I was reading this thread and got curious about Gentoo. I am a Slack
user and never read anything like this before.

Are they really that similar?

-West

Hi,

They share some of the same philosophy, but are inherently different - do a google or even a forum search for Slackware and Gentoo, and you'll find hundreds of similar debates.

In short - if you like control over your system and want to spend a lot of time compiling everything from scratch, try Gentoo.
If you like control over your system and top stability without compiling absolutely everything from scratch, keep Slackware.
And as always - when in doubt - try both and see which one you feel the most comfortable and productive with. (It's a matter of personal preference, just like your favorite colour)

-Y1

If you ask me, it ain't really true.

I used Gentoo for just about half a year, before switching to Slackware, and i must say that, with Slackware, you definitely have better control of your system.
Gentoo is good, but it's more time consuming.
Many people think that using Gentoo is similar to using LFS. Not true.
Gentoo is essentially Debian with source packages, and a little less hand holding.

I very much agree with Bjerrk, i keep gentoo on a 13gb patition, up to date, custom kernel, everything compiled for my arch, and while i like the feeling of having it installed, here are a few myths dispelled: not faster than slackware, not really latest versions (firefox an example) not really "teaches linux" slackware really does imo, check my post here: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...32#post2092332
However nice to play with, i feel i have more control with slack, i can pretty much do whatever i want and it won't get in the way. If asked to keep one of them, i'd pick slack, try both! if you plan booting both from lilo save some time and read here (really easy) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...18#post2236518
Have fun