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Old 11-10-2006, 10:02 AM   #1
crasslogic
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Why Slackware?


Greets all. I am sincerely interested in finding out why slackware users prefer slackware over distros like Debian or Gentoo.

I have had little success or enjoyment in slackware in the past; whereas debian or gentoo have a package system that will install a given software and find it's dependencies for you, Slackware seems to have nothing but a very small selection of binaries (which are in tgz files), and everything else you've no choice but to compile. Then what? See, i'm not into coding and programming, know nothing of it. If a program I want to use fails to compile, or a dependency for it fails to compile, what is the user supposed to do? Or is Slackware designed for the programmer/coder?
 
Old 11-10-2006, 10:10 AM   #2
lord-fu
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Hello,

Quote:
I am sincerely interested in finding out why slackware users prefer slackware over distros like Debian or Gentoo.
Well for me its pretty simple, I like full control... the reason you do not like Slackware is the reason I prefer it.
Quote:
whereas debian or gentoo have a package system that will install a given software and find it's dependencies for you,
Have you been to linuxpackages.net? They have a load of applications for slackware.

Quote:
Slackware seems to have nothing but a very small selection of binaries (which are in tgz files)
These are slackware specific yes but *.deb are debian specific as well.

Quote:
If a program I want to use fails to compile, or a dependency for it fails to compile, what is the user supposed to do?
What do you do when something breaks on Gentoo or Debian, or Windows for that matter?

Quote:
Or is Slackware designed for the programmer/coder?
IMO it is designed for someone who wants total control.
 
Old 11-10-2006, 10:44 AM   #3
duryodhan
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Cos I dont want something Like Windows; something that insults my intelligence ; I already have it.
I want a car in which I can go under the hood and check everything out.
 
Old 11-10-2006, 10:55 AM   #4
swampdog2002
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If you wish to use an operating system such as Slackware, then you are going to have to invest some time into learning how to do certain operations that are transparent in other platforms, such as Windows. If you are looking for something that you can simply install and virtually work with from the start, then Slackware, as well as certain other distributions of Linux, may not be to your liking. I can assure you, however, that the investment that you put toward learning the ins and outs of Slackware will pay off in the long run!

The main reason that I enjoy Slackware is what you cited about having mostly total flexibility of what I want to do with Slackware. However, this does not come initially, as many hours were invested into laborious trial-and-error sessions, and yet I still have much that I wish to accomplish. Even so, I have mostly commited my Linux experience soley to Slackware, as I too have tried other distributions and have not found them to my liking. I would rather devote my attention to something that I have a relatively firm grasp of now than to deviate my attention over multiple platforms, although I do occasionally dabble with other distributions, the most recent is the recently-released Oracle distribution that has piqued my interest. Whatever you decide, good luck in your endeavors. The number and quality of posts at this forum will help you tremendously in your plight.

Last edited by swampdog2002; 11-10-2006 at 11:02 AM.
 
Old 11-10-2006, 11:13 AM   #5
cwwilson721
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crasslogic
... I have had little success or enjoyment in slackware in the past; whereas debian or gentoo have a package system that will install a given software and find it's dependencies for you, Slackware seems to have nothing but a very small selection of binaries (which are in tgz files), and everything else you've no choice but to compile. Then what? See, i'm not into coding and programming, know nothing of it. If a program I want to use fails to compile, or a dependency for it fails to compile, what is the user supposed to do? Or is Slackware designed for the programmer/coder?
As far as packages go, while linuxpackages.net does have quite a few, I prefer to compile my own. As far as dependecies go, the original source will tell you what you need. Yes, it can be work.

But if you want a distro that holds your hand, and you never want to see or use the CLI, then Slackware is not for you. But for a small amount of effort,Slackware will teach you what is really going on behind the scenes.

But, if you want the "Perfect" distro, check out the link in my sig...Otherwise, work at it.
 
Old 11-10-2006, 11:43 AM   #6
apolinsky
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I guess the answer revolves around the way you get information. It is easy to look at a picture and say "I want that" but that impies that a picture must be available for every alternative. As people develop the ability to speak they can speak, read, and write to aid in communication. The ability takes longer to develp than the ability to point.

I find nothing wrong with graphical interfaces, but I am generally a a command line for programming and other tasks. Slackware was my first distribution, and I learned a lot from it. Nist if the knowledge has been transportable (with some modifications) to other environments. I've never found the number of packages to be a deficiency in Slackware, but once again I am a programmer. If a Slackware package does not exist, you can often go to a website and download the source code needed to compile an application.

The other thing I like about Slackware is the stability. I use an old Pentium 2 with 2 nic cards as a router and firewall to the Internet. It has long uptimes and rarely has to be re-booted. I should hasten to note, I am not in any way putting down any other distribution. I use many of them, and they ALL work. They may have differnt package or window managers, but they all choose from a similar barrel of available software.

Good luck with whatever you choose.
 
