Is Slackware a good Idea for a newbie?
 

I have just started in the IT field and have little to no experience with programs that require more than a windows point and click. What I am looking for is a distro that will force me to learn linux, is highly stable, and teaches me as much as possible without wanting to throw my lap top through a window. Is this an unreasonable request given my limited abilities? I do not know any if commands or coding and have almost no experience with terminal commands. I have used ubuntu 10.4 and 12 but they are too much like windows for me.

I suggest that you read the book and see if Slackware is something that you would like to try. Partitioning your HD can be a bit daunting at first glance. The book recommends fdisk. You may wish to use cfdisk as it is a bit more user friendly.

Preparation is key to a successful first install of Slackware.

Slackbook

It depends on you capacity for reading information. Try the sticky thread "So you want to be a Slacker..." near the top in the forum.

Hi Gulrick,
well, then Slackware is exactly the right choice for you.
This depends on you, Linux and even more Slackware is much about reading the documentations.
Well, Slackware was my first experience with Linux and I've learned much with it.

Markus

Whenever Slackware fits the needs of a new user depends on the new user in question.

For Slack, the hard part is to install the system at first, as the installation process is not intuitive for novices. Partitioning is only easy if you are familiar with text mode partition tools, otherwise it can be a hard time (many people uses a "graphic and easy" tool like Parted Magic for partitioning, then boots the Slackware installer). Once the system is installed and tunned, the end user experience is basically the same -desktop applications work more or less the same in any distribution. Third party software installation is usually easy, as there are many applications prepared for Slackware by side projects like SlackBuilds.org

Basically, do some research by yourself, read the install process in the Slackbook and try to do something useful out of Slackware. The best way to know an OS is to fiddle with it. After two weeks, you'll will either get burnt or love the system.

That said, when I install a system for a newbie who is supposed to administrate it, I set Debian because it seems to me more easy-going for unexperienced people. Yeah, I know it is a matter of opinion...

thank you all for your advice and help. I have done a few partitions and had pretty good luck minus the one that said it had no data so I erased the partition and the machine would not run any more. I had to rebuild with disk and start over. Lesson learned.

Slackware is as suitable for a *motivated* newbie as most other distros. Admittedly, it is more stable than many other distros but it will NOT FORCE you to learn anything. No distro will. Slackware's installation process may be a problem for a newbie but there are lots of tutorials (with screenshots) out there so theoretically you could install slackware without understanding much of what's going on. Once you've installed slackware, it's rather simple to administer it. It might be command line but all the necessary commands (slackware-specific) to administer it can be learned in 30 minutes.

The point I'm getting at is that the fact that there are not many GUI tools on slackware is not a guarantee that a user will automatically learn much (copy & paste). If a user is motivated enough to learn BASH or the inner workings of linux, any stable linux distro will be good and no GUI will stand in the way.

Well, it doesn't force you, but if you don't learn you will not work with Slackware for a long time. Ubuntu is another thing, you learn to click here and there and don't have to understand why, and if you don't learn anything you can do very well with Ubuntu or Windows as well.
I think the problem can be the partitioning, especially if there is Windows running on the machine and should not be damaged.
The big difference between Slackware and most of the others is, that here all programs are vanilla, no patches, everything works like the manpage says. Additionally the system is very transparent, one can relatively easy "see" how things work together. On other distributions you have a assistant for everything, but when the assistant fails you're lost.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention Slackware's great community which is both, knowledgeable and helpful.

Markus

Good point about transparency. Wouldn't it be possible, though, to administer Ubuntu using the traditional CLI method without resorting to GUI assistants?

sycamorex - while I understand that Slackware is playfully irreverent, I consider your signature offensive and insulting, not to mention inappropriate in this forum. It depresses me to see it here day after day. There are more than enough platforms in your country and on the Internet today to attack the intelligence and rationality of people who believe in God. Please use one of those platforms instead. We are not stupid. We are not irrational. And we have many solid *reasons* for believing in God. As a senior member of LQ, you should not be using this forum to promote an agenda that says otherwise.

