What I do is load up SLAX and do the xconf thing before logging in. Copy the xorg.conf file over to /etc/X111 and use it in Slackware.

Everyone says that with Slackware you will learn Linux. Well, I am blessed with a short memory and Slackware is blessed with great stability. By the time a problem comes up again I have forgotten so much that I have to go back to the basics. Who would have thought that stability was a barrier to learning?

Fortunately I keep a lot of notes and keep the notebooks handy.

Best answer yet.

I started with Slackware 10 years ago and never changed. I'm still learning.

I back up my /etc directory just to make sure.

I know what you mean about forgetting all the stuff you had to learn to set it
up then going for so long that you forget how you did it.

That's why I back up my /etc directory. That way all I have to do when
upgrading is copy the /etc directory over to the upgrade and I'm pretty well
set. May have to make a few changes but not many.

I recently Installed Ubuntu v.5.04 and later v.5.10 as i had read quite a bit of hype about it's release - it seems great for someone who wants to try linux but doesnt want to take the whole plunge..

I wanted to go back to the old console window days of DOS as i my windows enviroment is just too pretty and i feel like i am getting further away from knowing what the system is actually doing..

I read that one of slackware's goals was to keep the 'Unix' expierience alive - now that sounds goood to me!

I have since settled with Slackware 10.1 and LOVE IT!
It also comes equiped with the Gnome desktop (like ubuntu) or the Ultra Polished KDE ..

Although each of the distro's are going to appeal to different people i personally give Slackware the thumbs up!
Definatley worth a go!!

I have Slackware on my desktop and laptop (actually, I have Zenwalk, a Slack derivative on it right now). I went through several hours of work to go back to a Slackware derivative on that laptop because Ubuntu just wasn't fast enough. Everything worked out of the box, which was great when it was new. But eventually, the speed hit started to bother me. CPU frequency scaling is great for battery and heat issues, but you end up running at 600 Mhz a lot, and the difference between distro speeds and window manager speeds becomes noticable, and therefore bothersome. I had to go back to Slack.

Now that I've got a Slackware distro on it, using Fluxbox, I don't notice any difference between my laptop at 600Mhz and my desktop running at full speed (amd 2800). With Ubuntu, I noticed.

However, if you've got a new machine with lots of processor power and RAM, it might not be worth your while. There's a lot to be said for Ubuntu. It's not nearly as overbearing as Suse, for instance, and easier on the eyes than some of the candy-colored distros.

I've tried lots of distros, and all of them were nice, but:

- Mandrake: a bit bloated, "wizards" usually failed configuring things (time ago)
Not to mention rpm hell, and having to install "-dev" packages to compile something.

- Debian: quite nice, but a dist-update screwed it up. A bit outdated, and I had some problems with deb packages dependencies.

- Gentoo: pretty nice, but it was a pain having to compile everything (or almost everything)

I also tried some debian-based, which inherited debian's problems, and added some more. Although I've recently tried Ubuntu and was very nice. (Not my style, but very nice)

Then, 3 years ago from now I tried Slackware. I suddenly felt at home. Everything worked as expected. Not only it's the perfect distro to learn linux (and I mean all flavours of linux), you can do whatever you want with it: server, desktop, multimedia, development, networking, whatever.

Keep on rockin' Pat!!

BTW, I'm new here, so hi all!

Welcome aboard

Keep it Slackin'

Great idea.! thanks.

Slackware is definately worth it.

Now I may be a bit biased seeing as I started learning stuff outside of M$ with FreeBSD. I installed it on a 286 I think lol. Had one hell of a time and stopped tinkering after gaining an understanding. Then a couple years down the line I tried out redhat. I took one look at it and got confused just because there wasn't a prompt. I had help from a friend and found redhat hard because of all those wierd custom commands. Once again I dropped it.

Then somewhere around Slackware 8.X I tried out slack because everyone I saw on some forums I frequented cried about how hard it was and I was curious. I popped it in and fell in love(mostly because of how much like FreeBSD it was). It's been so many years I have absolutely no clue how long ago that was but I've either been dual booting or just straight slacking my comps ever since(including my laptop I'm onright now).

If you ask me slack is the way to go. Not only do you learn linux but everything is customizable.

In short it is at the very least worth a spin.

Wait, I thought the first BSD even before FreeBSD, that was ported to the x86 arch. was 386BSD, therefore, I don't know if you could even install it on a 286, as in the case of FreeBSD which started with I386 and then moved up...

Anyways, the way I see it about Slackware, whether it is worth it or not, really depends on what you want. If you want something that is not Windows, but will still hold your hand along the way, Slackware isn't it, but if you want to learn about not just Linux, but really more about computing, then yes Slackware is worth it (and so would FreeBSD).

I find Slackware to be far easier than most other distros. It's just built in a way that I am comfortable with. I used Mandrake and Red Hat 6 I think. Never liked them. Installed Slack 8.0 and felt at home. So yes, it's worth it.

Hi,

I agree with you that Slackware is far easier than most distros.
My problems is with noobs' that eed to have their hand held.
Sure GUIs' are nice eye candy but to get any real work done CLIs' the way to go.

That's why Slackware is comfortable to me. Heck, I can remember installing UNIX on AT&T 3B1s', that was a chore! I can remember my first use of Minux then Linux came along. It was very interesting at the time and has moved a long way since.

Yes, PV has done a great service for the Linux community!

So to agree; 'So yes, it's worth it.'

Just to give a vivid example of Slackware:

With other distros you'll learn a lot about Linux, but with Slackware, you will learn how to create your own distro.

Murdock

Slackware is a great distribution.. I use slackware for my laptop for my workstation and for the servers I administrate. Never failed me once and it's the perfect challange for any linux user.