Old 11-10-2006, 11:53 AM   #7
masonm
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Control and stability. There are loads of packages available to install and if there isn't a certain one you need compiling isn't that big a deal. Personally I don't like some tool making configuration changes to my system and possibly it unstable.
 
Old 11-10-2006, 05:33 PM   #8
campher
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crasslogic
Greets all. I am sincerely interested in finding out why slackware users prefer slackware over distros like Debian or Gentoo.
mayby its the personal background:
i m a linux user not programmer or os guru, the os is only a tool for me.


i started with some 14 floppy disk linux for fun because i didnt like this, we dont tell users whats going on, thing of win 3.1.

after this i ended on suse 6.2 at last (nürnberg is only 60km away and this distro was easy to install then)
there i learned a lot about linux.
this was my first all day working distro. then i switched to suse 7.1 and suse 9.1 but the later was a big mistake because this distro is very much like win, a lot of things have changed since 6.2. i didnt got the whole configuration with this graphical yast-programm.

after this i tested lots of distros: slackware, debian, gentoo, lfs, ubuntu, fedora, mandrake, mepis and slackware again.
i wanted a distro easy to install and configure. and a distro where you can easily change the configuration by hand and get updates without much trouble.
well i ended on slackware because this was the only distro where i got a running system out of the box (each other distro i had to fix things after installation, mostly bootprocess) configuration was easy (add things to one script in /etc or etc/rc.d) updates were easy too(slackpkg).

dependencies are not such a problem take the .tar package of a programm, install it, and look which libraries are missing. search for these libraries and install them afterwards (this is redundant sometimes)
or convert a rpm to tgz and check the dependencies. if its still not working you will got help here often.

so for me slackware is the easiest to configure distro because pat often uses small easy to understand configuration files, the whole boot process doesnt change with each release (ok its still like a red hat thing out of my linux book, which is 10 jears old, but you only have to look 2 or 3 times on this and then its a big advantage when it looks like it looked 10 jears ago). now i have slackware on my 5 year old hardware and on my 3 month old laptop, its running fast, without problems on both systems (battery lives even longer on linux than on this preinstalled win thing on my laptop).

sumary: if you started with linux some years ago then often slackware is easier for you than these (we install everything for you, in some way) distros. if you are used to linux then slackware is often easier to maintain (even if it doesnt comes with the latest greatest releas of each package) or configures each feature you want, automatically (if you have to do this manual then you got at last what you want and not what the distro wants)

opinion of a long year linux user
campher

edit:
i think my english needs still some improvement.
if you find mistakes feel free to take them they are not cpyrighted

Last edited by campher; 11-10-2006 at 05:46 PM.
 
Old 11-10-2006, 06:14 PM   #9
st_tk421
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I came to Slackware later in my UNIX/Linux career after toying with the BSD camp, Debian, Fedora, etc.

I've found Slackware to be very easy to work with, stable, fast and non-bloated (which drove me away from Suse, Fedora and the like).

I still think of myself as a beginner to intermediate but Slackware has had all the right tools and setup to make me feel right at home and be very productive.
 
Old 11-10-2006, 08:16 PM   #10
spamhippy
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i use slackware because it is meat & potatoes linux. it's not a distro that is owned by some big company or a distro that i have to completely assemble from scratch myself. there's no big corp. fluff (if you don't know what i mean by that- go buy a walmart computer & see all the crap that's no it..) & it's not bare bones empty either. their are some distros out there that are designed to have 'everything' the user needs- just plug it in & go... and there's some out that are designed for those who care that every single piece & program- no matter how trite; are the ones that fit their needs. slackware is neither of these. It's right in the middle. It is not a distro that gives you everything you want right away. You have to figure it out, take the time to find what you want & add it. Get it to the place you want- once you get it there -it is just a matter of upgradepkg to keep things up to date. Age it like fine wine.

p.s. -i am not a programmer. i use slackware for my desktop & in spite of critics & naysayers- it works great as a desktop. Only once in a great while- do i come across something that i want and cannot get & in time... i get it- so.. while i'm here.. my current wishlist of things that i want on slackware- but can't get to work at the moment-

democracyTV

cakewalk 9 (using wine)

glx (rebuilding computer- maybe after i'm done- need a better processor- hear nvidia has drivers for it now...)

um... and that's all i can think of at the moment... lol.

Last edited by spamhippy; 11-10-2006 at 08:19 PM.
 
Old 11-10-2006, 08:23 PM   #11
truthfatal
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Quote:
Why Slackware?
Because I like it.
 
Old 11-11-2006, 08:27 AM   #12
Crushing Belial
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It's fast, stable, simple to maintain, and gives me complete and total control. There is no other distro that offers that. Gentoo comes close, but the lengthy compiles seem pointless to me, and who knows what kind of havoc Portage will wreak on my system on any given day. I can count on Slackware to not break, and I don't have to wait around 2 weeks for KDE to compile.
 