Your post is totally off-topic in this thread. If you find my signature offensive, please report it to the mods (or PM me).

Just as your signature is totally off-topic in LQ.
I have no desire to take it further; I have made my point. If you are not prepared to remove a signature which scoffs at the intelligence, rationality and capacity for critical thought of people who believe in God then it is no longer my problem but yours.

It's not only acceptable but also relatively common here to have signatures that are not related to Linux.

See my previous post.


@Sorry Gulrick for messing up your thread.

Mod Note: If any user has an issue with another user's signature, the appropriate route to take is to discuss it rationally off-line (using the PM or email contact details) and escalate it to a mod if you cannot agree. That said, signature blocks are only visible to logged in members - search engines and anyone browsing the forums who is not logged in will not be able to see them.

Signature blocks are traditionally, and as used on LQ, a small area that members can use to express themselves. In line with the global internet community, LQ is also global and so levels of offense are impossible to judge. On LQ we have a wide ranging audience with wide ranging beliefs with both believers and non-believers. Taking offense is a very personal thing and we cannot and will not police that. If any member feels that their LQ experience is damaged by signature blocks that may cause them to feel offended, it can be easily dealt with by going to My LQ > Thread Display Options and unchecking the box next to "Show Signatures". This will remove all signatures from view.

And now back to the main thread subject...

@Gulrick
I recommend you to read slackbasic and slackbook first

I learned about Linux using Slackware and the SlackBook. They are both excellent for understanding the components of a Linux system, the shell and the utilities. I've set up a Windows compatible file server using SAMBA, an FTP server using vsftp and an IRC server using UnrealIRCD. Most software compiles from source on Slackware without problems. That's because the software in Slackware is modified very little, with the exception of some important patches.

Slackware installation is very straightforward.

• Boot the Slackware setup CD or DVD
• Partition the hard disk (fdisk or cfdisk)
• Run the Slackware SETUP script
• Go through the menus in SETUP
• Boot Slackware from the hard disk
• Log in to the "root" account
• Set up X-Windows (xorgsetup)
• Use "startx" to test X-Windows
• If you want to start X-Windows on boot, edit "/etc/inittab"
• Log in to your normal user account
• If it isn't started, you can use "startx" to start X-Windows
• Use the "su -" command to get into "root" from your normal user account
• Use "shutdown -h now" to power off the PC or use "shutdown -r now" to reboot

I suggest using a virtual machine program such as VirtualBox to learn about Linux before you install Linux on a system containing other operating systems. Booting multiple operating systems from the same hard disk can be difficult, especially if one of the operating systems is Windows. You can also install Slackware on a computer with no other operating systems to make things simpler.

If you do decide to install Slackware as a second OS with Windows then keep these things in mind.

You will probably have to re-size your Windows NTFS partition smaller to create empty space for Linux partitions. The Slackware setup does not do any automatic resizing. You can use programs such as "gparted" to re-size NTFS partitions. There are also other good free and retail programs to re-size partitions. Back up your files first, in case a problem happens!

Make sure that you have a Windows Setup CD that is able to boot. That will let you run the repair tools for Windows to fix any booting problems. Windows might not boot after resizing the NTFS partition, or when the Master Boot Record of the disk has been changed. The default installation of the LILO boot loader in Slackware will update the Master Boot Record of the disk. You can create a Windows boot and repair disk if you don't have one. A Windows CD image can be downloaded from Digital River (legally). As long as you have a license to run Windows you can use the downloaded CD to repair Windows. You might not be able to install Windows from the CD, since it requires a valid retail key for that.

Most Linux distros including Slackware set up the boot loader (LILO or GRUB) to start first, before the Windows boot loader. That means you must add a menu entry for Windows in the LILO or GRUB menu. Most distros do that automatically. Slackware uses the LILO boot loader by default.

You can set up the system so that the Windows boot loader starts first. That requires a little more work than the default installation. For Slackware, you will need to install the LILO boot sector to the Slackware partition instead of the Master Boot Record. Then look online for information on how to chain from the Windows boot loader to another boot loader. Basically you create a file containing a copy of the 512-byte boot sector from the Linux partition, then add the file to the Windows boot menu. You may also have to restore the default Master Boot Record software for Windows using a repair disk.

