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94 Comments
- meridian, on 06/21/2009, -5/+52Give a man Gentoo and he will be Linux.
- Koloss, on 06/21/2009, -1/+42To put this in context, if we're talking about slackware "beginner" means 2 years of experience with another linux distro.
- TrevorBradley, on 06/21/2009, -2/+35Ahh Slackware. She gave me 14 good years of Linux. Eventually package management (and age, I'm now in my mid-30's and don't have time to fiddle anymore) got to me and I switched to Ubuntu.
In the end, it's been the best of both worlds. I get all the community support and lower maintenance of Ubuntu, but can bring all my Slackware Linux experience to get a fine tuned system. I'm pleased both with the switch and my previous experience. - alethes1973, on 06/22/2009, -0/+24This is EXACTLY my experience. Having Slackware for years helped me really learn Linux, but now that I'm in the real world, married, and have kids, I use Ubuntu so I can just use my computer instead of having to tweak it and, as you said, "fiddle" with it.
- americanoboy, on 06/22/2009, -2/+16people who say slackware isn't for a beginner are idiots. slackware's incredibly easy to use. the installation is probably even easier than on ubuntu (just select full install). if you need something done, go to http://www.slackbook.org and skip to whatever you need (partitioning, network, sharing, x). everything is lean, stable, and simple, which is what the distro aims for. in the end, you'll learn not only how to use command line, but you'll know how linux on a lower level without relying on distro-specific gui tools.
- dgh1973, on 06/22/2009, -1/+14"Give a man Gentoo and he will be Linux."
More like he'll have a GCC screensaver... - pokobunt, on 06/21/2009, -3/+15Linux From Scratch will let you learn.
- disappointed, on 06/21/2009, -1/+12It'll certainly make you appreciate a good binary distro.
- Dongvid, on 06/21/2009, -6/+17Just get Arch.
- h0ly, on 06/22/2009, -0/+10Give a man Ubuntu, and he'll learn Ubuntu. Give a man SUSE, and he'll learn SUSE. But give a man Slackware, and he'll give up.
ok just kidding, Slack rules :) - wpyh, on 06/22/2009, -1/+11You don't know Slackware.
- johnkemp, on 06/22/2009, -0/+10He'll also never be asked how he spent his weekend more than once. :)
- dxxvi, on 06/22/2009, -0/+9Win 7 still uses NTFS, right? Then, at least, it cannot compare to any Linux distro using ext3/ext4.
- bdbr, on 06/22/2009, -0/+7Really knowing an operating system involves a lot more than being able to use the GUI. That would even apply to Windows, but even more so to Linux.
- bdbr, on 06/22/2009, -1/+8Why is that "the idea"? We mostly use Linux for servers; they can run for years without needing a reboot. Its also used at the core of all sorts of devices, even phones.
- johnkemp, on 06/22/2009, -0/+7Instead of the broken POS known as windows? I've installed Ubuntu on the home computers of all my family and a couple friends. Not one of them has needed help fixing their computer since.
- marmotjmarmot, on 06/22/2009, -2/+8"let me show you the Man pages"
http://xkcd.com/456/ - nytrokiss, on 06/22/2009, -3/+9Slackware Linux wasn't made for beginners. This guide defeats the purpose of the Distro!
- mrBitch, on 06/22/2009, -0/+6@ johnkemp, RE: " .. it took about an hour each. As of yet the "How Do I...?"s are far less frequent than their requests were to get rid of viruses, fix a broken device, etc... "
Zing! - johnkemp, on 06/22/2009, -0/+6it took about an hour each. As of yet the "How Do I...?"s are far less frequent than their requests were to get rid of viruses, fix a broken device, etc... The only "How Do I..."s have come from my friend who wanted to really dig into the OS. For the average user, a 20 minute tutorial on the basics: launching applications, app installation/removal, system settings and system preferences is all that's needed.
- sanskrtam, on 06/22/2009, -0/+6Slackware, the KISS (Keep It Straight and Simple) distro.
SUSE was historically based on Slackware but now it sadly becomes more and more hectic to use. But still it has good style of usability. Methinks there will be a new SUSE-like distro all made from scratch.
Anyway, Slackware is also famous for its small distro, NimbleX (with a relatively modified KDE). - socokoolaid, on 06/22/2009, -0/+5This article: Beginner's Guide = Install Instructions
- EagleRock, on 06/23/2009, -0/+5Massive thumbs-up for a NON-UBUNTU Linux article! I'm a Debian user through and through, but I've used Slackware as a server for roughly a year and learned quite a bit on it. I'd have to say that Slackware does teach you quite a bit, but there are other distros out there that will teach you things, and they all teach you something different:
openSUSE - Teaches you YaST, and lots of it.
Slackware - Teaches you how to do everything the manual way with no crutches.
Debian - Teaches you how to appreciate free software and how to take advantage of the advanced features of a package management system. It also teaches you how to be bitter towards Ubuntu users.
Fedora - Teaches you that Redhat is using you as a testing ground for RHEL.
CentOS - Teaches you that yes you CAN use RHEL for free!
