Thinking about giving Slack a try. I am not very strong with Linux and hate getting stuck so am not sure if Slack 10.1 is the way to go. I have been breast fed by Fedora for ~2 years and would rate my Linux skills a 3 (10 being best) but my Linux obssesion and patience rate a 100 (10 being best).

My question is does Slack have a simple package manager like YUM or APT-GET? How would I go about installing stuff like the latest kernel, MPlayer, KDE 3.3.2, etc etc etc.

I don't know how to complile anything but can follow directions pretty well.

Thanks for any support.

Slapt-get is a clone of the debian apt-get , and pkgtools is a good package manager for removing , installing and viewing packages, and also from the command line, installpkg package.tgz and removepkg package.tgz is very good

i also like Swaret too, its quick and easy.

Do you guys suggest Slackware for me or think I should wait and get my feet wet with something like Debian?

Not sure if your hate of getting stuck is outweighed by your patience.
If you truely have patience, then you'll love slack. You'll just have to learn a little as you go.
It's not so bad though, as there's plenty of help & documentation to help you out.

The kernel you can just goto kernel.org, download the latest & compile normally.
Since Slack doesn't alter it to be distro specific, you are always good to go with the latest.
For KDE or any software that comes with slack, just keep an eye on the change log.
ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackwar.../ChangeLog.txt

Whenever there's an update, just use the slack pack browser to download it.
Heres an example:
http://www.slackware.com/pb/searchpk....1&string=xmms

Then su to superuser, & one quick command:

upgradepkg xmms-1.2.10-i486-2.tgz

and your done with that one.
It's very easy to keep upto date with this distro.

Thanks - Think I will give Slack 10.1 another shot. Is there a site that will show me step by step how to install/compile the latest kernel from www.kernel.org?

I have never done something like this and don't want to crash my system

I say dive right in, and go for Slackware, its the first distro I tried, and I haven't really bothered with any other distro.

Yes there are many. I have an excellent link at home & will post it tonight.
I'm at work right now so don't have it bookmarked here.
At first it is scary, but it's actully very easy once you get used to it.
3-4years ago I was sweating first time I got it wrong.
Now it's like ordering a pizza, just something you do.

Ok,
The site I had bookmarked is now a dead link.
There are many sites on the net that have tutorials, I do recommend searching google & reading a few.
Since I don't have a link I can share, I typed up exactly how I do it.


------------------------------------
Kernel Compile guide
------------------------------------
#download the current kernel linux-2.6.xx.tar.gz
#as root:
mv linux-2.6.xx.tar.gz /usr/src
cd /usr/src
tar -zxvf linux-2.6.xx.tar.gz
rm linux
ln -s /usr/src/linux-2.6.xx /usr/src/linux
cd linux
make menuconfig #(*Setup for your system*)
make
make bzImage
make modules
make modules_install
cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.xx
cp System.map /boot/System.map-2.6.xx
rm /boot/System.map
ln -s /boot/System.map-2.6.xx /boot/System.map
cd //etc
vi lilo.conf #(*Add new selection, see below*)
cd //sbin
lilo
reboot
#(*Login as root*)
cd nvidia #(*Wherever you located your vid driver*)
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5661-pkg1.run #(*Varies for your driver*)
#Done



My lilo.conf entry:
image = /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.xx
root = /dev/sda1
label = Slack_2.6.xx-SMP
read-only
------------------------------------

------------------------------------

Hope you find that helpfull.

Just a note. I don't know that I would make compiling my own kernel a real high priority unless your system demands it. You should probably build a few other apps first to get your feet wet with the whole compiling process, editing text files, navigating your system. Unless you have some odd hardware, Pat V (maker of Slackware) will provide up to date kernel packages that you can simply install rather than building your own.

Just use slapt-get and gslapt and you have apt and synaptic on slack

ingvildr: oh please.

well he did ask for something simple, i'm guessing your not a slapt or gslapt fan?

I have tried slapt-get and swaret, didn't like them and don't use them. But if everyone else wants to, fine. Best of luck to you, But to compare either of them with apt-get in Debian means you have never used Debian for any length of time. The Debian repositories, the dependency checking are all officially part of Debian. It is built with apt-get and dependency checking as part othe distro so they work almost flawlessly when used as designed. Don't get me wrong, I am a Slackware user. I don't even have Debian currently on my system as I wanted to mess around wtih another distro right now. Each distro has its strengths and weaknesses. Slackware's are its simplicity and stability, the way most packages will compile without alot of fuss, the way alot of things will just work without much tinkering right out of the box.

apt is quite good but i dont like anything that plays with dependencies, thats why i like slack. I just use slapt-get as a quicker way to update. Actually my previous post was stupid i should have made it obvious i just use it because its faster to update my system with it and that its not an apt-get for slack.