A lot of people seem to like Slackware, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I don't know a whole hell of a lot a bout it. I've heard people say it's easy, I've heard people say it's hard, I've been told that you constantly have to edit text files... I want to try it, be it hard or not. I would like to learn more about Linux, how things work and all that, and I've heard that Slackware is a great distro to use to learn Linux. I'm going to install it next week so I thought I'd ask if anyone had any need to know information or just general tips that would reduce the chances of me losing my mind. I've only ever really used Ubuntu, so when it comes to Linux know-how, I have very little.

The first thing you should do is read the Slack Book:
http://slackbook.org/html/index.html
Read all of it before you install.
Woodsman's site has a lot of good stuff also:
http://humanreadable.nfshost.com/sdeg/index.htm
Every good Slacker also always reads the Changes And Hints.txt found on any slackware mirror:
http://slackware.oregonstate.edu/sla..._AND_HINTS.TXT
(Note: The stuff about upgrading from a previous version will not apply to you).

You will have to be fairly competent with basic linux terminal commands to use slackware. The Slack Book comes in handy there.

You will have to edit some configuration files, but not constantly. Once you get slackware setup the way you want it, you are good to go. Slackware is rock solid stable. You just get the updates from the patches directory at any slackware mirror. Follow the changelogs for updates:
http://slackware.com/changelog/stable.php?cpu=i386
You can also use slackpkg for updating slackware.

After you get Slack installed, I would recommend using xorgsetup to configure X instead of xorgconfig.
http://slackbook.org/html/x-window-system.html

For extra packages that are not part of slackware, check out http://slackbuilds.org/

And yes, Slackware is the best distro if you really want to learn linux. I have learned way more with slackware than I ever could have learned with Ubuntu.

Agreed!
As tommcd said it is absolutely critical that you do your homework before you attempt to install Slackware. Read the slackbook and the related links provided by tommcd.
Slackware uses a ncurses text-based installer to install, set-up Slackware. There are no point and click GUIs used when administering Slackware. That being said I can say that Slackware is very logical and is in my opinion the best version of Linux.

Hi,

Welcome to Slackware®!

I would suggest that you read all the documentation that PV has provided but the few following will aid you; Announce 12.1, Slackware-Howto, CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT, UPGRADE.TXT. Plus the other text files relevant to your needs.

'Slackware® Basics' is another good reference listed in the 'Slackware Reference' section.

These links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

Your motivation for trying Slackware is not totally clear....I have valued the learning provided by setting up a Slackware system, but the absence of robust, user-friendly, package management always leaves me cold. For example, try Arch: You still learn a lot, you get a system "your way", AND there's a good package manager at the core.

I am not sure we can help there.....One possibility: Like your wallet or car keys, if you always leave it in the same place, there's less chance of losing it.....

With all due respect, pixellany, the lack of a package-management system for me is a strength, not a weakness in Slackware. From my experience even solid package-management systems break and then you're left to manually clean up the mess. Once you become familiar with Slackware it will grow on you.
Each to his own of course.

On the contrary Slackware is the OS which's package manager doesnt leave me in the cold. All other package management systems, and especially dpkg, confuse me cause they try to think, judge and operate on my behalf.

Tribulation, don't let the previous posts scare you... You don't need to read 50 books in order to get Slackware up and running, it's really VERY simple. (No offense to the previous posters).

What you should know is-

Slackware's installer DOES NOT partition your harddrives automatically for you (unlike the other distros). After that, it just like installing Debian or Ubuntu server etc.

To install-

1) boot from a Slackware CD
2) hit ENTER when you get the "BOOT:" prompt (unless you have some weird setup like hardware RAID)
3) Login as 'root', no password
4) run fdisk to partition your harddisc, the only hard part is figuring out how many cylinders to make the swap partition- (from memory so, if I'm slightly wrong, sorry)

a) fdisk /dev/hda (or /dev/sda if you are running SATA)
b) Setup your linux partition-

1. p (to show existing partitions)
2. n (to create a new partition)
3. p (for primary partition)
4. 1 (for 1st primary partition)
5. ENTER (for the default 1 start cylinder)
now you need some math, divide your HD cylinders by your HD size (e.g. 13,245cyl/320Gb = ~41cyl/Gb). Make the swap about 2X your RAM size... If you have 4Gb of RAM, make the swap 8gb x cyl/Gb (e.g. 8x41=328 cylinders).
6. type in the disc cylindersize MINUS the swap cylinder size and hit ENTER. (e.g. '12917' from the above example).

c) Setup your swap partition

1. p (to show existing partitions)
2. n (to create a new partition)
3. p (for primary partition)
4. 2 (for 2nd primary partition)
5. ENTER (for the default next available start cylinder)
6. ENTER (for the default end of disc end cylinder)
7. t (to toggle a partition type)
8. 2 (for the 2nd partition)
9. 83 (for Linux swap)
10. ENTER

d) w (to write the partition table to the disc)
You should have your HD partitioned...

