I just installed my first Slackware distro (Slackware 8.0) and it went much smoother than I expected. I always heard that Slackware was for power-users and only a Linux guru should try to install it. I found the installation process to be easier than the two Red Hat distros I''ve installed (6.1 and 7.1). Has Slackware drastically changed their setup program between the time it earned its guru-only reputation and version 8.0? If not, its reputation is totally unjustified. My brother-in-law recently decided to give Linux a try, so I gave him a copy of my Red Hat 7.1. At the time, I also had the Slackware but hadn''t installed it yet, I just assumed that the Red Hat would be easier for him. If he hasn''t installed it yet, I think I''ll give him Slackware instead. (Red Hat''s requirement of 32 megs for installation kind of reflects poorly on the whole Linux community. After my wife''s brother finally decides to give Linux a spin after hearing me sing its praises for a year, I have to tell him that he might need a memory upgrade (I knew it was for an older machine) just to install it, even though I''ve been telling him that Linux can do more with less.) Sean

quote: Original post by Sean99
I just installed my first Slackware distro (Slackware 8.0) and it went much smoother than I expected. I always heard that Slackware was for power-users and only a Linux guru should try to install it. I found the installation process to be easier than the two Red Hat distros I've installed (6.1 and 7.1). Has Slackware drastically changed their setup program between the time it earned its guru-only reputation and version 8.0? If not, its reputation is totally unjustified.

No, its been the same old bash dialog boxes all the time, well since the time I have been using it ie since 1996.


[edited by - flame_warrior on April 5, 2002 1:33:38 PM]

Slackware was my first distro, and ive tried most of the others ones since and i dont like them as much.

Nah, Slack''s always really been easy to install -- people just often equate text-based with hard and graphical with easy. Not true, in this case, though.

However, the configuration of Slackware does take a bit more time than with distros such as Mandrake (obviously) and SuSE.

Speaking of Slackware installation, I read over at slackware.com yesterday (which is only updated like once every 3 or 4 months at most ) that Slack 8.1 looks like it''ll be released pretty soon, and it includes a newer installation program. Don''t know what that means, though...

rm -rf /bin/laden

I really don''t think any of the distributions I''ve tried have had a difficult installation (RedHat, Mandrake, SuSE, Slackware, and Debian). My stance has always been the upgrading of software (when and if nescessary) would be more of a bother for the average user than installation. I recently took another try at Debian (I installed it before, but got bored before I had even setup X, and went back to Slackware ), and it certainly solves that issue (either through apt-get, or through the GUI interface of kpackage). It''s fun to type "apt-get upgrade" and watch it go .

Debian is probably the hardest to install (only if you download a Woody mini-ISO though ), but once you''ve got it installed, I''d have to say it is by far the easiest to upgrade packages with. apt-get kicks ass , especially since it supports proxy connections, etc.

I think at some point I''m going to actually change my desktop over to Debian, mainly because of the ease of package management, seeing as it is more frequently updated in that area than Slackware (despite the fact that most of the stuff I prefer to compile from source generally). Probably won''t be doing that for a while, though Having really only used three distros (Debian, SuSE, and Slack), Debian and Slack are definately on top. Debian edges Slackware out in package management, though that is not to say that Slack''s upgradepkg (or is it updatepkg? I can never remember) and installpkg don''t work. They actually work quite well, it''s just that you have to actually download the package first With Debian, you just say apt-get install whatever, and it''ll download and install whatever, including any dependencies.

rm -rf /bin/laden

Without starting a new thread, may I ask how much disk space all you guys needed to install slack? My old computer has only 2GB of disk space, and when I tried to install Slack before with only a single basic package installed, that 2GB ran out real quick.

PS: Yes, installation was a breeze.

a single basic package? I fill up 2 gb with a FULL install, which includes a billion programs I never use anyway...

as for slackware being the hard one, slackware IS for the gurus, not because only a guru can use it, rather we just like it...

although if you''re as screwed up as I am, You want Slackware with redhat''s startup scripts style and FreeBSD''s package management

I''m gonna have to work on that one

and don''t go off on me with crap about gentoo, i hate that thing

quote: Original post by Sean99
I just installed my first Slackware distro (Slackware 8.0) and it went much smoother than I expected. I always heard that Slackware was for power-users and only a Linux guru should try to install it. I found the installation process to be easier than the two Red Hat distros I''ve installed (6.1 and 7.1). Has Slackware drastically changed their setup program between the time it earned its guru-only reputation and version 8.0? If not, its reputation is totally unjustified.

My brother-in-law recently decided to give Linux a try, so I gave him a copy of my Red Hat 7.1. At the time, I also had the Slackware but hadn''t installed it yet, I just assumed that the Red Hat would be easier for him. If he hasn''t installed it yet, I think I''ll give him Slackware instead. (Red Hat''s requirement of 32 megs for installation kind of reflects poorly on the whole Linux community. After my wife''s brother finally decides to give Linux a spin after hearing me sing its praises for a year, I have to tell him that he might need a memory upgrade (I knew it was for an older machine) just to install it, even though I''ve been telling him that Linux can do more with less.)

Sean

Yes they did. I started from version 1.somthing and I can tell you that it''s changed a heck of alot. It''s still made for Power-users but install has been simplified a bit so standard users can give it a whirl.

"DaHjajmajQa''jajHeghmeH!"

Cyberdrek
danielc@iquebec.com
Founder
Laval Linux

/(bb|[^b]{2})/ that is the Question -- ThinkGeek.com
Hash Bang Slash bin Slash Bash -- #!/bin/bash

I just installed slack 8.1 tonight after reading this forum. The last time I used slack was 3.4 I think, maybe earlier. It wasn''t hard to install, maybe just a bit annoying having to answer 100 questions about which packages I want to install (yes, no, abort to every package), but that could have been my fault on my options of setting it up.

Doesn''t seem bad at all, plus I was looking to dump mandrake 8.1 anyway.