automated installer on redhat , Ximian didn't recognize slack as a valid operating system..
The reason I tried Dropline was because I like to try new software. Same as above I don't really like gnome, I prefer kde. Dropline Gnome does remove packages, and install it's own versions. So try Dropline if you prefer gnome to kde.

The only warning is that dropline is almost impossible to completely uninstall short of a complete reinstall of slack because of the way it changes all the config files, permissions, etc.

I used to be a die hard Dropline fan, but the last release 2.4.1, on my Slack 9.1.box was not entirely stable. I could have been something I've done, since I am always tweaking one thing or another. Previous version of Dropline were rock solid though. I have gone back to the old trusty Slackware Gnome because I do Gnome software testing and I was having some issues that I thought were caused by Dropline. This is not slam to the folks at Dropline, because I think they have a great product, but I prefer the 'standard' Gnome. I am going to resist the temptation to mention the whole KDE/Gnome thing...

Paul

Same here Sargek on your experience with Dropline. No problems until 2.4 then I had the Nautilus crash bug. I reverted to Slack and Nautilus still crashed until I reformatted and did a clean install of Slackware, then Nautilus was fine. I still congratulate Todd on a great product that works well for most people.

That was the exact problem I had, and I used the same fix. I hate to have to use the M$ fix (format/reinstall), but you got to do what you got to do! Yes, Todd and the folks at Dropline have a nice thing going, but I am happy with my new setup, so...Just a side note: just got the 2.6.1 kernel running on my Slack 9.1 box and I am very impressed! It took some tweaking and I had to figure out a few things, but for the most part it rocks. Got my CD burner working, digital camera, printer, sound, etc...very nice.

Paul