Hi everyone.

As you can see, I'm using Gentoo at the moment (and not going to replace it at least for now). Still I'm interested in Slackware, but don't know almost anything about it...I just haven't had time to get to know it

My friend, a good one, is thinking of moving from Windows to Linux OS, and is unsure about what system he should install, as this is his first time really in contact with linux. Here's a few things that would have to keep in mind, because the PC isn't that new:

- HD space is quite limited, because there is going to be another OS too (dual boot), so big things like RedHat are not that good idea
- the PC's CPU is Celeron, and if I remember right, somewhere around 400Mhz?
- it's a laptop

So would you people say Slackware could be able to run on that machine? And then, for myself as I have thought of installing another distro I haven't tried yet, if I buy a laptop:

- How do you recommend Slackware? What are it's good sides? Why to get it? What do you like in it?
- Bad sides? Problems (I know every distro has it's owns )? What should be made otherwise?

Thanks for anyone who answers. I've thought of Debian too, but as I don't know about Slackware that much, it's good to get information to make a good choise. Also, could you say Slackware is a choise for a person who isn't that familiar with Linux/Unix style things yet (he will learn fast, but in the begninning everyone's a newbie heh..and for that time things should not be impossible for him)

-> IF you can suggest some OTHER distro for a newbie, tell me about it. And once more, thanks in advance!

EDIT: sorry for all, I just noticed I've slipped into wrong forum...this should be in "Slackware", not "Slackware-Install".... guess I should slow down a little bit..

Hi!

I started out with Slackware (after a brief and disappointing encounter with some early RedHat) and haven't seen any other distro or OS I like more. Wether it is a good newbie distro or not depends on what kind of newbie you are. I had over a decade of experience with various computers mostly based on weird, brand-unique operating systems (Sharp EOS, anyone?) or BASIC, and about a year's worth of SunOS experience. I was looking for a system which would do what I told it to do and not much else, and Slackware instantly granted me that power. All configuration files are neatly ordered, and the same goes for the excellently readable shell scripts for system administration and bootup. I'd say that if you like the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle, you'll like Slackware.

On the other hand, if you don't like KISS, or define "simple" from a point-and-click viewpoint rather than a system design viewpoint, you probably won't like Slackware. While it is wonderfully easy to create, maintain and install packages using Slackware's package tools, you won't find as many pre-built packages, and they won't resolve dependancies. Note, however, that thanks to Slackware's clean design and well-packed distribution, I personally have never seen any hint of "dependancy hell". Also, default configurations of various software packages are generally not tweaked, but are left at their original defaults.

So to sum it all up, you will need to do more things on your own with Slackware than with other distros, but doing so is a lot easier.

Cheers,
Odie

Ok, that told me something I think next step is to find out some "technical info" about it or something...recommended requirements etc. Thanks for opinion..I'd like to get more, if people just wrote them it'd help me to have a better picture of Slackware from the user's point of view, not just from some developer's or anything like that.

If you need some informatiion on Slackware try

www.slackware.com

and browse. This will give you some backgroound, and point you to other places.

The Loafer

I started out with RedHat and Mandrake, which were good for learning.
They are however quite demanding on resouces and take up alot of space.
I recently started running slackware 9.1 on 2 of my machines and am very IMPRESSED.
The setup was a bit different but not too hard to learn if u have a bit uf linux experience.
Slackware is extremely lightwieght and SUPER FAST !
It has everything you need and is easy to addon to.
Combined with a lightweight window manger (like blackbox, fluxbox, etc.) It is Extremely stable and lightning fast. My p3 700 with slackware blows away my p4 2.4 with RedHat.
The only down side is that if you are not familiar with doing things by command line, you may have some trouble. KDE is included but still has limited gui tools for most of what you may want to do.
Adding webmin will help with that.
As for major downsides??? None that I can thinkof.

Give it a shot.

I started (like everyone) with Redhat... 5.1 i think... soon moved to slack... never went back..

for my friends that come from windows i always recomment SuSE or mandrake or some.. Redhat's gonna stop anyway.. but these are the guys that play a lot around with their comps.. downloading movies and all the new new shit... they think they know what their doing...

my best mate eg. came from dos... i gave him the slack cd, and told him just to read the instructions on the screen and do what it says... he istalled it in 1 go, and he doesn't know shit about computers.. Slackware is more about reading what you need to do... but for slower computers you might be better off...

As far as I can see, Slackware slacks in to many areas that are critical for good installation and use. Documentation. Sure there is forums like this one but what if there is no internet access or you just don't want to spend all day on the net trying to find out how the standard tools work and what they are. Stick with something that you find an abundance of documentation.

http://www.slackware.com/book/
http://store.slackware.com/cgi-bin/s...rgy3F&mv_pc=23
How much more documentation are you looking for jaa1180?

I have vector linux installed on my p3-500. http://www.vectorlinux.com/ It is based on Slackware 9.0, but it is only a ~250 Mb download and about ~500Mb installed. It seems to run better on slower computers. Vector uses IceWM as its default desktop, it doesn't come with KDE or Gnome. You can download and install the packages for KDE and/or Gnome from the slackware ftp site, or just install dropline gnome like I did. http://www.dropline.net/

I haven't tried these. They might be options for your friend

http://www.slackware.com/zipslack/
http://www.slax.org/

The amount is relative to comparison of other distributions. In comparison to Gentoo, Debian, or Redhat.... it is very small. I cannot find specifics on topics that should be covered in the documentation, it is very general. What about the book in PDF format?? If I have a question about something... then I have to get online and find it in the web page. Where is the offline version? Gentoo has literally tons of links and pages on specific subjects... Java... and exhaustive on important subjects.... emerge and portage system. Debian is very similar in amount of documentation. Redhat (who I am not happy with right now) has an extra CD just of documentation!! That is what it is about... when no one else is there, books... pages you printed off, and offline documentation is important. IMHO....

The on-line book is included when you buy the boxed set. The second link in my last post is to an actual book.

Behold the power of google, here is a link to a pdf version of the book.
http://www.goldmaninternet.com/slack/slackbook.html

sweet! I guess I look at Slackware and the other choices and compair... If I was already using Gentoo, I would not go to Slackware. You will be disappointed... I was running Slackware and went to Gentoo. Wow....

*chomp chomp...chomp chomp* what is that sound? Me eating my words. I am going to give slackware anther fair shake. Mindbender and others have given me several links and I am going to do some reading. Gentoo is good but I just don't have hours to wait while something compiles. Plus I just don't like the fact that I am forced to use portage and cannot really download something and say "you.... install" without it going "me no have ebuild... cannot find ebuild". As I ride of the the sunset you can hear the sounds, *chomp chomp...chomp chomp*