Hi everyone,

So I've made the big transition from windows to linux a few months ago. Started out with SuSE, but wasnt satified. I read "if you want to use linux, try suse or mandriva; but if you want to learn linux, try slackware" Since I switched from SuSE to Slackware, it definitely has already been making the difference with new concepts and adventures in getting things to work and how they just that. A while ago, recompiling my kernel seemed like the biggest hill that I thought I would never climb over, but I did get over it astonashlying to my surprise. That was the biggest challenge I could think of, besides getting my video card installed. I have learned about a few of the most critical .conf files and how to work with them, especially that xorg.conf file. At first I thought the xorg.conf file was one of those random files that wasn't all that important, only for minor little things. Turns out, it's only of the most important files on my box. Without it, numerous things would fail work properly. It demands more respect than I thought initially.

With all that said, what's next? Can yall point out some interesting topics or concepts that every slacker MUST know and be familar with? I've heard of script writing, but haven't realyl checked it out yet. If someone could point out some areas of gray to shed light upon, that'd be great.

:edited for a major word misuse:

True, also Linux from Scratch.
I'd suggest you try: checkinstall, slackbuilds and rolling your own custom packages.
Here's a nice url: http://slackwiki.org/Category:Tutorials for some ideas.
Come to #slackware on irc.oftc.net
Have fun!

Sure, man! I'll be there!!

Thanks for the link and the idea about rolling my own custom packages. That definitely sounds like something interesting and powerful, something that could simplify things for me. Good man.

compile your own (tweaked/stripped down) X - real good fun.

For great guide on scripting (Bourne-compatible):

http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/

google for more

Yup, about as fun as drinking a bottle of tabasco sauce.

as far as scripting is concerned...
before you jump into the advanced tutorial
you might want to familiarize yourself with
the gnu commands if you haven't already
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/linux/cmd/
and read through the basic tutorial
http://www.tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/

tldp.org has many nice tutorials
skim through it until you find something interesting

check my signature

Hi,

First, 'Welcome to Slackware'!

Now, check my sig for some good online reference.

Looks like you work with GUI programs. So a "next step" is maybe to learn console programs for your daily work. Try the mutt mail client! Or lynx / links as browser. lftp for FTP. Irssi as IRC client.

Did you set up a second box with slackware? Yes ... so try ssh. It makes really fun. You will be able to run every console program remote!

Did you configure sendmail? Did you use a smarthost? Configured virtual users?

fetchmail for POP3 access to your eMails would be the next logical step. Of course with SSL encryption!

Tried the Apache Webserver?

Run bind in your local network.

Try to install programs with ./configure / make / make install

Learn to write bash scripts.

Write your own slackbuild scripts for programs not included in the distribution!

Learn C.

Write programs on your own!

C is useful ... but I must say also such a pain to program in. I would recommend python first, because it's easier to learn and use. And then maybe after a while you can learn C, just know that it will not be easy.