Slackware too difficult?
 

So I actually used Ubuntu for a bit, and it was nice because most of the things would work out of the box, and if they didn't there was a huge community willing to help you. But the thing is, I always felt like when I had a problem, the people would just say, do this or that, and while it was great that everything was working, I had no idea what I was doing to my system. I remember one time I edited something for X11 and GNOME refused to start after that, but thankfully I knew a little bit about the terminal from using Mac/centOS at school and vim, and realized I made a typo somewhere.

Anyway, I guess after that experience I figured I really ought to learn how these things work. I mean, I'm a comp sci major after all, I should learn something about Linux/Unix in all its glory.

I'm a bit worried though, that by diving into slackware I'll end up too confused and have a computer that's nonfunctional. What's also pretty annoying though is that on Ubuntu if there's a driver not working because of a bug, I really have no power over it, and I guess I'd like to be able to dig in and fix it myself if at all possible.

So, my two questions are: limited to my remaining two and a half weeks of winter break, will I be able to learn to use Slackware/Linux enough that I will have a machine I can use for school without it going berserk on me?

And, do I need to know any programming languages to configure Slackware to work the way I want? To be honest, I actually would like to learn, which is the reason I don't want to use Ubuntu anymore since apparently a lot of the stuff for Ubuntu or other distributions is that they are specific to that distribution.

Thanks!!

You can keep your working Ubuntu system and try Slackware at the same time. Shrink your partition and dual-boot. Or run set up a virtual machine in Virtualbox and install Slackware into it.

This doesn't really change. Drivers are included with the kernel and require some programming knowledge. Depending on the sort of bug of course, there may be a workaround, such as upgrading or downgrading a package. Of course, slackware has a reputation for stability and you may find less bugs/problems while running it.



Yes, you should certainly be able to get up and running and comfy enough in that time.

No. You will have to be comfy editing configuration files by hand, though. A basic understanding of the terminal and BASH would be useful, but by no means do you even need to be proficient in shell scripting to run your system.

Check my sig; I have some tutorials that will speed you on your way.

As for the rest, no, you don't need to be a programmer to use Slackware, but you do need to be able to use the command-line terminal and do a little text editing. Hardware support is built into the kernel just the same as it is in Ubunut... you should have no trouble.

Oh yeah... welcome to Slackware!

Wow this site must be pretty active. I didn't expect to get so many replies so fast. Glad to see that there's a large and helpful community for Slackware too!

Anyway nobody has said that it's going to be too difficult, so I'm just going to jump ship and hope I don't break anything. What programming language would I need to master to be able to edit the kernel? I realize that it will be a long while before I can do something that amazing, but I figure I might as well start learning now. Unfortunately right now I've only taken a class on Java, but I assume the kernel would be written in C or C++?

Welcome to Slackware.

Yes, there is an active and helpful Slackware community. I started with Slackware quite by accident, and, as long as I asked questions clearly and intelligently, I received no end of help, both here and on the Slackware newsgroup.

Two things distinguish Slackware (well, more than two, but two for new users):

Slackware does not offer to partition your disk for you--it expects you to do that.

Slackware does not have "official" repos and expects the user to resolve dependencies. That is a great learning experience. (There is, of course, Slackbuilds.)

When you get Slackware, you get Linux; a full line-up of basic Linux commands and apps such as vim, mc, and Lynx; X; and KDE. You also get a number of other window managers (Fluxbox, TWM, Blackbox, XFCE, and one or two others).

I wrote a series of blog posts about installing Slackware, with lots of screen shots, a while ago, before I worked up the nerve to try to answer, rather than just to ask, questions at LQ. This is the last one, which links to the first four.

Once you know your way around Slackware, no other Linux distro can ever intimidate you.

Welcome to the official Slackware forum. :)
I've used Ubuntu, it is a solid distro. For your first install I recommend that you choose a full install. A full install will "work out of the box" as the full installation loads all the drivers that you will need. Read the slackbook linked in my signature and also 2handband's excellent tutorial: http://genek.net/LinuxAdventures/index.html

+1 to that. What Slackware does not give you is a full set of desktop applications so you will almost certainly want to install and office suite and, as a science student, a full-featured calculator like Speedcrunch. More a matter of personal preference you may also want a more fully featured .pdf reader like eVince, a password manager like KeePassX ...

