I'm thinking of getting Slackware, but first...
 

Hello,
I am getting back into linux. I have been using Windows, and I hate it. I have used Ubuntu 7.10, SuSE 10.2 and 10.3, and that is pretty much it. I have heard that Slackware is a very good linux distribution, and I think I should try it. I really like SuSE, it is the best, as I have tried many kinds of linux distros on live cds. I need to know if Slackware would be a good choice, and what comes in it, and what it really looks like. Thanks! I hope to be a new Slackware user soon if I like this.

I hate for the first response to be ... use the search button... but it is the obvious answer. This is asked like once a week.

I'm very biased, but, I think that Slackware is the best Linux distro out there. If you are comfortable with reading the ample documentation that is provided on the slackware install CDs and take some time to read the slackbook at the main slackware site then I think that slackware may be for you. Slackware doesn't have many GUIs to help you set-up system functions; you will be using a text editor and doing some work on the CLI to configure your PC.
Dive in and check slack out. We're here to help you:-)

Try it - that's the only way to find out if it's best for you. A full install comes with everything but the kitchen sink. It looks like KDE if you use KDE, or something else if you use something else. :)

Thanks. I have seen Slackware with it's special own GUI. Where can I look at the different GUI's for it? I am looking forward to trying out Slackware. Is the install difficult for a newbie to linux like me? I have used linux before, but I am still a newbie, I haven't experimented with it much.

There aren't a lot of GUIs for slackware, the install routine is a ncurses text based installer. Check out the slackbook at the main slackware site. There's a link to slackware in my signature. Is the distro difficult for a newbie to Linux? That depends on your experience with Linux and your willingness to learn. You can compensate for a lack of experience with Linux by reading-up on the install procedure that is detailed in the book. This isn't a point-and-click install procedure. Oh, and by the way welcome to our forum:-)

Hi,

I would add that the Slackbook is also available on the Slackware® 12.1 install cd1 or the dvd.

Slackware can be set up with any of the various (GUI) desktop environments. This is true of any Linux distro.
Good for who?
Why do you think you should try it?

I appreciate the attraction of Slackware, and I may yet get it to work for me...but it is not something I would recommend to a casual user.

By this I assume you mean desktop environments or simple window managers. Anything that is out there for any Linux can be installed on Slackware.
(Maybe I am not understanding you...)

Rather than type all this again, read my post here:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...6/#post3149425

Slackware provides a very stable system, and is incredibly simple. There are no (or very few) GUI setup tools, and I would highly discourage the use of some of these tools to configure things (adding users using KDE, for example, is more unpredictable than using the commandline `useradd` or `adduser`). I once tried to take the easy way out and set the clock using KDE's time manager -- and it screwed up the permissions of /etc/localtime so that the correct time for my timezone was only displayed for the root user. I had to go back and fix the permissions to get it working again. However, setting the time using the CLI is as simple as it gets (right now I would type `date 051111342008` as root to set the time properly). Similarly, although you *can* set up a network using KDE tools (or another DE/WM), it won't necessarily do things according to the Slackware way and may set something up improperly. Fortunately, everything about Slackware is incredibly simplistic and transparent, so editing a simple text file is enough to get anything working (and there's generally lots of comments and documentation on how to do so). There are also a few GUI-like tools that use an ncurses display to set things up -- like `netconfig` for the network, `xwmconfig` for the window manger/desktop environment, `liloconfig` for settings up LILO (the bootloader), etc., which were written (or adapted) specifically for Slackware, and will work 100% of the time if you know what you are doing.

After you have successfully set Slackware up, you can use whatever desktop environment or window manager that you wish (although Gnome will require a third-party build, since it's not included in Slackware). In this respect it's just like all other distros -- except that there are very few, if any, Slackware-specific modifications to the programs, WMs and DEs included in Slackware (and therefore everything should run as it was intended to by the application developers).

As long as you read the documentation (UPGRADE.TXT and CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT before [and after] you install/upgrade, and the SlackBook preferably before, but definitely after, installation, and maybe some other information that you can find) it is very newbie-friendly (Slackware 11.0 was my first distribution). If you do decide to give Slackware a try, and you run into problems, try first searching these forums, then the web, and if all else fails ask. However, you should be warned that it gets tiring answering the same questions over and over, especially if they are included in the official documentation -- so you'll be treated more nicely if you search first (though people are rarely treated harshly here).

Its not what it ""looks like"". Any distro can be made to "look like" another. Graphical interfaces are everywhere, it doesn't take much to alter what Linux looks like.

Linux should be looked at like a car, but not the same way. Instead of asking what the car looks like, ask whats under the hood. :D

(and yes, Slackware is ... indescribable)

I was not making myself clear. I was referring to the installation process which is primarily text based (without GUIs). Slackware ships with a variety of desktop environments, KDE, XFce, etc.

You make a valid point. I think a newcomer to Linux can learn slackware, but, there is a steeper learning curve than some other versions of Linux. Slackware is worth it:-)
To the OP: Read the manual:-)

I am a SuSE lover, but I know there are tons of linux distros out there. I need to explore more linux distros. I am hoping slackware will work for me, and I hope I can learn a lot about it. Where is the ReadMe, or documentation or whatever. I really want to get Slackware set up. If there is some website that will show the entire walkthrough of the install of the OS itself, and get a GUI running, that would be great. Thanks for all your help. Hopefully, with some more help, I can be a new member of Slackware soon.