What is up with Slackware

[shane2peru]

What is up with the Slackware distro? I have looked at their page as I venture through different Linux distros, and there is about NOTHING that interests me in Slackware. That is why I'm posting. What are the cons of Slackware??? Their web site is very sorry, I have looked at it every now and then since version 10 (a friend recommended me to give it a try way back when). I have looked for documentation or screen shots, or advantages, and maybe I'm missing it, but it seems like a distro that is phasing out, or something. Don't flame me, just inform me. :)

Shane

[Bachstelze]

Sackware is all about "Do It Yourself". Some people like it because they want absolute control about everything on their systems, without any automated script interfering. It's also an excellent way to learn more about Linux. As the old saying goes, "When you know RedHat, you know RedHat. When you know Slackware, you know Linux." Even Pat - the guy behind it - does it this way, all by himself.

[Whiffle]

Its about the oldest distro around, and I like it. Its *very* no-frills (as you can see by the website), but its a very solid and stable linux distro with a pretty good following. I ran it for quite a while with very good luck. The only reason I left is for apt-get. Slackware doesn't have a dependency checking package manager nearly as powerful as apt (slapt-get and swaret aren't there yet), so I spent an awful lot of time looking around the internet for dependencies when I was installing something new. That is the *only* con I can think of. On the plus side, for me it ran quite a bit faster than ubuntu, with fewer weird little problems. As long as I was careful about who's packages I installed, everything ran extremely smooth. I kind of miss it actually.

[shane2peru]

Sorry, I meant I wanted to know the pro's I typed wrong. :oops: but I guess you got the idea. :) Thanks for the info. I'm still not overly sold on it.:popcorn:

Shane

[digger95]

Slackware is a great distro and is the only one I use now. It's not as difficult as most people perceive, but doing your own dependency checking and installing can take you to the brink of madness sometimes. Slackware 12 gives you a fully functioning system out of the box, but after that it's up to you.

I recommend slack to anyone who wants to learn the nuts and bolts of Linux. I'm going to school in a computer-related field (GIS) and wanted some Linux experience before I graduate. Now Slackware has replaced Windows on my home machine entirely.

It is the oldest distro still in general use and is also the most unix-like. It is maintained by one man (Pat Volkerding) who insures that slackware remains stable and true to its roots. The packages are updated through slackware-current and it does not feel 'old' at all. Pat's got a very loyal following and once you try slack for a while, it really grows on you fast.

As for the website, it's just like slackware itself. Gets the job done without all the glitz.

Dig

[Whiffle]

So i felt like procrastinating, probably a little too much, and installed Slackware 12.0 on my thinkpad T43. Woooah. I mean, wooooooooaaaaaaaaah. It took a little more fanagaling to setup, but it *flies*. I thought ubuntu was fast, i was wrong. I havn't even tweaked the thing yet and its quite a bit quicker. I think theres more "stuff" loaded by default in ubuntu.

Anyway...

[rliegh]

Slackware is a horrible second (or third, or fourth, or...) Linux distro to run. It is, however, an excellent first Linux Distro.

Running Slackware after having learned on something such as Mandrake or Ubuntu is a lot like learning how to drive a stick-shift after learning how to drive using an automatic. You can do it, but damn is it a pain in the ***.

Long story short; Slackware is a great OS to learn Linux (the CLI aspect, none of this 'gnome' 'synaptic' blah blah blah stuff) from, it's a great minimalist DIY OS, but if you don't even know what a CLI is -stay away, stick to Ubuntu.

[shane2peru]

So i felt like procrastinating, probably a little too much, and installed Slackware 12.0 on my thinkpad T43. Woooah. I mean, wooooooooaaaaaaaaah. It took a little more fanagaling to setup, but it *flies*. I thought ubuntu was fast, i was wrong. I havn't even tweaked the thing yet and its quite a bit quicker. I think theres more "stuff" loaded by default in ubuntu.

Anyway...

Now that is a sales pitch! That makes me want to give Slackware a try.