Naw, you don't have to be able to program to modify the kernel! Really, there are few reasons you should have to modify your kernel, although you should switch from the huge kernel to the generic (both are installed by default) after the installation is complete. I explain how to do that in my Slackware configuration tutorial.

Here's my tutorial for installing:

http://genek.net/LinuxAdventures/ins...allation1.html

Here's a basic configuration:

http://genek.net/LinuxAdventures/ins...ackconfig.html

And here's software management:

http://genek.net/LinuxAdventures/sysadmin/slackpkg.html

I started my adventures in Linux with Ubuntu as well. I then decided that I wanted something a little more advanced, so I tried my hand at Gentoo. After failing to get a booting system after a couple of nights I installed Slackware and haven't looked back.

It seems there is a stigma about Slackware being difficult, but honestly it's really not. It's just simple. The installer is incredibly basic, but with a decent guide (check out the recent one written by 2handband, it's great) it's very fast and easy. If you select full install you basically end up with a full blown KDE desktop and can get away with very little command line configuration.

Couple of tips, make sure you install wicd if you intend on using wireless internet. This can be done by changing to the /extra/wicd/ directory of the install dvd and running 'sudo installpkg wicd*tab*'. Make sure you do a full install. Once your up and running you can install third party software through the website www.slackbuilds.org.

The community here also kicks ass. There are a whole bunch of old-hands here willing to answer questions to the best of their ability, even if they've been asked a million times.

Slackware is not that hard to configure. I used to be on Ubuntu as well.

A few things before you dive in. If you're using a laptop, do a 'lspci' from your ubuntu and post the output here, so we can check for hardware modules incompatabilities, especially the wireless card. Next will be your graphics adapter. Doing this help to anticipate issues and learn to resolve them first.

during slackware install:

when prompted for network configuration, choose No.
when prompted for lilo installation, choose Simple, Master Boot Record. depending on your hdd geometry, lilo may encounter issues, switch to 2nd console (ALT-left/right) and do "lilo -P ignore /dev/sdx /mnt/etc/lilo.conf', sdx is your bootable drive

after booting up local install of slackware:

xwmconfig - choose your window manager
install wicd from slackware iso, directory 'iso/extras/wicd', use wicd to configure wireless

to install a package: 'installpkg package.txz' (or .tgz)
to uninstall a package: 'removepkg package-name' OR
just use 'pkgtool' and point to the package directory.

there's no repo for slackware, but there's sbopkg and src2pkg for package management. Recommend sbopkg for newbies. sbopkg will help you to evaluate dependencies and build order, then download, compile and install packages available from slackbuilds.org (SBo). You can browse slackbuilds.org to see the various apps/utils available for slackware.

Apps not available from SBo can be installed using src2pkg.

Ubuntu does all this for you, but slackware allows you to manage these steps yourself. There's more joy in using slackware than ubuntu/macos/winx for me.

Thanks for the links! I'll be sure to use them after I get it running, but my laptop isn't going to be here for another two days apparently and the weekend is coming so that might mean even longer. Nonetheless, I will do some reading beforehand.

Is pkgtool a Slackware only package manager?

And.. I would assume that all the apt-get stuff I learned from Ubuntu is only for Debian based distributions?

Lastly, I remember when I tried Ubuntu on my Macbook Pro it had multitouch for the trackpad. It's my understanding that this support was added in a recent linux kernel, so that means I should be able to enable horizontal and vertical scrolling via two finger inputs on the touchpad right? Or was that something Ubuntu added that is closed source?

@ hitest & D1ver: thanks for the props, guys... always nice to know that somebody finds one's work worthwhile.

Pkgtool is "the" Slackware package manager, but there are a number of other useful tools available as well. Pkgtool is at the center of it all; it's what actually keeps track of all of your installed packages.

Apt-get, aptitude, and Yum are package managers that asre designed to deal with officially supported software repositories and feature automatic dependency resolution. In Slackware all of the officially supported software comes on the the DVD, and Pkgtool doesn't do automatic dependency resolution. I moved to Slackware from Debian and you couldn't drag me back at gunpoint... you'll find that being free of the official repositories is incredibly liberating.

If it worked out of the box with Ubuntu it should work out of the box with Slackware. Ubuntu doesn't load proprietary drivers by default, either.

I discuss all of this stuff in detail in the tutorial linked above, but don't hesitate to ask any questions here.