Gentoo - Teaches you how to install Linux (and see its underpinnings up close and personal). And how to appreciate fast processors that reduce compile times.
gOS - Teaches you that you're using the wrong distro... :-P
Arch Linux - Teaches you how to learn more, since you obviously know your way around Linux if you're installing it.
Ubuntu - Teaches you how to become intimately acquainted with spinning cubes. And brown. Lots and lots of brown.
Now obviously I kid, but there's a hint of truth there. I've used most of the distros I listed above for at least a few months (except gOS, yeesh) and this reflects what I've learned from them all. Slackware and Gentoo taught me quite a bit (Arch would have but I haven't really used it much), and Debian has been my "go-to" distro for a long time since I'm very big on its principles and am just comfortable with it. Either way, Slackware deserves credit for what it is: a no-frills OS that doesn't give you any crutches to depend on. In other words, do it the hard way, but earn your stripes in the process. - sanskrtam, on 06/22/2009, -0/+5Slackware developers use a very different approach to its userland.
Simple, yes. But how to make Slackware simple is different from other simple distros. - sanford42, on 06/22/2009, -0/+5Slack was the first Linux distro I ever tried. I had a friend of mine who convinced me to use Linux, and he came over and walked me through the installer. At the time Red Hat 9 was the "hip" distro, and I had a copy of it, but he said that he wouldn't help me unless I ran Slack first.
At first, I thought he was being a zealot (and he was, to a point), but he did have a good point. I learned how "Linux" works, not how "Red Hat" works. After I got to a point where I didn't have to call him for help anymore, I switched to Red Hat. Granted, now that I'm completely familiar with Linux and can use whatever distro I want, I moved to Debian, and now run Ubuntu.
It doesn't mean I'm lazy, it just means I want to "use" my computer, and not "tinker" with it.
I do go back to Slack every now and then, just out of curiosity, but I work on Linux-based servers for my job, so when I get home and want to use my computer, I just want to sit down and have it work, so I use Ubuntu. - DivineMonkey, on 06/22/2009, -0/+4Been using Arch for a year and love it. No harm in trying other distro's though, might give slack a try, just for fun....Then back to Arch of course =)
- Megatog615, on 06/22/2009, -0/+4I love Slackware. It was the first distro I used(back in 2003-ish) and I actually enjoyed the idea of compiling things from scratch. My OS could be however I wanted it to be. I eventually got bored of compiling things all the time so I went to Ubuntu 5.04 and used it until recently when I switched to Debian Testing.
- TrevorBradley, on 06/22/2009, -2/+6I know this too well...
Daddy, I want to play outside!
Not now honey, I tried to upgrade Firefox by updating glibc and broke the server. Maybe tomorrow?
On a different machine I tried some of the package upgrade systems for my Slackware HTPC and ended up completely breaking the system (unable to boot). I could have taken another 5 to 10 hours to repair it, but was up and running in 5-10 minutes with Mythbuntu. Another few hours of tweaking (far less than with Slackware) had me to where I was before and more. - yuanzhoulu, on 06/22/2009, -3/+7i had bad experiences with slackware every time.
while i know linux well, i also don't mind that the distro configures X and sound for me automatically. i /can/ do it, but it's a waste of time. i'd rather spend time customising linux, not setting it up.
as for me, i use ubuntu; i just 'sudo passwd', set myself a root password, uninstall 'sudo' and continue fiddling the traditional way for all my customisation. this way i've got a base system that's configured and i can tweak it as necessary. i really have no interest spending 30 minutes figuring out my ModeLines manually each time i set up linux. - johnkemp, on 06/22/2009, -0/+4lol. I love that one.
- rmmcclay, on 06/22/2009, -0/+4Slackware Rules...it's been doing a fine job on my servers for many many years.
- shinkou, on 06/22/2009, -0/+4Slackware is not for punky chumpy. You choose it, you'll have get your hands dirty. I've been enjoying the full control over my system for years and I'm not looking back, or any where else.
- JQP123, on 06/22/2009, -1/+5"But give a man Slackware, and he'll learn Linux."
Maybe he'll learn Linux ... or maybe he'll just say "Screw this, I don't have the time" and adopt something else that doesn't require quite so much "learning".
Technology advances by allowing people to achieve more with less effort. In other words, "advancement" happens when technology learns and adapts to people ... not the other way around.
Look at fighter aircraft as an example. An F-22 has fewer controls than an F-18 ... not more.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. - bdbr, on 06/22/2009, -0/+4The first Linux system I ever set up was Slackware, on a Pentium Pro-based server. It took some learning, but it worked and ran for years. The worst part was downloading all the disk images over dialup (that was many years ago). I did learn a lot about Linux in a very short time, though. These days you can install and run Linux without knowing a whole lot about it.
- rs8000, on 06/22/2009, -0/+3Nuff Said
- MattBD, on 06/22/2009, -0/+3I use Ubuntu as my main OS, but I'm still a fan of Slack. I've never actually run it on one of my computers, having only used it in Virtualbox, but I could easily see myself switching to it at some point. It's relatively simple under the hood, making it easy to tinker with, and you can learn a lot from it.