Slackware is a horrible second (or third, or fourth, or...) Linux distro to run. It is, however, an excellent first Linux Distro.

Running Slackware after having learned on something such as Mandrake or Ubuntu is a lot like learning how to drive a stick-shift after learning how to drive using an automatic. You can do it, but damn is it a pain in the ***.

Long story short; Slackware is a great OS to learn Linux (the CLI aspect, none of this 'gnome' 'synaptic' blah blah blah stuff) from, it's a great minimalist DIY OS, but if you don't even know what a CLI is -stay away, stick to Ubuntu.


CLI, isn't a problem for me. I have Gentoo installed (by the way their web site, and info looks way more inviting then Slackwares). :)

Shane

[tommcd]

I started my linux journey with ubuntu, then I tried debian. I never thought I would ever switch from debian based distros, since I really like the APT package manager. Then I tried zenwalk (based on slackware). Zenwalk is now my main OS. Zenwalk got me interested in slackware, so I installed slack 12 on my laptop. Slackware is now my main OS on the laptop. I have come to really like the slack way of doing things. Yes, there is no dependency management, and you manage them yourself. It is easy to compile things on slack, and the distro seems very hard to break. Slackware comes with a lot of stuff out of the box. I installed everything from the first 2 CDs, and I got all of KDE and XFCE, so you are pretty much good to go right there.
You can get great slack build scripts here:
http://slackbuilds.org/
http://www.slackware.com/~alien/slackbuilds/
and binary slack packages:
http://linuxpackages.net/
http://slacky.eu/
Slackware config files are VERY well commented, and tell you exactly how to edit them right there in the file. I wish all distros were like that. That is what people mean when they say slackware is "simple".
Read the slack book to get started:
http://www.slackbook.org/http://www.slackbook.org

[shane2peru]

I started my linux journey with ubuntu, then I tried debian. I never thought I would ever switch from debian based distros, since I really like the APT package manager. Then I tried zenwalk (based on slackware). Zenwalk is now my main OS. Zenwalk got me interested in slackware, so I installed slack 12 on my laptop. Slackware is now my main OS on the laptop. I have come to really like the slack way of doing things. Yes, there is no dependency management, and you manage them yourself. It is easy to compile things on slack, and the distro seems very hard to break. Slackware comes with a lot of stuff out of the box. I installed everything from the first 2 CDs, and I got all of KDE and XFCE, so you are pretty much good to go right there.
You can get great slack build scripts here:
http://slackbuilds.org/
http://www.slackware.com/~alien/slackbuilds/
and binary slack packages:
http://linuxpackages.net/
http://slacky.eu/
Slackware config files are VERY well commented, and tell you exactly how to edit them right there in the file. I wish all distros were like that. That is what people mean when they say slackware is "simple".
Read the slack book to get started:
http://www.slackbook.org/http://www.slackbook.org

Tell me, what made you stop at Slackware? What were the points of Slackware that you liked better than debian? I'm wondering if I will have time to track down the dependencies, or even the desire, I mean with distros out there that just work, and even Gentoo that gives me the dependencies (most of the time) what would the advantages of Slack be? I do enjoy learning, and think I would enjoy diving into Slackware from that stand point. Can it teach me more than Gentoo? Thanks for the info.

Shane

[tommcd]

Tell me, what made you stop at Slackware? What were the points of Slackware that you liked better than debian? I'm wondering if I will have time to track down the dependencies, or even the desire, I mean with distros out there that just work, and even Gentoo that gives me the dependencies (most of the time) what would the advantages of Slack be? I do enjoy learning, and think I would enjoy diving into Slackware from that stand point. Can it teach me more than Gentoo? Thanks for the info.

