I've just installed Slackware 10.2 and I want gnome installed but I've been googling around and I'm no closer to a decision as to which version.
I'm seeing lots of conflicting information about them, I've read that dropline is hard to remove but then read on another page that it's easy.
I've read freerock messes up kde then I've read elsewhere it doesn't.
One thing putting me off dropline slightly is that it seems it makes various changes to the system, particularly to do with X and /etc.
I very briefly used vector with freerock last year and it was nice to use but I couldn't get sound working (it was ok in kde) and I couldn't get usb devices to automount but that was vector and this is slack so maybe I'll have more luck.
I'd just like to know what the general opinion is of the slack population here?
If you've run all three on the same hardware, which was the fastest?
Which is the most complete?
Which is the most up-to-date?
Maybe give the single main reason for using a particular one or the single main reason for not using one.
Or some pros and cons answers?

I use gware now. Dropline does make too many system changes and Freerock is slow compared to gware. Just pick one and go with it.

I run Dropline on my x86 boxes (at least the ones I use X on ), and FRG on my Mac Mini.

In my experience, the Dropline team produces the most complete and polished GNOME around, on any distribution. They may replace X and a small amount of other packages on Slack, but they only do it to produce a more complete/functional desktop with all the nice things you expect from a desktop machine (i.e. automounting).

FRG (at least on PPC) seems to be much, much, MUCH less polished. It feels like the poor man's GNOME compared to what I see from Dropline. If there were a Slackintosh port of DLG, I'd go with it in a heartbeat.

I've never used gware, so I can't offer an opinion on it.

*sigh*

We've been over this so many times it's not even funny. Dropline does not make "too many system changes", unless you actually have something against better security. It's very tasteless of you to spread FUD right in the middle of a poll.

Any selection is a good one as these are all well developed. I use Freerock because it doesn't replace so many Slackware packages like Dropline, has a cleaner and less tainted look (more like Gnome would appear if you compiled it yourself), and it is very easily removed. Also, FRG is the environment of choice at Linux Packages for its Gnome based package contributors. Dropline has been around longer and has an active forum which is supported well by its crew. Just pick one and have fun.

I'd go with Gware on this, very easy to install or removed doesn't interfere with the internal of the system at all(me think). had been using dropline a while ago back in gnome 2.8-2.10 and it seems to change a lot of things, its good in it's way , feels more "complete".

FRG on the other hand, I couldn't get it to load Nautilus on my slack 'expert' install. so I can't say much. I reckon use dropline until you are comfy with the system, then if it's seems too bloated then switch to either gware or frg.

I'm old school--I just use the gnome from 10.1 when I feel like hiding amongst the mushrooms. Still works...

Well so far dropline seems to be the gnome of choice so I went off to download the installer ans saw this -
I'm on an AMD Athlon so can I expect problems?
Also, it says it won't work properly on Slackware-current yet in the "How I do it all" sticky it is suggested to install dropline and upgrade to current. Is it ok as long you install dropline before updating?

Since AMD Athlon is i686, no. Any x86 processor newer than a Pentium I or AMD K6-3 will run Dropline.

Personally, I stay away from updating to -current, as that's not stable and may very well break things with itself, let alone with Dropline. I suggest sticking to the latest *released* version of Slackware with security updates.

Thanks for the info, I thought AMD was i686 compatible but I read some things about fedora core 5 being i686 optimized and was causing sluggishness on AMD systems (though it was ok on mine) so I wasn't sure.

I've seen a lot of guides suggesting updating to current straight away so I thought was the thing to do, I haven't done it yet and I'm not desperate to because I can try all the latest stuff on sid and dapper.
My reason for instlling slack is to force myself to learn more about the nuts and bolts of linux so I reckon I'll probably stay with stable and install dropline.

Any Athlon will work fine.

Ouch. No. Where's this stickied at? While that might bypass the installer check (but any fool who can edit a shell script can do that) it won't solve the problem that the libraries provided by -current might not be the versions of things that Dropline needs/expects and can/will break things without warning. There's nothing wrong with -current, per se, but -current isn't guaranteed to be compatible with the latest stable release (plus patches) of Slackware, which presents a serious problem.

"This is how I do it all" at the top of this forum.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=174447

Step 6 - Shows how to install Dropline
Step 7 - Says how to install swaret, change the slack version to current then upgrade to current.

I wasn't sure about it myself. I don't know how slackware/swaret handles things but I was thinking the upgrade would overwrite the gnome libraries you had just installed with dropline. Or does it only upgrade when the version number is higher?

You can configure swaret or slapt-get to ignore any DLG packages on your system and thereby not upgrade them with a more current Slack version. However, since DLG, FRG, and GWARE are built against the stable Slack envrionment, it may not be possible to ensure that they will work as expected if you upgrade to the Slack libraries that can be found in the current branch.

The above posts are correct. Dropline is built against the libraries in the latest Slackware release. Upgrading to -current can and often does break things.

By default SWareT will not overwrite Dropline packages.

Another fault in my stickied guide is the recommendation that linuxpackages.net be added as a repo. If you add LP as a repo and then do a "swaret --upgrade -a", you are very likely to inherit dependency issues.

The most trouble free method seems to be:

Install Slackware (Full install)
Install SWareT (Configure for 10.2, add no repos)
Use SWareT to update Slackware (This grabs all the patches. You can do this manually, but it will take a bit longer.)
Reconcile .new files
Install latest Dropline
Reconcile .new files

SWareT is a handy tool. One of the best features is the -dep switch. While not 100% perfect, it often alerts you to dependency issues. Use it like this:

updatedb (not needed, depending on configuration, but never hurts)
swaret --update
swaret --dep

If everything is good, it will tell you so (libraries resolved successfully). If not, it will try (and likely fail) to fix things. Don't be discouraged, it will tell you what it is missing so that you can figure things out on your own.

You might want to see if you can still edit the top of your post there, since at least a few people are still apparently getting the idea that the "recommended" approach is to update to -current... which may occasionally reward their proactive stance with some unexpected pain.