I am new to Linux and only have used RH. I have been reading about slackware and it does interest me. Alot of people say Slack is the most configurable and hardest to use. Well could I get my hands dirty and dual boot Slack and RH? Also do you run X, Gnome, and KDE on Slack? What is the platform like. Is it all command line? Or is it a grapghical command line? I'm not sure what the story is on it. What makes it so great and outweigh the other distros. If I have little programming backgroung and little linux background then is this a good distro for me to choose?

I didn't find Slackware any harder to install than, say, Debian, or Gentoo. I don't think it's any harder to configure than any other distro either. The hype is probably just the fact that many people consider it to be the best distribution! And rest easy, it can do anything that any of the other distributions can do. The biggest difference between installing Slackware and installing Redhat is that you'll learn more while installing Slackware, and will have a better understanding of how Linux works once you're done.

have you ever had a big test the next day and you havent even read a page on the subject?
thats kind of how I would describe my transition from redhat to slackware. all the handholding is gone.
(ps: I mean this in a good way, I love studying for big tests, and this is not sarcasm)

slackware can have KDE or Gnome if you want, although I just use fluxbox (and you could go all CLI if you want), the install is not hard at all (although be prepared to read alot if you select the beginner install, which is what you should select the first time). In slackware it does help to be able to moove around in command line, but command line is much easier than it sounds.

I strongly recomend finding a book you like and sticking with it. linux complete (from sybex publishing) is my current favorite. my recomendation is to get up, and go to the library, look at what they have and choose your favorite.

A long time ago, I posted a question (I forget where) and asked what's the best distro to use if I wanted to LEARN Linux.

EVERYONE suggested Slackware. Since then, I've installed Slack 7 and 7.1. Then I took a hiatus, and now I'm trying Slack 9.1.

A few comments about Slackware:
1 - It's mostly the work of one person, Patrick Volkerding (sp?) This is good if you belive the output of one person is of better quality than the output of a committee.

2 - It's the oldest distribution still being supported and updated. (I think)

3 - Everything is built with stability and security in mind.

4 - Slack users tend to be very devoted and helpful.

5 - Slack uses BSD style init scripts but supports SystemV. I'm not qualified to say if this is good or not.

6 - Learn to like reading man pages, How-To's and FAQ's.

7 - Learn to like the command line. This is not required; you can do everything you need in X-Window, I guess, but the command line is very powerful. It leads you to wonderful things like scripting languages, regular expressions, and text-only web browsing (yes, this is a good thing)

8 - You can always ask questions. Then answer questions.

rus

Is it possible to do a dual boot with RH and Slackware?

Sure. You can dual boot anything with anything, pretty much.

Dual Booting....yes, you will have to configure your boot manager, but with GRUB(I'm assuming what you have coming from Redhat) you can definitely boot all kinds of OS's in massive numbers...

I learned a lot about linux using Redhat in the past few weeks, switched to Slack, and have learned more in less time about linux. And I still have TONS to learn! It's definitely a great hobby till I learn how to configure a system.

I'm currently booting between Slackware 9.1, Redhat 7.3 and Windows 98 (each installed into a separate partition.) I'll post my /etc/grub.conf, so hope it helps.

BTW, hdc is a cd drive.

Speck

Slack is great I made the switch to slack after a year and a half of using Red Hat. While slack was a little more involved to install and set up, it really helps you to learn your system and how things work. It took me about 4 days of searching out answers to get things set up the way I wanted it. But, like I said you really get a feel for how Slack interacts with your machine. One important note, everything you do when installing or setting up the first time, make several notes on it, that way when you go to re-install you have a guide you made and understand vs. seeking out the answers all over again.

Dual (or multi) booting isn't a problem, it's possible and easy.
Obviously you need free space to install another OS.
You can do this with a little effort (that is to say reading documentation ) and the help of this forum.

What you can do with any other distro you can do with Slackware too.
Slackware isn't all command-line, it have KDE, GNOME,WindowMaker, IceWM, X (of course), and so on.... just like any other distro. The difference is (maybe) that Slackware don't hide (all) the complexity of the system behind a GUI. Or at least not only behind a GUI.
So, if nobody cooks for you, you'll learn cooking by yourself (otherwise....).
When I started hacking with linux I found this (fortunately):
in Linux Installation and Getting Started. This sentence resounds in my brain quite a while, and at the end.... .

The question is: are you really interested in learning a *NIX like OS? (and spend a bit of time to do this)

If so.....
enjoy the Slackware experience.

Sorry for my english.

I think after my finals are done I will setup a Slackware partition. Thanks for the information on this. I talked with someone who runs slack at school and he said you have no RPMs and that you setup the kernel for additional hardware. It sounds like something I might be interested in doing. And the small kernel sound like something that would make your system run extremely fast.

You won't regret it.

Just my 2cents: my first linux distro was an early Slackware (in the 0.9xx kernel days, IIRC). After a while I moved to RedHat (because of features it had that I wanted). Then I went to Mandrake, which was much nicer to install than RH. Finally, I went back to Slackware, because the layout of scripts is much cleaner, and everything is consistent and works very well.

I had nightmares trying to get Mandrake or RH working properly on my funky laptop -- but Slackware proved much easier to configure for me, though I confess being at home with the command-line.

As the saying goes, "your mileage may vary". I always (!) recompile kernel to include exactly what I need and want, no more or less. I think this is generally a good thing to do -- not only does it save memory and increase performance, but it might also reduce the possibilities of hacks. I also run on a dual-CPU box, so I have to recompile to get SMP (which is one of the few things not supported by a stock kernel).

That said, the stock Slackware kernels support most everything you would really care about... the SCSI one supports IDE devices, and I think they all support USB (but check the distro disks for info on what is supported).

Best of luck, and enjoy the learning!

Is it me or does it seem that the Slackware Installer isn't as hard as the rumor mill has made it out to be. I noticed the only thing missing is pretty graphics and a tool to repartion for you. Its really just a matter of reading the script. It is there for a reason, and its not to technical for even the begginer. Sure, it may sound like a new language, but really, If your new, you're BOUND to screw up even in RH, MDK, SUSE , and the rest. Honestly. the install isnt hard. Don't get discouraged.

The install isn't hard but I will say this, going from RH and Mandrake it was a little intimidating at first. But as long as you read carefully everything will go pretty smooth, and you'll be a lot happier with slack

To kipp:

It *does* include a tool to repartition for you - two, even! I don't have to pull out my pocketknife and start carving on my disk.

Nah, seriously - you're right - it's not hard. Other than some micro-distros, to an extent, the only hard installs to me were Core and Debian and many people claim Debian's not hard. It probably isn't as long as you *don't* follow their routine, but cheat. But Slackware's one of the best because it's one of the simplest - no irrelevant crap, no pointless graphics - just get the system on the box in a usable state and go from there.