Shane


I have not really stopped at slackware, since I still like trying out distros from time to time.
I don't know if there are any real advantages in using slackware over debian. I just feel that I know more about what is going on with my machine in slackware than I do with debian. I suppose this is why people say slackware is simple. Debian and slackware are both excellent, and both are great for learning linux. Slackware is "plain vanilla" (i.e., vanilla kernel, vanilla KDE and XFCE, all vanilla packages straight from the developers). Debian's kernel is patched by the debian devs. This is not necessarily a bad thing, I just think it is easier to learn on a basic, unpatched OS.
As far as dependencies, I haven't had to track down many, and most of what I needed I could find on one the links in my last post, or the README file for the program tells you what you need. I don't need a lot of stuff, so I have only had to compile a few apps.
I don't know if slackware will teach you any more than gentoo. I have not tried gentoo. It seems more complicated than slackware from what I have read about it. I think if you can handle gentoo then you can easily handle slackware.

[shane2peru]

I have not really stopped at slackware, since I still like trying out distros from time to time.
I don't know if there are any real advantages in using slackware over debian. I just feel that I know more about what is going on with my machine in slackware than I do with debian. I suppose this is why people say slackware is simple. Debian and slackware are both excellent, and both are great for learning linux. Slackware is "plain vanilla" (i.e., vanilla kernel, vanilla KDE and XFCE, all vanilla packages straight from the developers). Debian's kernel is patched by the debian devs. This is not necessarily a bad thing, I just think it is easier to learn on a basic, unpatched OS.
As far as dependencies, I haven't had to track down many, and most of what I needed I could find on one the links in my last post, or the README file for the program tells you what you need. I don't need a lot of stuff, so I have only had to compile a few apps.
I don't know if slackware will teach you any more than gentoo. I have not tried gentoo. It seems more complicated than slackware from what I have read about it. I think if you can handle gentoo then you can easily handle slackware.

Thanks for the info, this was overall what I was looking for. Much appreciated.

Shane

[tommcd]

Shane,
If you are interested, here is an excellent podcast about slackware:
http://www.linuxreality.com/podcast/special-episode-1-slackware/
It was done for slackware 11, so some of the stuff (like the different kernels on slack 11) no longer apply to slack 12. The author is a long time slackware user and he explains this stuff much better than I can, plus he provides some excellent advice on using slackware.

[shane2peru]

Shane,
If you are interested, here is an excellent podcast about slackware:
http://www.linuxreality.com/podcast/special-episode-1-slackware/
It was done for slackware 11, so some of the stuff (like the different kernels on slack 11) no longer apply to slack 12. The author is a long time slackware user and he explains this stuff much better than I can, plus he provides some excellent advice on using slackware.

Thanks tommcd, downloading it now, and will listen to it on my trip tomorrow. Thanks for the info. I think I will give it a try when I get back. I don't need to download all 6 cd's right? I will look at the links and read some info before I start downloading. I remember seeing somewhere I don't need them all. Thanks again.

Shane

[Whiffle]

You just need the first 2

[saulgoode]

Thanks tommcd, downloading it now, and will listen to it on my trip tomorrow.

Another audio podcast which might be of interest is this interview with Patryk Volkerding (file: tllts_164-10-25-06) (http://magnumip.org/media/tllts/?C=N;O=D) which took place about the same time as the Linux Reality interview.

Warning: after the interview is ended, the hosts' language becomes a little crude and could be found offensive to some listeners.

[shane2peru]

Ok, I'm sold on Slackware. Downloading cd 1 and 2 and listening to that podcast tommcd suggested. Very insteresting. I will back up my Gentoo, incase I want to go back to it, but I messed up my OOo installation, compiled it without localization! Ahh. Gentoo runs the smoothest and quickest I have ever used on my computer. If Slack is that and or more, I will be very pleased.

Shane

[Bachstelze]

You'll need CD3 if you want localization for KDE (yep, no Gnome !), and it also contains a few extra packages. Though, of course, those can be downloaded and installed afterwards.

[shane2peru]

Most things I'm seeing on Slackware is KDE, is Gnome available?

Shane

[Bachstelze]

No. There is an unofficial project maintaining Gnome packages for Slackware at http://www.gware.org but there is no packages for Slack 12 yet. You'll have to hunt for other sources of packages, or build from source.

