Time for Slackware? - Page 2


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Thread: Time for Slackware?

  1. #16
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    /me thinks I'm mad --- I've always thought slackware's installation to be excessively easy, just "next-next-next" through the installer with minimal alterations over the sensible defaults (which is much better than windows' installer)

    anyone cares to clarify the steep learning curve for me?
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  2. #17
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    Someone once told me that if you have allot of people pissed off at you, chances are you are doing something right. I kinda feel like this is happening to Ubuntu. Believe me, I am not a "fan boy" type but when something is good its good. Ubuntu, right now is actually much better than good. Sure its not for everybody but because of it, GNU/Linux is for more people than ever before. Yes, its more user friendly, yes it does things for you, yes it attempts to keep you from damaging your own system. But, the greatest thing of all is that it is still Linux and more better, it is very much Debian. It is far more FHS compliant that any other "newbie friendly" distro, and that goes a long way to allowing the newbie who starts with Ubuntu and learns more and more about Linux over time, to stay with Ubuntu because the fact is, it does most things the proper Linux way.

    Like many have said already, its Linux, like any other distro. They will all do what you want if you work hard enough at it. I love Slack and Debian too and learned more about Linux the year I spent using Slackware exclusively that any other time but hey, I gotta get stuff done too and make a living and raise kids.

    #RANT BEGIN
    And for the crowd that just has to complain about the "root user" issue. If you so damn skilled that you can use the root account with impunity, then you should be able to figure out all you have to do is:
    $sudo su
    #passwd
    Or at least Google it. There is no need to berate Ubuntu as newbie freedom sucking ****e because of your own ignorance.
    #RANT END

    Cheers

    Mike
    $whatis microsoft
    microsoft: nothing appropriate

  3. #18
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    The first time I installed it I had trouble with video, which made me appreciate the default runlevel 3, and at first I had no idea how to get and install packages, plus I had to learn about ./configure && make && make install.

    So like I said, brief, but steep, especially if you're coming from a hand-holding distro like Ubuntu.
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  4. #19
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    Thanks for all the comments. I think I will infact give Slackware a shot this summer when I have LOADS of time. I use my computer for work and struggling with the OS when you want to write a document can be fustrating.

    I agree, going to Slackware will be difficult coming from using Ubuntu for so many years but I did used to use Debian Woody/Sarge which taught me a lot. Thanks again for the replies.

    EDIT: I may give Zenwalk a try, thanks for the tips.
    NotJustANewbie
    ------------------
    "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe." - Albert Einstein

  5. #20
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    However...
    After you manage the brief, but steep learning curve in Slack, future installations of Slack will be a breeze, and you will have a great understanding of basic Linux principles that you can apply to future projects!

    One other note, Slack installs to runlevel 3 (text) and you need to run startx to get kde running. Once everything is copacetic, you can modify the default runlevel in /etc/inittab, using one of those text editor thingys mentioned by Darkbolt.

    the reason you have a steep learving curve is because the distros you were using. if you started with slackware you wouldnt have as much learning to do. slackware is where i got a good grasp on how *NIX systems really worked. i didnt even have X windows on it for a good 4 months. I believe the best way to learn is setup a server without X running. I prefer to run all my machines in run level 3 and if i need to i boot to run level 5.
    "Software is like sex: it's better when its free."
    -LINUS TORVALDS

  6. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by crow2icedearth
    the reason you have a steep learving curve is because the distros you were using. if you started with slackware you wouldnt have as much learning to do. slackware is where i got a good grasp on how *NIX systems really worked. i didnt even have X windows on it for a good 4 months. I believe the best way to learn is setup a server without X running. I prefer to run all my machines in run level 3 and if i need to i boot to run level 5.
    That's my point, I did start with Slackware. Therefore, the learning curve was steep, it did nothing for me, but brief, as I figured out the first afternoon of playing around with it and reading online.
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  7. #22
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    the one good good thing about slackware is the install time is very fast if you want a bare bone min linux system running. Other distros take longer to install for the same appz.


    the main learning curve is learning *NIX. how process work , filesystems, config files , text editors , shell , kernel , commands , etc
    "Software is like sex: it's better when its free."
    -LINUS TORVALDS

  8. #23
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    I agree that there is much overkill about slackware being tough to learn , i am not a programmer what i learned i did thanks to this forum and the likes of it......slack has a great community and of course google is our friend....also i prefer slackpkg over the other tools available......just installed slack-10.2 on this here old laptop (compaq-1200 , 700mgz,no dvd)and everything works fine...except for the touchpad which i do not use anyway (later)...my 2 cts
    3 Slackware12.1 and 1 Debian Squeeze (3 puters), purring

  9. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by dkeav
    yea i think ions just made a very good point there, something most users should think about before they go to distro hopping
    What's wrong with distro hopping? Why must we always be distro-hopping-bashing?