If you are using RAID in Windows, make sure that you know if the RAID device is supported in Linux. Otherwise Linux might not be able to see or boot from the RAID array. There are many ways to set up RAID with Linux, though they don't all allow Windows to access the files.

I noticed that you have an understanding of how to partician a drive. The quick easy way to install slackware is use partician magic or gparted to set up your particians, 1st partician swap about 2 times memory. 2nd partician about 10 gig or more /root, 3rd /home 10 gigs or more. When you boot the slackware dvd just start with set swap space, it is ready for you just answer yes and then go through other particians, Then do a full load everything 4.8 gigs. There is plenty of help on this forum if you get in trouble.

I think that convention is not really needed with PCs these days. My main PC has 2 GB of RAM and a 2 GB swap file is plenty. Unless the OP's PC is really old using a lot of the HD space for extra swap may not be needed.

Simple answer: I started with Slackware. I'm glad I did.

Once you understand Slackware, no other distro will ever intimidate you, because Slackware teaches you how to figure things out.

Gulrick,

in my opinion, the installation of Slackware isn't that hard at all even for a newbie. To partition your hard disk you can use cfdisk, which is quite intuitive. A problem for a newcomer to Slackware will be the installation of additional software. So, get familiar with the SlackBuilds project first. A tool to help you with installing from there is sbopkg. But before using it make sure you understand what slackbuilds are and get to know how to use them yourself.

If a n00b wants to play the Slack game look no farther than Vector,find out who StretchedThin is( vids by Ken?), follow ALL of his tutorials-videos and you'll be good reasonably quick.
It's a great OS but I'm a Debian slut.Always have been-always will be.

Ah well... Vector is not Slackware by a long stretch. If you want to learn Slackware, do not settle for one of the offshoots. First of all, you will not get support for those derived distros in this forum.

Eric

@Gulrick
i do suggest to give it a try,,

certainly you'd experience problems
but you'd also experience a steep learning curve at the same time ;)

If you plan on dual booting with windows, the first thing you need to do on Windows is Run Disk De-fragment 2 times next go to cmd line and chkdsk /f Now reboot the computer and let chkdsk do its thing it will check the disk and repair any problems with windows. Next run one of the partician editors and re-size the windows partician to where you want, then add the linux particians. If you do that there will be no problems with dual booting.

@Gulrick
You can start with any GUI-not-overfilled distro(or overfilled one). Slackware it or not, just do it step-by-step. Start with tiny things sequentially consulting with manuals, and you will master the whole world. But my personal advice is to find good mentor nearby who will be able both to fix your mistakes an slap you.

PS: If you have any experience in martial arts you should understand what I meant. Learning technology the same, but it will not take 40 years, it will be much faster.

Another option is to setup Slackware in a virtual machine. vbox is good. Once you get the the installation completed, backup the virtual machine. That way if something goes wrong, i.e. you have a learning experience, you just restore the virtual machine and away you go.

If you are looking to learn, Slackware will get you there. I cut my teeth on Redhat before they went commercial. CentOS is another good one to learn. CentOS is based on Red Hat and Red Hat is found in a lot of businesses.

If you want to learn Linux, I would go with Slackware. If you want to get famailure with what you will most likely see on the job, I'd go with CentOS.

One thing to be careful of is pick one or two to get familure with. I learned BSD and Solaris and every now and then I get lost on the command line. I was trying to run a BSD command on my slackware box. It didn't work. I had to read the man page.

-JJ

I used some other distributions before I came across Slackware but enjoyed working with it. Quite a lot of other distributions use wizards or configuration-tools to set up users and in Slackware I had to do this using the command-line, which is good as I am currently studying for LPIC-102 exam so you can definetely learn quite a lot from Slackware. Currently I use CentOS 6.2 as my main system to do office work and surf the Internet but I am also considering having a Slackware server system for my local intranet. I also recommend reading the Slackbook.