[shane2peru]

No. There is an unofficial project maintaining Gnome packages for Slackware at http://www.gware.org but there is no packages for Slack 12 yet. You'll have to hunt for other sources of packages, or build from source.

Ahh, that ain't good! I'm have learned everything on Gnome, and really enjoy the Gnome desktop. I have tried KDE a few times, but, just can't seem to get used to it. Gnome is just a little quicker than KDE. Thanks.

Shane

[Whiffle]

No. There is an unofficial project maintaining Gnome packages for Slackware at http://www.gware.org but there is no packages for Slack 12 yet. You'll have to hunt for other sources of packages, or build from source.


Not quite correct.

http://www.droplinegnome.net/

[Bachstelze]

Well, that's one of the "other sources of packages" ;) I'm not very up-to-date when it comes to Gnome :p

[mindtrick]

After installing Slackware I recommend visiting the forum at
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/

And the links page at LQ wiki
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Slackware-Links

[andrew.46]

Hi,

Saw your post while trawling for Slackware material:


[...] Long story short; Slackware is a great OS to learn Linux (the CLI aspect, none of this 'gnome' 'synaptic' blah blah blah stuff) from, it's a great minimalist DIY OS, but if you don't even know what a CLI is -stay away, stick to Ubuntu.

Mind you there is a gui available. Slackware 12 comes with KDE and xfce + a host of smaller players and if you do a full install with kde you will be shielded a little from the CLI.

One thing that you have missed is that the packahes that come with Slackware usually have not been modified much, if at all, to fit with the distro; this is a marked change from Ubuntu where modifications can be quite extensive.

Andrew

[shane2peru]

Ok, went with Slackware 12 - Full install (the recommended one of 4GB of stuff) and well, no internet!
ifconfig eth0 up gave me an error, no device.
ifconfig -a gives me only lo no eth0. I don't have wireless, nothing special, just a regular eth0 wired dsl internet connection with dhcp setup. I tried running the pkgtool thing and netconfig, and still am without internet. Any help would be appreciated here. Thanks.

Shane

[mindtrick]

shane2peru, what exactly happens when you run "netconfig" as root?

By the way, if you can't any solution I suggest you visit the forums at the above link I've posted. There are many very experienced guys over there.

[shane2peru]

when I run the netconfig, it runs like normal, and I set it up. I setup the domain name, the other name, and then mark the rest as dhcp. Once I switched it and put the ip address that I wanted, but didn't work either. I have posted as well at the linuxquestions.org as well. Hopefully someone will have the answer. Thanks.

Shane

[shane2peru]

Shane,
If you are interested, here is an excellent podcast about slackware:
http://www.linuxreality.com/podcast/special-episode-1-slackware/
It was done for slackware 11, so some of the stuff (like the different kernels on slack 11) no longer apply to slack 12. The author is a long time slackware user and he explains this stuff much better than I can, plus he provides some excellent advice on using slackware.

Thanks for this link!!! I listened to this podcast about 3 times, it is loaded with little nuggets of information for someone that doesn't know anything about slackware. It is kind of dry in some ways, but has a lot of good information! Thanks!

Shane

[Sukarn]

Ok, went with Slackware 12 - Full install (the recommended one of 4GB of stuff) and well, no internet!
ifconfig eth0 up gave me an error, no device.
ifconfig -a gives me only lo no eth0. I don't have wireless, nothing special, just a regular eth0 wired dsl internet connection with dhcp setup. I tried running the pkgtool thing and netconfig, and still am without internet. Any help would be appreciated here. Thanks.

Shane

I had a problem with by eth0 wired dsl not being detected once. It had randomly appeared out of nowhere after working fine for a long time. I fixed that by changing from ethernet to usb mode. Now, I keep both the ethernet and the USB plugged in, just because I feel too lazy to reconfigure windows to work with the USB.

[victorbrca]

I installed Slack 12 on my VB this weekend... gonna give it a try. Installation was pretty straight forward.

For some reason my Gutsy install is a bit flaky... I'm not too happy with that.. :-s


Vic.