Firstly, we don't disagree on understanding and accepting other peoples' preference and I stated that, so I don't know why you mentioned that at all.

As for being offended, that has to do with hearing people who know nothing about Slackware but what they've sort of heard around, not only not even trying to see for themselves but dissuading others by quoting this non-problem as a deal breaker. I find that moderately upsetting and it has absolutely nothing to do with religion so where did this "sect" thing come from?

If I owned Brand X Electric Car and I heard someone say "electric cars are ridiculous because you can't drive for more than 30 miles without a recharge" I would be upset but it would have nothing to do with the brand. It would have to do with the truth.

Salix is OK, probably the nearest to the original of all the offshoots. If I was stuck for space, and/or I needed a one-application-per-task distro, then I might use it.
I'll turn the question around: Why using salix when slackware exist?

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Yup. Good question. I took Debian for a spin on my netbook for several days. It was okay. But, I'm back with Slackware on the unit. Slackware just feels right to me.

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The difference between installing/running Salix and Slackware isn't all that great. It's not like the difference between climbing the stairs and Everest. If I can do it, with very little prior experience of Linux, or even computers in general, and average IQ*, then anyone can.

* Sometimes my modesty astounds me.

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At least I can give you _one_ good reason to use slackware rather than salix ...
I have one of these braindead netbooks with the poulsbo graphics adapter - slackware-14.1 will support it just fine (I guess that was one of the things A.Cox got sorted out at Intel before he departed), salix - as of 2 days ago - is still using the 3.2.45-kernel which will just give me sh.. !

Yeehaw for slackware!!
(sorry, couldn't help m'self ...)

You are comparing Slackware-14.1 with Salix-14.0 that ships the same kernel as Slackware-14.0. This adapter wouldn't work in Slackware-14.0 either.

For your information, Salix-14.1-XFCE is expected to be released soon.

More generally, AFAIK hardware support is exactly the same in Slackware and Salix (same version), so that's not a good reason.

Is that an Acer netbook by chance?

Oh yes :-(
And obviously, it didn't work under slackware-14.0 either. I believe (can't quite remember) that I got it working with a 3.8-kernel at some stage - but come slackware-14.1 - no probs! Now I'm actually _using_ it again - after it had gathered enough dust ...
Actually, I started with a gateway equivalent - with a mobile radeon chipset - and an acer for the li'l woman (sorry to say - she has fallen for the general fud-stuff). I did try propriatory drivers and got it halfway working, but every so often it would screw up the display ... :-(
Fortuneately, the acer's disk took a dive and I refused to pay for MS, so I inherited it ... was working with the vesa-driver, not that good, but usable. Then the coming of latest slackware - and hey presto - its now my favorite mobile puter!
The 11.6" screen and 1300+ x 768 pix - yeah, its doing good!

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Ah! I had the same problem with my unit. I discovered a fix on the Internet and published a short how to on Slackdocs. My Acer netbook is working happily with 14.1.

http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:hardware:acer_aspire_one_za3?s[]=acer&s[]=netbook

I wanted to say that Slackware 4.0 was the first version of linux that I ever tried and I always thought of that distribution as the "one and only" version of linux. Likewise, I always had the misconception that Solaris 2.1 was the only version of UNIX. So, my opinions are definitely skewed by my own misconceptions.

I have used Salix occasionally because of the relatively small size of their XFCE version (it fits on a CD and my hard drive is a little small). The Salix repository also contains many interesting apps that can be experimented with. My favorite Salix app is slapt-get even though gslapt has a tendency to break my system if I am running more than one repository (Slack 14.0 is only compatible with Salix 14.0.1).

Upgrading to the beta version of Salix 14.1 is a very tricky proposition without slackpkg doing the work. The Sourcery app is interesting as an ubuntu-style package manager (nothing wrong with that) and is very easy to use.

I feel that it is a little more fun to great a build environment and use a SlackBuild script to make my own packages I feel more and more that slackpkg is more powerful and nuanced than the slapt-get collection of apps. slapt-get has shown me some interesting things about various unofficial repositories and the risks involved in using them.

I guess my point is that every unofficial slack repository has a few good apps to try and (sometimes) one or two to avoid. If you use Salix for its hands-free installer, try a few official tools like netconfig or slackpkg and you may benefit from the learning process. You might even find that you like the Slackware repositories better than the ones at Salix (enialis).

My advice for you would be to start with Salix or Slackel and make a transition back to the official Slack repo as soon as you are comfortable with the system. I believe that apps like Sourcery and Gslapt sometimes cause troubles because of the way that apt treats dependencies.

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thanks enorbet, rich442, bmarley83 and other slackers comments. everyday I come to this place and learn a lot from your instructions. Now I'm trying linux terminal with cygwin emulator in windows OS to using slackware like CLI oriented OS. your comments urge me to learn linux and leave windows as soon as possible. don't leave me please

What are you waiting for?
http://www.slackware.com/getslack/

My advice would be to dual-boot Slackware with whatever Windows you're using, 'til you feel completely comfortable using Slackware. That's what I did. I found that over time I was booting less often into Windows, so eventually got rid of it altogether.

Hi,

I only boot a MS Windows when a client needs support. Otherwise Slackware on this Dell XPS Laptop meets my needs. Feels grreat!

Just got back from a Florida vacation to relax, recharge and relax with a cold beer pool side 'Outside'.

Took a new 'Dell Laptop' with Win 8.1. I had a spare 'SSD' to replace the 'hdd' and install Slackware 14.1 on it. Never made the install, too busy playing Golf, 19th hole, pool activities and drinking fine beer. So I used the Laptop to read my mail and com with friends at home. Do I like Win 8.1? No!

Took a 'Salix' along to check it out. Never did! Will I try it? If I ever catch up from the 5 week vacation plus after moving too town from the farm to a new home. Way too much to do.

Salix is now on my Computer to do list. That list is rather long and needs attention.

Back in Illinois loosing my tan in this 6° weather.

Q. What is a slacker?
A. Someone who posts in [SOLVED] threads.

Corollary: I am a slacker

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