slackware

[stunningman]

why is slackware considered as linux for hackers...........?

[aeiah]

it demands (or enables you to learn) a knowledge of linux that distros like ubuntu dont

[stunningman]

but what is the thing that makes slackware unique?

[p_quarles]

Moved to the Slackware sub-forum.

[aeiah]

it has very stable (and often not that new) software in its repositories that has been thoroughly tested. thats probably what makes it unique. its also a distro that requires a lot of command line usage and the editing of configuration files, which can make it rather intimidating for people new to linux or not that computer-savvy in general

[Junglizer]

it has very stable (and often not that new) software in its repositories that has been thoroughly tested. thats probably what makes it unique. its also a distro that requires a lot of command line usage and the editing of configuration files, which can make it rather intimidating for people new to linux or not that computer-savvy in general

You might want to look in the following thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=656807

But going along with what aeiah said, I would say its simplicity is what makes it difficult. You *need* to understand a lot more about how the system works in order to use it successfully, or at least to get what you want out of it. You install what you want by compiling programs from source, this is really handy if you need to pass specific options to the compiler to get things to work on your system. Something doesn't work? Recompile the kernel. Editing the config files from the command line is nothing new, in all reality, most versions of linux can be viewed as similar, if you understand linux as a whole. By that I mean, if you've used Slackware heavily, and know where all the files to change things are, you should be able to use Ubuntu, but you wouldn't need to navigate through the GUI, you could just edit things manually like you are used to, though some of the files will be in slightly different locations. Surely you've noticed that many people have problems with things like wireless cards not working after the updates or the newest release. This is b/c newer software is less tested and therefore less stable. Slackware (and Debian) chose the stability route, so you don't always see new updates and releases. Usually if you need to update something specific you will do it yourself. That being said, you don't need to worry about your system failing when you update it, b/c it doesn't update.

[Junglizer]

And for a side point of reference on stability (or the userbase on these forums) aside from your post being moved here, its been aproximately one full buisness week without a single post into the Slackware section.

[deepclutch]

well,I have a doubt,I heard that slackware doesnot strictly resolve dependencies.how do u ppl manage ?

[Junglizer]

well,I have a doubt,I heard that slackware doesnot strictly resolve dependencies.how do u ppl manage ?

You're quite right, but even more so, it does not even have a package manager at all. You best know how to google for what you want. Not to say that it doesn't come with loads of packages if you do the default install. I always recommend the DVD install b/c its simpler and you can just install everything if you aren't sure. (So that's around 4.5gigs of programs, plus it comes with about 6 different window managers [gui's] so you can choose the one you like.)

[Lord Illidan]

http://www.slackbook.org/html/package-management.html

http://www.slacksite.com/slackware/packages.html

Personally, I'd prefer Debian stable. Or Arch Linux