Slackware vs. Ubuntu?

[gjoellee]

Slackware is used by people who know Linux, due to the minimal system, Slackware is actually faster then Arch Linux in some places. Slackware is however harder to use, you install source packages and must find the dependencies yourself which can be a real pain in your butt.

[andrew.46]

Hi gjoellee,

[...] you install source packages and must find the dependencies yourself which can be a real pain in your butt.

It is not actually such a burden, dependencies are usually explicitly mentioned on websites for software as well as itemised in documents in the source code itself. It is only a small amount of homework usually. There is also a wealth of wrapper scripts available for the source code that makes life much easier.

Reading back through this thread I see there is a fair bit of talk about some of the dependency tracking tools available for slackware. I am pretty sure however that the vast majority of users do not use these tools and are quite happy with installpkg, removepkg and pkgtool which do not check dependencies.

Andrew

[Antman]

hi gjoellee,



it is not actually such a burden, dependencies are usually explicitly mentioned on websites for software as well as itemised in documents in the source code itself. It is only a small amount of homework usually. There is also a wealth of wrapper scripts available for the source code that makes life much easier.

Reading back through this thread i see there is a fair bit of talk about some of the dependency tracking tools available for slackware. I am pretty sure however that the vast majority of users do not use these tools and are quite happy with installpkg, removepkg and pkgtool which do not check dependencies.

Andrew

+1

[ZBREAKER]

+2

Absolutley....the dependency issue was probably the scariest thing with Slack at first. But as I learned with time, it basicallly became a non-issue given the massive amount of programs which come with the distro and the excellent quality of packages from other sources such as SlackBuilds and Slacky.eu.

[octavianus]

How big is the chance that one day we will see a Slackware derivative similar to what Ubuntu has become from Debian ?

[jrusso2]

Slackware is a total pain in the butt but its much better then Ubuntu, does not come with Gnome, Pat V hates it and won't allow Gnome. Once you use Slackware its much faster then Ubuntu and most stable.

[Antman]

How big is the chance that one day we will see a Slackware derivative similar to what Ubuntu has become from Debian ?

I guess when a billionaire decides to fund Zenwalk or Vector Linux.

[C!oud]

...does not come with Gnome, Pat V hates it and won't allow Gnome.

Good, me too

[andrew.46]

Hi jrusso,

Slackware [...] does not come with Gnome, Pat V hates it and won't allow Gnome.

The text of the changelog that speaks of this can be seen here:

http://slackwiki.org/GNOME

where reasons other than 'hate' are mentioned . Gnome can still be used with Slackware, as is pointed out on this page, it is simply not part of the official distribution.

Andrew

[Maarek Stele]

I find that Slackware is for a true Linux user that will customize their software to fit their needs and write most of the configurations on their own. I have "tried" it but always had trouble trying to get an ATI RADEON card to work in Slackware in X windows.