Please forgive the newbie post, I just installed Slackware 12.1 the other day and only some of the programs are showing in the Fluxbox menu. Is there a list somewhere of what programs are installed? I did the complete install as I am looking to make linux my standard for video/audio editing. Any advice on books to read for using linux? I have read almost the whole slackbook but it is pretty vague on applications available.

From the command line, as root, run pkgtool. Then select the View option.

For a cursory view, open the /var/log/packages directory.

If you performed a full installation, then open the text files named PACKAGES.TXT or FILELIST.TXT.

I hope this helps.

If after following the previous suggestions, you still feel the same, please provide a comment in this thread where the information was not explicit enough. Perhaps the slackbook could be improved.

I found the pkgtool, thanks! I'm really looking for a document which perhaps spreadsheet that would allow me to see both the name of the package and the description of what it does in a searchable format. Any suggestions? I could not find PACKAGES.TXT OR FILELIST.TXT

will list all of the packages installed on your system.
...OR...
will allow you to browse the list a little easier. If you want to see the descriptions, type the following:
If you want to browse EVERY description, you could run the following line which should work most of the time -- but that would take a LONG time to read.
You could always redirect the output to a file instead of to `less` which would allow you to do more with it -- but if you want a spreadsheet, you'll have to find your own parsing mechanism. You can search in `less` by typing the / character, then typing the word to search for and pressing enter. Typing / and then enter again will take you to the next entry. Of course, if you direct the output to a file, you can use whatever you want to search it.

Look in the root directory of the first CD or DVD. Or look in the root directory at any Slackware mirror, such as slackware-12.1. Niether document is in a spreadsheet format, but is easily searchable.

If you really want a spreadsheet, there's a nice easy way to do it. Run the following:
Then, if you use OpenOffice, you can go to "Insert">"Sheet From File". Open ~/packagelist.txt. In the dialog box that pops up, choose "Separated by" and check the "Other" box (and uncheck the "Tab" box if it is checked). In the text field beside the Other box, put the degree symbol (°). You can probably copy and paste it. The line above replaces the first : with a ° simply because some of the lines have URLs in them, which would fragment the description and make it less readable -- so put a ° in the "Other" box instead of a :. Click OK, and then click OK on the next sheet (assuming the defaults are fine). Presto -- the package name, with descriptions, in a searchable spreadsheet. I would recommend changing the font to Courier or another fixed-width font and turning off spell-checking, since the file is less readable without those modifications. If you DON'T use OpenOffice, you'd have an interesting problem -- as far as I know, MS Excel isn't as flexible with its importing (and parsing) options. But I may be wrong. If you have OpenOffice but prefer MS Excel, you can of course, export the newly created spreadsheet to an Excel document.

If you don't think using the GUI is a sin, then kpackage is pretty handy. I'm not sure if it is still included in Slack 12.1, but it was there in 12.0.

It is definitely searchable and provides the version and description along side the name.