Hi,

I've got xubuntu installed in my laptop and I'm thinking of getting rid of it and replacing it with slackware 12.1. So far everything is fine but it lacks performance. I disabled many services almost to the bone but it's still slow. I have read a lot of good reviews here and their about slackware and it's performance. I know it's not user-friendly but I'm always up for a challenge. What I need to know is, does it support the following programs?

-truecrypt
-EncFS
-gnupg

Can you recommend me any other encryption program that's compatible with slackware?

I have read that there will be times that users will have to manually compile programs from source...My question for that is do I need to manually download and install the build programs for that or does it come pre-installed with slackware?

During the installation of slackware, will there be an option for me to select which default manager I want to use such as gnome, kde, xfce, and such?...

Does it also support bum and sysv-rc-conf?...I've gotten use to using those 2 programs and it would be nice if slackware supports it.

How are updates handled in slackware? Is there an update manager that can manually/automatically download and install security updates, or do I have to do that manually?

I have used fedora core, redhat, suse, ubuntu flavors, and even openbsd. Openbsd was nice only because it NAT my dsl line--it was a great experience but it didn't support the programs that I use, so I left it. That being said, I still consider myself a noob but I have experience and still I have much to learn. I think this will be my last stop and last ride with linux and I hope that slackware will be the one.

I wouldn't say it's not user-friendly (it was my first distro, afterall), but if you're willing to learn it'll go much more smoothly.
See here. The README_CRYPT.TXT file is included on the Slackware CDs/DVD should you choose to install it. If you want to use LVM as well, README_LVM.TXT is also a great reference. GnuPG already comes with Slackware by default.
All of the standard developer packages come with a default Slackware installation -- there is no need to download them separately. Occasionally you may need some extra libraries and other dependencies, but most of the development tools you will ever need are included. There are some great repositories for SlackBuilds (which are small scripts that you just have to run alongside the app's sources and a nice package will be created that can be installed) and pre-built packages out there. I would strongly recommend slackbuilds.org, which maintains a nice repository for quite a few SlackBuilds for various apps. I would also recommend Alien Bob's repository and rworkman's repository, which contain both SlackBuilds and pre-built packages. There is also slacky.eu, which has a large repository of packages and SlackBuilds. I would trust that one less than the others, but it's still a great resource. I would try to steer clear of linuxpackages.net though -- some of its packages have questionable dependencies and were built on unclean systems. You could also use src2pkg to compile apps, which tries to guess correct parameters and create a Slackware package. I haven't tried it myself, but have heard nothing but praise -- it works nearly always, from what I've heard (you can thank gnashley for that). EncFS is available from slackbuilds.org, in case you want to use that (based on your previous question).

Installing a package in Slackware is as simple as running `installpkg packagename.tgz` as root. Upgrading can be done with upgradepkg, and uninstalling can be done with removepkg (or pkgtool). I would ALWAYS recommend making packages instead of doing a blind `./configure; make; make install` on the source. Packages are much easier to maintain, since Slackware's standard package management tools can install/upgrade/remove the packages with ease.
Yes. If you ever need to switch the window manager in the future, you can run `xwmconfig` to change your selection. It should be noted, however, that Slackware does NOT come with Gnome. There's just not enough manpower to maintain Gnome on the Slackware team, and it is no longer included. If you want to use Gnome, there are some great third-party Gnome distributions for Slackware, like Dropline Gnome or Gnome SlackBuild (GSB -- that would be my recommendation, as it only replaces a few Slackware packages).
Updates are usually only released for security reasons. You can be fairly sure that your Slackware box, if kept up-to-date, will be more secure than the vast majority of other Linux distros out there. However, if you want new features between Slackware releases, you'd have to compile a newer version yourself (or find a package). You can subscribe to the Slackware mailing list to be notified of any new updates (see slackware.com for more info). Patches are released in the patches/ directory of any Slackware mirror. Instructions for upgrading are included in the mailing list e-mails and at the security advisories page. Sometimes packages require certain upgrade procedures (never anything difficult, but more than just typing `upgradepkg packagename`), so I would always recommend checking the official instructions for upgrading a package. There are some nice scripts that mirror the patches/ directory for you if you want (like Alien Bob's rsync_slackware_patches script). I made a nice little script that can tell you which patches are installed and which ones are out-of-date, but since I don't like to plug my own (sub-standard) scripts I'll let you search for it if you want it (or ask for it -- but the other scripts out there should do just fine).

I should also mention that there are utilities like slackpkg and slapt-get that can automatically download packages (like the patches/ directory) and provide an easier way to install/upgrade the apps. It still requires *some* manual intervention, but it can make it a bit easier if you're into that sort of thing. In addition, slapt-get (and probably slackpkg -- I've never used either one) can download packages from other repositories (like slacky.eu) to provide a more automated system. There are many others more knowledgeable than I on that subject though, so I'll leave it to them.

Just saw that and figured it warrants a new post. Slackware uses BSD-style init scripts, and furthermore, everything is normally edited by hand (though there's not usually much to edit). Those utilities will not be very useful in Slackware. Slackware *does* support SysV init scripts, but they're not really used (the only time you will encounter them is if you install an app clearly designed specifically for another distro, or if you can only find the app packaged as an RPM. Examples include my crappy Lexmark driver, which only half-works anyway. But thats literally the only non-Slackware, non-BSD-style script on my machine). All of the init scripts are located in /etc/rc.d/, and all of the scripts included by default can be enabled or disabled just by setting or unsetting the executable bit on the file. For example, to enable mysql on startup, I would just type `chmod +x rc.mysqld` as root (or `chmod -x rc.mysqld` as root to stop it from starting). The same can be said for the other init scripts included by default. If you create an init script, you will have to start it from /etc/rc.d/rc.local (or /etc/rc.d/rc.netdevice if you want to be clever, though I won't go into that). Usually, if you create an init script, you make a /etc/rc.d/rc.initscriptname file with the desired script. You would then add the following to rc.local to start it up:
That way, you can enable/disable the script at startup just by setting/unsetting the executable bit, just like the other init scripts (note that the "start" argument to the script above may not apply to your script, depending on how it's written).

I think you will like Slackware. If you decide to use Xfce you will probably want to install some of the xfce-related software using build scripts from SlackBuilds.org. Fluxbox is also an included window manager, and it is much lighter on resources than Xfce. It is extremely flexible, but it does require you to configure it with some text files (just like Slackware itself ).

I recommend you read So you want to be a Slacker! What do I do next?.

Thanks T3slider and shadowsnipes for the info. Very nice...

Everything sounds good to go. I'll be around the forums.

Peace