    Okay, seriously, I have no idea if it's time for Slackware, but regarding distro-hopping, my opinion is that regularly uprooting your system to experiment with something else is a bad habit, but reserving a space on your hard drive for a "guest" installation is edifying, ennobling, and totally cool. Right now, my "guest" partition is running Ubuntu. If you had one, maybe it would be running Slackware.

    Ubuntu made me feel the same way, so it's understandabe, but that doesn't mean that we weren't freaking out over nothing.
    Last edited by blackbelt_jones; 01-06-2007 at 01:44 PM.

  10. #25
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    The thing wrong with distro hopping, for people like BlackBelt_Jones, is that the forums suddenly has to deal with lots of complaints...
    Come under the reign of the Idiot King...
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  11. #26
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    i can understand being fed up with something a distro does, ie their package managment system since basically thats the real difference, and wanting to switch to a different one

    but the fact is, there are only 3-4 real distros, you got your main rpm distro from redhat, all others are derivitives of that, your bin package based slack and its derivitives, meta-source distro being gentoo, deb package distros being debian and its derivitives

    if you encounter a problem in a distro, switching to the next one down the line hoping its fixed solves nothing, its better to identify the problem, get help if you need it and solve it, especially in the public way we do things here, that way for future users with the same problem can search see someone else hit that wall, and how they overcame it

    running away from problems just delays the reality of the issue at hand, pick a distro because linux is linux, and make it work, if you hit a snag, then work it out and move on

  12. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by XiaoKJ
    The thing wrong with distro hopping, for people like BlackBelt_Jones, is that the forums suddenly has to deal with lots of complaints...
    I don't even know what that means.

    Quote Originally Posted by dkeav
    i can understand being fed up with something a distro does, ie their package managment system since basically thats the real difference, and wanting to switch to a different one

    but the fact is, there are only 3-4 real distros, you got your main rpm distro from redhat, all others are derivitives of that, your bin package based slack and its derivitives, meta-source distro being gentoo, deb package distros being debian and its derivitives

    if you encounter a problem in a distro, switching to the next one down the line hoping its fixed solves nothing, its better to identify the problem, get help if you need it and solve it, especially in the public way we do things here, that way for future users with the same problem can search see someone else hit that wall, and how they overcame it

    running away from problems just delays the reality of the issue at hand, pick a distro because linux is linux, and make it work, if you hit a snag, then work it out and move on
    He's right... but on the other hand, it worked for me. Whether installing Linux 1000 times over three years is a sign of an impatient and therefore morally weak mind, or a patient and therefore morally upright mind is not terribly relevant, and neither is whether a different approach would have been faster or easier. Distro-hopping like a fiend, I did find a distro that worked really well for me, and now I'm working outward from there. Today, I do whatever I want with my computer, and I run no windows; that was the goal from the beginning, and now I'm starting to go further.

    If you can get to your goals in the approved way, that's good. But the only thing that really matters is staying active and interested and not giving up.
    For a long time, I just couldn't read the manuals. I bought hundreds of dollars worth of Linux books, carried them around, I'd fall asleep with my face on the book, and wake up with my drool on the page. I just couldn't read it, and anybody who expresses that kind of problem inn terms f a preference or choice just isn't getting it. It like people who say that being gay is a choice. I could not read the damn book.

    Nevertheless, I got my linux literacy, by lots and lots of hours of staying active and interested. However, if you can get it by reading the book, that would be probably be preferable.

    The experts are experts on everything but what it's like to not be an expert.
    Last edited by blackbelt_jones; 01-06-2007 at 09:15 PM.

  13. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by crow2icedearth
    the main learning curve is learning *NIX. how process work , filesystems, config files , text editors , shell , kernel , commands , etc
    That's what I was trying to say! Well put!
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  14. #29
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    yep those are all concepts to be learned in using a unix like environment, master those and the distro or OS wont matter, you can apply those concepts to any of them, since linux is linux after all

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