SlackwareThis Forum is for the discussion of Slackware Linux.
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I just figured I'd chime in with more praise for Slack.
I've been a Red Hat user since 5.2 and still use it on some boxes, but I've converted nearly all my boxes (both workstation and production servers) to Slack.
Why Slack? It's not BLOATED like so many of the other distros. I realize that you can customize, trim down, kill services, recompile, and all that fun stuff (and I DO when I do a Red Hat server install) but Slack is still faster and more efficient.
I found it a bit daunting to get my head around some of the things Slack does. It took a while for me to understand the Slack startup process, which is very different from the SysV init I was used to. Now that I understand it, it's very quick and easy to make changes.
Simplicity, speed, and lack of BLOAT.
As someone mentioned above, BSDs are also good that way, but they're a pain in the a$$ for other reasons.
Using Slack has made me a better UNIX admin overall. My AIX skills are now much better after using Slack.
For people who start with Red Hat or similar distros, making the jump to commercial UNIX is harder. Slack is so similar that you develop not only skills, but a UNIX mindset that helps in many areas.
Slack does support RPMs...but you are better off converting them to Slackware packages with rpm2tgz.
As far as an apt-get like package manager, there is a tool called Swaret which works very well, and now has dependancy checking. I use swaret on a regular basis, and have never had a single issue with it. You can find it on freshmeat.net.
rpm is horrible! personally I don't like anything about the current package dependence like rpm and freebsd ports, not because they are bad, but because they are stupid! apt-get seems smart, but .deb is bad. anything non-tgz is a bad idea.
That's a lot of useful information DaOne and terminator. Thanks for the explanation . I will try slack.. I think it's the last Linux distro left for me to try... Even Grey Cat Linux (amazing mini distro IMHO) I've installed in a 486 processor, 75 mhz, 8 megas of RAM and I'm really happy with that distro, which is Slackware 3 based ...
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