Hi,

Why lower case?

lower case... well, I ALWAYS FELT THAT THIS WAS YELLING, that's one reason... and, i take it as a *nix command line thing, and lower case is faster for me to type...

i guess it's my small "trademark".

i'm new here, i haven't even asked a question yet, i didn't join cuz i had some big issue or question.

thanks for asking.

haha

I'm surprised that lamp isn't in the list or did I miss it?

Uh... everything, with one exception. I use it as a full-featured desktop computer that does everything I'd do with Windows (if I wanted to run such garbage) or any other Linux distro, and if I was still running servers I'd use it for that, too. Only one thing... I still have a Windows box (which does NOT talk to the internet) for recording. Nothing that runs on Linux comes even remotely close to Pro Tools, sorry.

It's under "other." I should have been a little more explicit when setting up the poll.

Still, the results have been very informative.

I'm not sure if anyone has exactly mentioned this, but how about science?

I'm a graduate student in theoretical physics and I choose Slackware because (from previous experience) it was fast and stable, KISS. In my work I use tons of C codes, mostly written by me but I like getting the source for other things so I can see what is really happening. Thus I do a lot of compiling and it is nice to know all the dependencies if I want to include something in my own code (as opposed to using package managers, which sometimes don't do that by default). My computer runs most simulation/Monte Carlo things faster then the computers in my lab...which are all 5 years old, but that's beside the point ;-)

Besides that, lots of gnuplot, Xmaxima, and LaTeX. Also, I enjoy a good game of OpenTTD from time to time as well :-) Also love me some JuK!

This poll is too limited to be really useful, e.g. it's missing an option for home automation.

Hi,

Proper structure whenever replying or communicating will provide a thoughtful thus easily presented query or answer. All lower case to me shows laziness and poor sentence structure. Your right about ALL caps.

As for comparing queries to a UNIX cli, it's not. You would not present this form of presentation within a memo or communication to your employer or would you?

Since you claim newbies status then consider that a pass for the moment.

I think a fair answer to the questions is: have fun.

Cute.

Fourteen option isn't really limited. It's incomplete, but not limited.

Put it under "other."

I have to agree with smoker. But rather than tout Fedora, I'll tout Debain. With that said I have Ubuntu 10.4 on a laptop and LinuxMint Debian on a spare PC but my main go to box has Debian Squeeze on it. As you can see it's all Debian based. I've even changed Mint's reposes to Debian Squeeze. And it's working just as nice as you'd want.

I've tried Slackware years ago. It still calls to me. Not as much as it use to. But I'm getting lazy as the years go by. Linux's advances also make me lazy. It's coming into the 21st century. It's rare that I have to pull up a terminal to do anything. And so Slackware's method of doing things do not attract me. I do wish they'd come out of the cold and embrace more modern ways of tweaking an OS. Nothing wrong with using a GUI. Nothing at all.

As far as ease, stability and usability I'll give my vote to Debian. I just wish Slackware would consider doing the same as other 'Modern' distros.Then I might give it a good try.

I guess what I mean is one should not have to have a degree in couputer science to tweak their OS. Just not necessary in this day and age. Not if Fedora, Debian, Mint, Ubuntu and many others can to so. Why not Slackware?

I remember the first time I installed Slackware. I had to change a config file to get the wheel on my mouse to work. Is it still that way? If so...why in hell is it! I guess that's the Slackware way.

My point of view is, Slackware is just too much work for too little in return. You can get the same thing from other distros without all that pulling of hair, gnashing of teeth and ripping of raiments.

