i've been using slackware for a few weeks now and i'm very happy with the performance and stability. what i'm not happy with is package management. slapt-get is absolutely perfect for keeping a slackware installation up to date with minimal effort, but the package repositories seem to contain only updated versions of what you get with a full installation. about a week ago i checked out ubuntu, because of hype and the fact that's it's based on debian, and found that it's more like "fisher price: my first linux". the reason i'm so interested in debian now is that i've read and heard how much better debian's package repositories are than distro's like slackware, yet it's more like slackware as you have full control from the time you put the first install cd in your drive. i'd like to hear from anyone with debian experience or suggestions for other distributions that may suit my preferences.

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lemurion

336

April 30, 2005 11:39 PM

You should really take a look at Gentoo it's a really nice meta distribution. It's a little hard to understand at the beginning, but it's really worth it. Installing packages in Gentoo is as simple as: emerge <package_name> and it will find dependencies, compiles and then install everything.

hope that helps
Matt

Matt

gumpy

Author

795

April 30, 2005 11:44 PM

gentoo looks excellent as well, and i'd definately try it out if i had a new pc. unfortunately i'm still using extremely outdated hardware and thus prefer the pre-compiled package idea.

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lemurion

336

April 30, 2005 11:50 PM

You can use precompiled packages with Gentoo, they are called GRP iirc, just look at the Gentoo handbook they tell about it. Read about "Stage 3"

hope that helps
Matt

Matt

gumpy

Author

795

April 30, 2005 11:52 PM

Quote: Original post by lemurion
You can use precompiled packages with Gentoo, they are called GRP iirc, just look at the Gentoo handbook they tell about it.

hope that helps
Matt

i wasn't aware of that. thanks for the info. still hoping to hear from debian users too though. :)

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bytecoder

100

May 01, 2005 12:03 AM

Personally, I've used slackware, gentoo, ubuntu, and plain debian, and out of all of them, I prefer ubuntu. Slackware was very nice for all the reasons you stated--I really liked the simple .tgz packages, the speed, the stability, etc., but for some reason it got mysteriously corrupted, so I decided to ditch it. I used gentoo for a few months, mainly when I was into minimalistic window managers, but I decided to ditch it, too, mainly because it took so long to compile and install programs. I couldn't even get debian to work for some reason, although, if I had to recommend something other than ubuntu and slackware, this would be it. Finally, I chose ubuntu, mainly because of its focus on Gnome and usability, along with the fact that it was based on debian. That was back when I was running linux on a laptop; now, I'm running a home-built amd64 system with an nvidia graphics card. I can't recommend ubuntu enough; ubuntu is definitely not "fisher price: my first linux," nor is it a hardcore dyi distro. If you're like me and you like having your computer work for you, but still want the power and customizability of linux, then ubuntu is right for you.

Doc

586

May 01, 2005 12:09 AM

I use Debian Sid. I like it. I prefer it, though it's been a while since I've tried anything else. It works, mostly, though it is a bit picky about what's free and what isn't, but that's why I like it.

(Been a while since I posted last. We have a "Show Preview" button now? OMG it works, too!)

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gumpy

Author

795

May 01, 2005 12:23 AM

actually i was looking into "stable" debian, not any type of unstable, current, work in progress dist.

and yeah, i like that preview feature.

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Doc

586

May 01, 2005 12:37 AM

Forget Stable, much too old. Try Testing. Sarge (Testing) is coming out Any Day Now (TM) (yeah, right), so at least following testing will give you something that's reasonably up to date.

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