Old 11-11-2006, 08:41 AM   #13
crasslogic
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Well i've gathered from everyone that it's all about "control". I want to make clear I haven't used Windows since jr. high school somewhere (currently 24, graduated 2000). I've been using Debian throughout my time since, it was my first and only distro. I looked into Slackware because it is held in such high regard amongst the linux community and I wanted to try for myself. I tried to build K3b for example, and it gave me "recursive error", I tried to compile wmMatrix (i'm a windowmaker fanatic), and it gave me some different error. I'm no programmer and don't know a thing about writing code, so then I was left with no idea what to do, couldn't see any dependency issue, and was out of luck.

I must be fortunate because i've never come across any problems getting software in Debian. I've been able to upgrade packages and etc with no issues. I don't know that i'm necessarily all for a distro "holding my hand" but what would someone who's not a programmer do when they try to compile a program and it just fails? It's funny how this distro frustrates me with these problems I'm not understanding, yet it keeps driving me to "find another way in" so to speak. I'm going to take a look at that linuxpackages.net and see what it's all about. Slackware is an interesting distro, that's for sure. It's like it has a magnetic personality about it if that makes any sense, but damn I wish my handy dandy apt. Thanks for your input by the way ladies and gents.
 
Old 11-11-2006, 08:47 AM   #14
Crushing Belial
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crasslogic
Well i've gathered from everyone that it's all about "control". I want to make clear I haven't used Windows since jr. high school somewhere (currently 24, graduated 2000). I've been using Debian throughout my time since, it was my first and only distro. I looked into Slackware because it is held in such high regard amongst the linux community and I wanted to try for myself. I tried to build K3b for example, and it gave me "recursive error", I tried to compile wmMatrix (i'm a windowmaker fanatic), and it gave me some different error. I'm no programmer and don't know a thing about writing code, so then I was left with no idea what to do, couldn't see any dependency issue, and was out of luck.

I must be fortunate because i've never come across any problems getting software in Debian. I've been able to upgrade packages and etc with no issues. I don't know that i'm necessarily all for a distro "holding my hand" but what would someone who's not a programmer do when they try to compile a program and it just fails? It's funny how this distro frustrates me with these problems I'm not understanding, yet it keeps driving me to "find another way in" so to speak. I'm going to take a look at that linuxpackages.net and see what it's all about. Slackware is an interesting distro, that's for sure. It's like it has a magnetic personality about it if that makes any sense, but damn I wish my handy dandy apt. Thanks for your input by the way ladies and gents.

Why compile K3B? There is an official package provided by Patrick Volkerding. Simply install slackpkg from /extras, and do "slackpkg install k3b", or download the .tgz and use installpkg. I should mention that I'm not a programmer, I'm just an average user with a couple years experience. I do like Debian as well, and run it on my PowerMac, but there is just something about Slackware that puts it above everything else.
 
Old 11-11-2006, 01:31 PM   #15
Tinkster
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crasslogic
Well i've gathered from everyone that it's all about "control". I want to make clear I haven't used Windows since jr. high school somewhere (currently 24, graduated 2000). I've been using Debian throughout my time since, it was my first and only distro. I looked into Slackware because it is held in such high regard amongst the linux community and I wanted to try for myself. I tried to build K3b for example, and it gave me "recursive error", I tried to compile wmMatrix (i'm a windowmaker fanatic), and it gave me some different error. I'm no programmer and don't know a thing about writing code, so then I was left with no idea what to do, couldn't see any dependency issue, and was out of luck.

I must be fortunate because i've never come across any problems getting software in Debian. I've been able to upgrade packages and etc with no issues. I don't know that i'm necessarily all for a distro "holding my hand" but what would someone who's not a programmer do when they try to compile a program and it just fails? It's funny how this distro frustrates me with these problems I'm not understanding, yet it keeps driving me to "find another way in" so to speak. I'm going to take a look at that linuxpackages.net and see what it's all about. Slackware is an interesting distro, that's for sure. It's like it has a magnetic personality about it if that makes any sense, but damn I wish my handy dandy apt. Thanks for your input by the way ladies and gents.
It is funny how experiences & perceptions vary :}

With Slack I never had a problem to get Zope installed and running
(admittedly it took longer than an apt-get). But then I did have it up
let's say in under an hour. In debian (testing/etch) I have it installed,
but it won't start, and since I can't find documentation on what the
maintainers were thinking when they rolled the package(s) I can't
get it to play at all. Very frustrating. Similar experiences with several
other "externally maintained" packages. I often find that the extra
layer of abstraction (the maintainers ideas of how a package should
be set-up) is a hindrance rather than a benefit or help.

At the moment I'm battling with my server (which is currently running
debian because I couldn't be bothered to create a custom boot-disk
for slack that would support BOTH the CD-ROM AND the RAID.
But to tell you the truth - I'm very close to changing that, I've had this
running box for months now, and what I initially perceived as helpful
and quick is now that I want to achieve somewhat "less common" things
becoming a pain in the proverbial.


Cheers,
Tink
 
  


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