5) setup (to run the Slackware installation)

After that, just asnwer the questions.
For your first Slackware install, when it asks you if you want a Full Install, or a Menu Install, or, etc., just select FULL.

After the install is done, you won't have a working x-windows. to set that up, just run xorgconf and answer the questions. There is a graphical setup for X but I have never used it.

Excellent post! If you have trouble setting up x windows with xorgconfig then I suggest that you use xorgsetup. xorgsetup will automatically set-up x windows for you then you can start-up your desktop environment at the command line with startx.

http://www.slackbook.org/html/x-window-system.html

This months edition of Linux Format LXF119 June 2009 has Slackware 12.2 (disks 1 & 2) and a four page article with how to install (pages 52-55).

samac

I'm not sure it belongs in this thread, but this is a pretty fundamental point of philosophy.

If I use a typical package manager--eg Synaptic (many distros) or Pacman (Arch)---I am told very clearly what dependencies are needed. I then have a very clear choice to install or not install. In all the debates about Slackware vs everyone else, I have totally missed how this can be a bad thing.

This said, I DO appreciate and respect the folks that want to do everything by hand.

For a learner-Slacker, cfdisk is an easier option for creating partitions.
As for dependencies, a SlackBuild readme will tell what is needed.

I gave up on dpkg the day i tried to install wmii and installed dwm and dwm-tools along with it, which as far as i understand contains all pieces of software developed by suckless.org (incl. dmenu).
I am not willing to read a book on how to work with dpkg. I'd rather read one written by Tom Robbins.
If the above is expected behaviour and if such packaging schemes make sense to people, then i admit i am "special".

Oh! There was one other time i wanted to use cdrtools. Sadly cdrkit is a really broken piece of software that just doesnt work.
I dint want to read an encyclopedia on how to make a .deb either.

The point is not doing everything by hand. Its about having control. Most distros take that away from you. Yet if you ask a "Linux preacher" about the differences with other OSes he/she will say that in Linux you have control, and a choice. And for the most part that is a lie. And its getting worst as Linux "matures". Especially in newbie friendly distributions you have neither.

PS. Pacman (the Arch Linux PMS) is better than dpkg, it gives more control to the user, its easier and much more strightforward than dpkg, but its not yet fullfeatured, and as it is still maturing i'm convinced that it will get almost as worthless as dpkg. Although i doubt it will reach that point of worthlessability.

That was true in the old days. With 4 Gb of RAM you don't need that. You don't need more than 1 Gb for swap. The rest is just waisted.

About package management:
All is well (usually..) a long as you stay on the paved paths. Once you decide you want a newer version of software XYZ you might be in trouble.
Or when you try to compile your own stuff, Slackware is the best.
Still think it's one of the strong points of Slackware.

I'm new to Slackware, and linux, eh, my first distro was RedHat, then Libranet around the turn of the millineum and then I went 5 years without using linux at all. I've been back at it for about a year and a half (didn't check the math on this ) It's no longer a quirky and crashed proned X environment like it used to be. Here's my take after using Mandriva, Fedora, Zenwalk, OpenSuse, and of course all the 'buntus, etc etc.

What you want, IMO, above all else is stability and a kernel that is new enough to support your hardware. Slackware did this for me (my DELL in sig). When you have stability, and most of the programs you want installed, maintaining Slackware is a pleasure. Slackware has a very clean 'feel' to it, and it's fast with no dependency hell...and when it's clean and fast, you can really turn up the eye candy and make it look really nice. Once I got it in my blood, all the other distro's seem second rate to me. And you're right, it is a good way to learn linux...but it's not THAT difficult to be a 'user'...for example, a Zenwalk or Debian install takes me longer. Sure, you'll need to pick out some dependencies to install additional programs, but you will be told what those are in the packages readme file (you can see what you already have by opening a /var/log/packages window). There's nothing cryptic to installing a program....I use sbopkg a lot for example....you can browse, search, etc...it's ncurses but reads just as well as anything else. Using the command line is a power tool. You do many userspace operations from you DE's control panel or whatever as usual with any other distro. You're not going to be editing text files at every turn either, but when you do, the results are usually something that enhances your Slack experience.

There are many brainiacs around here that are very friendly and willing to help newcomers, (my experience)....you'll need to get oriented and find out where the toilets and light switches are, but that won't take that long Have fun, you'll like it.