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Original post by seanw I've not used Slackware, but why would you not want autoconfiguration and why would you want to edit files by hand? I've used distros like RedHat and Linux for the last few years and I've rarely had to do any manual work to set everything up. I can understand wanting to learn Linux, but I don't see why you'd want to waste time tackling problems manually when automatic solutions have been available for ages.

I asked this exact same question here. I can't summarize the answers properly, although there does seem to be a reason.

CM

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Original post by seanw Quote: Original post by Strife But that's exactly my point. Slackware isn't hard to learn! The only "hard" thing about it is that there's less autoconfiguration going on and a little bit more of editing files by hand... And even that is relatively minimal, provided you don't make major changes to your system after installation. I've not used Slackware, but why would you not want autoconfiguration and why would you want to edit files by hand? I've used distros like RedHat and Linux for the last few years and I've rarely had to do any manual work to set everything up. I can understand wanting to learn Linux, but I don't see why you'd want to waste time tackling problems manually when automatic solutions have been available for ages.

More control.

A lot of the autoconfiging is done at installation. The only times you'll really need todo stuff by hand is when you add hardware to your system or you have weird hardware.

Auto configuration for the hardware would be very useful, as I haven't had the motherboard or graphics card long enough to know that much about them.

I'd definitely want to be given the chance to decide what software is installed though.

I'm currently downloading the ISO file for disk 5 (out of 8) for Debian, and they take approximately 4 hours each if I'm surfing at the same time.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooO!

Unless you're in atypical circumstances, you should probably only download the debian netinstall floppy disk image.

when I started with debian, I didn't know about that, so I went for the next best thing and just got the first CD image.

So, umm, you can start installing now. :)

I am in atypical circumstances. [wink]

The machine I will be installing to is not connected to the 'net as it is physically too far from the ADSL modem (which is used by another computer anyway), plus I don't have Linux drivers for it.

Even if I did move it and manage to find drivers for the installation process, I would rather not have to move it every time I added or updated a package.

okay then. but seriously, the rest of the disks are not really necessary.

I had a full desktop system up and running with jsut the first disk. 5 disks should cover everything you've ever heard of.

Most likely I won't need all the discs, but I'd rather make sure that I have everything for this version to hand just in case.

If I later find that I need something from one of the last discs, the current version may no longer be available, and I'd then have to download a complete new set of ISO files.

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Original post by python_regious Quote: Original post by seanw Quote: Original post by Strife But that's exactly my point. Slackware isn't hard to learn! The only "hard" thing about it is that there's less autoconfiguration going on and a little bit more of editing files by hand... And even that is relatively minimal, provided you don't make major changes to your system after installation. I've not used Slackware, but why would you not want autoconfiguration and why would you want to edit files by hand? I've used distros like RedHat and Linux for the last few years and I've rarely had to do any manual work to set everything up. I can understand wanting to learn Linux, but I don't see why you'd want to waste time tackling problems manually when automatic solutions have been available for ages. More control.

What can you do with Slackware that you can't do with other easier distros though? I'd much rather stick the CD in, install and boot straight into KDE with all my hardware working automatically (e.g. like Suse and Mandrake) and also have good package management systems like urpmi and apt-get. I just don't understand why everyone seems to recommend the easier distros and then says you should move onto things like Slackware/Gentoo later once you have more experience. Why not just stick to the easier ones so you can actually do some work on your computer?

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Original post by seanw What can you do with Slackware that you can't do with other easier distros though? I'd much rather stick the CD in, install and boot straight into KDE with all my hardware working automatically (e.g. like Suse and Mandrake) and also have good package management systems like urpmi and apt-get. I just don't understand why everyone seems to recommend the easier distros and then says you should move onto things like Slackware/Gentoo later once you have more experience. Why not just stick to the easier ones so you can actually do some work on your computer?

I completely agree. The whole "you get more control with (insert distro here)" argument is a complete and total myth. Yes, out of the box, you may have "more control" in that you don't get EVERYTHING configured for you, but that doesn't mean that you can't go and change those things later. The only reason I recommend distros like Slackware, Debian, and Gentoo is because I like them better than Fedora and Mandrake (note I kept SuSE out... I actually really like SuSE).

In short, there is absolutely no reason to "move up" to a distro like Slack or Gentoo after you have "mastered" Fedora or Mandrake. Unless, of course, you want to. Since I like Slackware et al, I recommend them from the getgo. But it's just that: A recommendation.