Ubuntu has its place, sure, but so does Slack. It's a great OS. - YourNameHere1, on 06/23/2009, -0/+3I would love to install the new Slackware64. The only things stopping me is:
A.) I have no reason to scrap a perfectly running Arch64.
B.) I'm sure Slackware is a bit more difficult than Arch and I don't feel like relearning at this moment, maybe next year.
C.) I like pacman/pacbuilder and the ABS/AUR a lot.
D.) I love the Arch Wiki pages..... so much technical info in there.
E.) Last year when I scrapped a perfectly running Arch64 to try Gentoo, I went through 3 days of following the directions perfectly to get to a grub screen that wouldn't boot my kernel..... I'm sure that I could of stuck with it and figured out what I was doing wrong, but the only reason I had wanted to try Gentoo was to build packages from source using my C[XX]FLAGS/LDFLAGS..... and with the "pacbuilder-svn" package in Arch I am able to that. I can also use the C[XX]FLAGS/LDFLAGS that I place in my makepkg-git.conf file, and if I want to build with "use flags" I could do that in a PKGBUILD.
..... I like building my own kernels and all of my packages from source, but it's also nice to be able to install a binary if something can't build correctly or if I'm in a rush for something. - flashingcurser, on 06/24/2009, -0/+3You are right in the fact that they all start with the same source code. The difference is that Pat doesn't add patches to any software unless he absolutely has to. Often packages in other distros are so patched that the binaries have become distro specific. In slackware it is incredibly easy to roll-your-own if you want to. Another reason Slackware is Linux is because it is the oldest still available distro, it is also the first to compile ELF binaries.
As far as package management, tgz is very similar to deb or rpm. The difference is that Slackware doesn't ship with a program like YUM or APT to download and install from repositories, though you can install slapt-get and other that do the same thing. - johnkemp, on 06/22/2009, -0/+3hehe masturbating monkey :) I kid, I kid. I've got a FreeBSD-based fileserver (FreeNAS) that's been quietly plugging away in the corner of my room for the past 5 months without having to mess with it or restart. It's a great distro.
- etx313, on 06/22/2009, -0/+3Beat me to it!
- SteveMax, on 06/22/2009, -0/+3I'd say Slackware is for anyone who is interested in knowing what happens under the hood of their system. If you have little experience in Linux, it's even better to start up with Slack: you won't have the vices and misconceptions from other distros. After you really get Slack, you can get any other *nix in minutes. I usually recommend Slack to new Linux users who happen to have a real interest in computers, those who want to know more; "regular" users should stay away from it, and go to Suse/Ubuntu instead.
- MattBD, on 06/22/2009, -0/+3This is Slackware. It's an intermediate to advanced distro. If you don't want to learn you use another distro, simple as that. Slackware is aimed at people who are willing to sit down and get their hands dirty.
Ubuntu or Linux Mint are perfectly usable for newbies. I managed to get my head round Ubuntu two years ago, even though it was harder to use then and I didn't know ***** about computers at the time.
And for your information there's plenty of things that are harder to do on OS X than Linux - I use both OS X and Linux to some degree, and I've had to compile from source more times on OS X than on Linux. - wmuldoon, on 06/22/2009, -0/+3I run slack12. KDE wasn't designed to mimic windows, it was designed to be similar to mac os and win95, i know it sounds nitpicky, but i believe theres a difference. and the KDE3 series matured way past anything MS had at the time, and broke a lot of ground.
and it has nothing to do with helping *nix newbs feel at home after MS...it was done because at the time, there weren't many full DE's, just WM's and file managers all thrown together... nothing was unified in look and feel, a big sell of KDE even today. it was going to be named Common Desktop Environment.
wikipedia?.... - talkingtent, on 06/22/2009, -1/+4Finally, they have given Slackware the recognition that it deserves. It's the oldest maintained distro out there. Stuff that in your pipe Ubuntu fanboys and smoke it.
- wmuldoon, on 06/22/2009, -1/+4I liked windows 7 more when it was called KDE358 and was free stable and slimmer.
- johnkemp, on 06/22/2009, -1/+4away with you troll...
- dragon76, on 06/22/2009, -0/+3There's nothing really "Linux" about Linux unless you are compiling your own kernel. I learned *UNIX* from Irix and Mac OS X 10.0-10.2 (which required so much damn CLI to get things done that were GUI-based in Mac OS 9).
- ScottyMcBaggs, on 07/01/2009, -0/+2Traditional? sudo has been in wide use since the 80s, so it's probably more of a tradition than your dad banging your mom.
- flashingcurser, on 06/24/2009, -0/+2Dugg for:
Debian: "how to be bitter towards Ubuntu users"
That made me laugh. - mrBitch, on 06/22/2009, -0/+2@ dxxvi, RE: " .. Win 7 still uses NTFS, right? Then, at least, it cannot compare to any Linux distro using ext3/ext4."
NTFS is only a small part of the legacy crud that Windows 7 still supports. -
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