I have been using Linux for many years. Mandrake, Fedora, Red Hat, SLES and even some of the *bsd distros out there.

I read many good things about Slackware but everytime I go read about it at the web site I'm scared off by the use of the 2.4 kernel. Since I use mostly wireless and much of the wireless documentation that I read says to use a 2.6 kernel the 2.4 kernel is a little scary.

I feel thought that maybe I am missing something in my reading and the use of a great distro that I would really enjoy. How does Slackware resolve these things and/or work on wireless notebooks?

Thanks

usually the problem can be solved by installing 2.6.x kernels, which is easy to do. I use Centrino and i can surf the Internet by using Slackware only by configuring the ipw2200 modules.

Ah...a two parter...

1. How does Slackware resolve these things? It comes down to the basic Slackware philosophy: IT DOESN'T. YOU resolve these things. If you need a program, go download the source, and compile it yourself. If you need the 2.6 series kernel, either use one of Pats' pre-made ones (found in /testing or /extra), or compile it yourself.
2. How does it work on wireless notebooks? Quite well. But you have to do the work, by reading up on your chipset, finding what works, and configuring it yourself. There are no fancy gui tools here. Get the cli up, and start editing...

I've been using a 2.6 kernel for years now on Slackware without a problem. Likewise, my laptop's wireless works just fine (though not out of the box, I had to install the driver). Nothing to be scared of, really.

I have used Slackware with Dropline Gnome for years on several laptops and I have been very pleased. I do find that for best results I always install the Huge26.s kernel during the initial install, and then recompile the kernel to add all the ACPI options, CPU Freq options, and the Reiserfs into the kernel. I also generally remove stuff that I don't need. Be sure to manually install the 2.6.17.13 kernel modules package from /extras if you install the huge26.s kernel during the initial install.

I feel that Slackware makes it much easier to configure the system to suit my systems. Dropline Gnome give me the perfect desktop for my needs.

Slackware takes more time to install and configure than some of the more newbie friendly distros, but the results are worth it in my opinion. I get a very fast, light, and responsive system.

As a noob i experimented with redhad/fedora using vmware on a windows machine,and it was ok when things worked,but when they didn't I was lost.

I wanted a binary distro that would force me to look under the hood and learn,hence slackware.

I did a bit of reasearch(I'm not talking weeks here,maybe half a day) and then installed on a stand- alone pc.The install went very smoothly.

And it has led me along gently and yes sometimes abruptly ever since.Teaching me more about slackware & linux as I went.

In answer to your query i have used 2.6 kernels with slackware for years and it has never compromised its stability.

I have it on 3 machines.

The relatively modern desktop AMD64 in my profile
a pentium 3 laptop
an an old pentium(r) 133 mhz with 32mb ram machine.


All run 2.6.x kernels ,have wifi enabled and are as happy as pigs in plop.

yes I had to fiddle to get a few things working, but hey this is Linux,we love to tinker don't we?????

Always read the label.

Happy slacking.

Slackware comes a 2.6 kernel.

See the release notes:
ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackwar.../RELEASE_NOTES

Hi,

Welcome to Slackware!

Get your feet wet. Slackware is a great distro. Out of the box you will need to do a lot of reading. No hand holding here.

I use Slackware 10.2 on an old Gateway solo 2500 p2, with a custom 2.6.13 kernel. Sure some tweaking to get things working but this baby will remain with 10.2. If ain't broke don't fix it. I use 11 on most of the other machines. One of my servers uses Slackware 11 with the 2.4, uptimes are long.

I would suggest that you use Slackware 11.0 with the 2.6 kernel. The stock 2.4 is stable but to stay on the edge, use the 2.6. Setup should not be a major problem.

If you do come up against a problem then just post here. Someone will help. A search on LQ will produce a result for most of the problems you may find.

Why worry about it? All you're really concerned with is learning the Slack way without giving up what you've got; if I understand you correctly.

What you probably need to do is (least painful) add another hard drive, partition it into plenty of roomy (say 10-15 GB) pieces; and install whatever distro(s) you get curious about on it.

From my own experience I can say there is no reason to be afraid of compiling your own kernel and there are good reasons to do so.

So come on in. The water's fine!

I am running Slack 11.0 with the 2.4 kernel ATM on my main desktop and I noticed in the installer it came with some wireless tools, so it may be able to be done with the 2.4 kernel. BUT, you probably would be better off with the 2.6.

I need to do some 2.6 kernel compiling speaking of which. I have compiled one kernel in my life and I ran into some issues that prevented me from completing...but this time I will finish it. I must say, I somehow manage to come back to Slackware no matter what distro I try. The way I could describe Slack is that it gives you enough tools in the beginning to make your system workable, but YOU have to make it usable. I learn more with Slack than any other distro just b/c it kinda makes you learn it.

The 2.4 kernel is default because it is deemed "more stable" then the 2.6 kernel still under development. As a general rule of thumb, you should only upgrade the kernel if you specificly need something that is not in the 2.4 kernel.

For instance, my desktop runs the 2.6 kernel because I needed it for bluetooth. My server however, runs the 2.4 kernel just fine.

Best regards,
...drkstr

I tinkered a lot w/ 2.6 kernel(s) in my initial days of slacking. But right now I am using the default 2.4.33.3 kernel that comes w/ slack 11 because I don't see any need to upgrade. The default kernel works nicely and I don't see no reason to add in a new kernel. Ofcourse, when the need arises, I will be compiling my own. There's no need to get scared, just don't experiment in a live | real-time | production system. find a spare machine.

I am a total Linux newbie and I have only ever used Slackware.

I an old 'spare' P3 machine which has been resurrected to useable again thanks to Linux/Slackware and some learning on my part (many thanks to the people here) plus some cheap HW upgrades.

I also have a wireless laptop that I have installed windows & slackware on and compiled my own 2.6 kernel for (which maybe isnt perfect -yet) but at least I know (or am learning) why its not working. The wireless IS working though.

Since I've started with slackware I've grown to detest software that hides my computer from me.

Granted, I can not comment on the other distros you are used to, but if I can learn Slack and compile my own kernel I'm sure any seasoned 'nix user could do the same and be up and running in a day.

Wireless configuration in the 2.6 kernel seems pretty straightforward to me.

It may require some initial reading to get your wireless working to your liking but once you get it how you want it you will be all set forever since you can just save your config files! :-)

i was scared too because of this when i first visited the slackware page on the search for a new distro, but gave it a try after all other major distros proofed that they are very difficult to install/configure/maintain.

i think that you should not evaluate a distro for the kernel it uses, better evaluate it for the possibility to adjust configuration to your needs and effort to maintain and install new software on.

ive started as a linux user 1997 and iam still one. for years i used suse but i got more and more alienated by it, couldnt find the config scripts any more and the graphical yast was unusable somehow. after some other distros i found out that slackware, even if its shipped with 2.4 kernel, is as easy to install/configure as the early distros, but support most modern hardware. slackware configures a lot of hardware but a lot of hardware will not be configured automatically (other distros configure nearly everything but really often fail in some points and the user cant figure out why because he cant understand what the distro tryes to do).

if slackware cant configure your hardware you have to do it, and thats often much easier than find out what these clever install scripts of suse, fedora et al. messed up.

if you want you can install the 2.6 kernel in slackware anytime.
i installed slackware on my laptop because of new hardware im using the 2.6 kernel (ok i dont need wireless) but there are a few nice features you can configure and use even with slackware.
you should read installation instructions and manpages before you do something, but thats recommended for other distros too.
dont be afraid by the 2.4 kernel you can swith to 2.6 very easy.
campher