Hi!
If I recompile the packages from Slackware 10.0 source cds with the scripts there, will then KDE and others run faster?
Bye!

If you set all the build flags for your system, yes, BUT not by much.
But Slack does not have a system for this. . .(that I know of)
So you will have to do this for each package.

If you want a from source distro, check out Gentoo.
Slack is just fine without needing to compile.


Slack is compiled to run on i486 class computers BUT is optimized for i686.

Gentoo is not quite as nice as what most people suggest. Ever tried emerging openoffice sucsessfully? I know of only one person out of my group of friends who has. Compiling your system and packages from source may sound nice and my impress n00bs but in reality the gain in performance is so small it is hardly noticeable. If I were you and wanted better performance from your system, I would change your filesystem to XFS, I did so the other day when I installed Slackware 10 on my laptop and the difference cirtainly is noticable.

slackMeUp: I've read "Slack is compiled to run on i486 class computers BUT is optimized for i686." many times on the internet, yet I never really understood it.

If you compile something for i486 I understand it will also run on i686, however, if you compile it for i686 it will probably not run on i486, right? But then, what does the optimization mean? Is the program compiled "twice", so that you basically get two programs in one program and when the program runs, it checks the cpu and if it's a i686 it runs the i686 part of the program and otherwise the i486-part?

when you roll your own kernel, you can set what type of
processor you are using............

Hahaha. . . words like that could start a flame war.

I use both Gentoo and Slackware. Gentoo for my desktop/workstation and Slackware for my servers. . .

First off:
With Gentoo you can compile a program exactly the way you want it. Slack packages are compiled to work on almost any hardware so the programs are bloated with extra code just to support some chip feature you have never heard of. For example, a P4 does not need 3Dnow support in Mplayer. With Gentoo your OS is compiled just for your system.

I will have to admit, that Gentoo feels snappy. Just as snappy as Slackware. . . but both beat RPM based distros by far.

emerging program is simple. . . and often painless. . . not as hard as you make it seem.
And hey, if OOo has you down, just use the GRP package.

As for the XFS comment. . .
pfft. . . Riser4 will kick the shit out of it. When it comes out that is.

It's compiled to work on a 486 class CPU. .. but there is some extra code that is used when working on a 686 CPU. The extra code takes up some space but it will make it run much faster on 686 hardware.

From a 486 point of view. . . the extra code is bloat. But from a 686 point of view, being 486 compatible is stupid.

You have to pick the lesser of two evils. hehe.

And how can I do that?
"./configure --host=i686" ? Or what?

Dude,

Like I said. . . if you want to compile everything for your system, use Gentoo or another "from source" distro. . .

If you want to keep using slack, then don't worry about it. . . Slack is really fast, compaired to most (if not all) RPM based distros. Slack is stable and fast. . . the only thing you might want to compile is your own kernel, but the ones in the slack tree run fine.

Compile your own kernel, use RiserFS (or XFS) and maybe (if you really want to) rebuild glibc. . . other then that Slack is set.

Interesting point. If RPM based distros use the same compilers, why should there be any speed difference? And if a distro is compiled and optimised for i686, thus dropping the compatibility with Pentium classic and older, shouldn't it be faster than Slackware, then (a little bit, at least)?

So, if there is evidence the Slack is particularly fast compared to other distros, this thread would be a good place to reveal them!

gargamel

I think perhaps the "referring" to other distros as "RPM based" doesn't necessarily mean that any slowness is Contributed BY using RPM packages. Its just a general rollup of something distro's have in common.

So in slightly different words

Most ( if not all ) distro's that have adopted RPM based packaging, are slower than slackware due to the extra bloat inserted. i.e. those splash screens on bootup have a noticable impact on a lot of systems in my experience. I once thought I'd put it on a slack box just to learn a bit about what others are doing to their systems. And it was a clean setup for the most part, but I could tell just an ever so slight difference in performance. But slight enough that i stopped noticing it after 10 or so minutes of use. Start piling other things on top that aren't really needed as most ( if not all ) RPM based distro's do and it comes of slower.

( yes i know gentoo & others has da perty screen on bootup too, its just an example )

if you ask me slack is fast b/c its stable. Id say most other distros are a little slower due to some instability ( in other words, any performance gained due to droping of pclass or anything else that one would present as logical for performance gained, is lost due to small discrepencies )

I have only been using Linux/Slack for about a year but managed to pick up a thing or two... in my /etc/profile.d/ folder I have created an executable make.sh file containing this:
Every time I login (any user) this file is parsed and the settings applied so when I run "make" I automatically get the compile settings for my system.

Yes, that is what I meant about RPM based distros. . . They all have extra bloat loaded that you don't need. RedHat, SuSE, MDK, etc. . . all load programs and deamons that, while make the desktop easy to use or provide services, weigh down a system with extras you may not need.

Whenever I install a distro like this the first thing I do is go into the startup scripts and edit out stuff I don't need. (if they don't have an option panel to do so, I go in by hand. . . )

Slackware on the other hand, has a minimal (simple) set of startup deamons. . . it lets you deside what runs or not when you install. It's fast because it's simple.

The good value for CHOST is : i686-pc-linux-gnu, and you can add a -mcpu flag to optimise code for processor( -mcpu=athlon for example )

[edit]
for more infos about optimisation settings do :
info gcc
go to * Invoking GCC:: then * Optimize Options::

The biggest advantage of rolling your own is that you learn about your system and the OS you are using. You learn about your hardware, where files are, what they do ...etc, etc.

I highly recommend doing it. If not Slackware then LFS.