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With Debian, you either live with ancient software in stable, or you live in something considered in 'testing' that does not get security updates in a timely manner (and certainly unstable is not a nice way to live life). Packages are not vanilla (and the OpenSSL disaster is one major reason why many appreciate Slackware's vanilla policy), packages are split like mad (so if you want to compile anything from source you need to install about a million -dev packages or find a metapackage that contains everything you need), and packages are frequently updated for the sake of being updated, so you end up needing to upgrade multiple packages every time you turn on your PC (much like Windows). For some this is OK. However, Slackware exists for people like me, who don't necessarily like what Debian or other distributions are doing. If you make Slackware like all the others, what's the point of Slackware's existence?
You are implying that there is something inherently wrong with the command-line. Considering that most Linux software is configured via text files, adding a GUI configuration tool is adding unnecessary redundancy and additional complexity. A *good* GUI is a nice addition when it still maintains the ability to configure through text files (which is essential to me -- if I need to restore configurations after an upgrade, or transfer configurations across boxes, especially headless servers, a GUI configuration tool *is* a bad thing). Unfortunately, most of the GUIs tend not to act in a way that retains the same ability to configure via classical command-line methods.
'Ease of use' and 'simplicity' are two different things entirely. Slackware is not easy but it is immensely more simple than most other distributions. If something breaks, it is my fault...it is very transparent with everything it does. And are you really arguing against Slackware's stability? Have you used Slackware? I'm sure the entire community will shed a tear and light a candle each night, hoping for you to give it a good try.
Oh no, I have no computer science degree! I must be doing it *wrong*! Again -- I strongly dislike the experience that Fedora, Debian, Mint and Ubuntu provide. You try to deny me my choice by taking away my freedoms? Slackware is for those who do *not* like the philosophies of the major distros. Can you not understand that, or do you need a communications degree for that one?
Then you should blame the Xorg developers at the time. No, it is not that way now, because it was fixed *upstream*. If you had your way every distro would patch the crap out of every package instead of it getting fixed upstream so only one project must fix it instead of several.
I get more pulling of hair, gnashing of teeth and ripping of raiments with the above listed distros than I do with Slackware.

Your philosophies do not fall in line with Slackware. Fine. But you are disagreeing on a philosophical level and blaming the distribution for not living up to your standards! If it just didn't work, then you would have a valid point -- but these philosophical differences are what makes Linux great (if you do not like the philosophies of one distro, you are free to choose another more in line with your expectations).

If you have to complain about Slackware, complain about the bugs that exist (there are some bugs with encrypted partitions because of the versions of some packages, for example, that haven't yet been fixed, as well as problems with the dbus version that affect KDE for some users). THOSE are valid complaints. You seem to just rant for no reason about something you dislike, and I must question what you hope to get out of the discussion.

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Nice defense of Slackware, T3slider. You don't necessarily need a degree in computer science to be successful in slackware. There's definitely plenty of documentation out there (starting with the slackbook). A comp sci background is helpful, if you want to get a better grasp of scripting. But, you'd only need to know the basic structure of programming. For that, you can check out the site, how to design programs. This site deals with the overriding principles pertaining to proper program design. Other than that, you don't need to go that far. I've used Alien BOB's wikis to much success - multilib, and setting up wireless networking. The only thing I could see requiring a comp sci degree, or background, would be writing your own driver -something a former dorm mate of mine did to get his sound card working in linux.

If you want dependency resolution, there's slackbuilds.org. I really enjoy the site because its repository is pretty good despite a limited size. But, these scripts are more or less foolproof as long as your preliminary slackware setup is kosher. Also, you're provide a list of what is necessary, and then what those necessities require themselves. It's definitely made my life easier.

In the Enterprise, I use Slackware as a drop-in (okay, not a drop-in) replacement for RHEL - an eradication distro, if you will, running just about everything except the corporate firewalls (For that I use pfSense).

At home, on the road, doing other work, and when I take the occasional community college course, I use Slackware for everything - I even use Slackware to run wYNdOZE in VMs to stay fresh as a SysAdmin in mACROsFOT environs, or when I must run either the Adobe Suites or Quickbooks

About the only thing I don't do w/Slackware is play games - coz I don't play games (Nothing against gamers, it's just that I discovered years ago that they're too addictive for my personality).

Hope that helps

Cute. It's an incomplete poll because it's limited by your worthless option, other. Anyone with some intelligence will always exploit capabilities beyond common patterns of usage. In essence, you're polling common usage patterns as specified in the poll as the category, other, is a simply worthless dump for unspecified, legitimate uses of Slackware.