[CLUE-Talk] This close to moving to Slackware, Jeff

[Jeffery C. Cann]

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On Wednesday 17 January 2001 14:05, Lynn Danielson wrote:

> Just kidding.  While I no longer break out in cold sweats when I
> think about my past experience with Slackware I'm still not a big fan
> of it either.  The last time I looked at it, it seemed much the same.
> It does have virtues, stability, and a butt load of stock boot images
> (I'll let Jeff extol the rest), but handholding is not one of them.


Here's my take:

- - I have used Slackware for about 6 years.  I tried RHAT 4.0, 5.0 and 6.2.  
Only 6.2 was an install that was not painless.  I *hate* RPMs, so RHAT is 
annoying to me.  I like to compile most packages from source and find that 
RPM source builds are pointless (IMHO).  I also tried SuSE 6.1, but I could 
not get the kernel to recompile, so I bailed on it.

- - I am biased because I know Slack; I like Slack; I don't want to use another 
distribution (maybe I'll try Debian, because Ed Young likes it so much)

- - I configured my slackware 7.0 box about 1 year ago.  I have had few 
changes, yet my box runs all the time.

- - I upgraded to KDE 2.0.0 and then KDE 2.0.1 with no problems.  I used 
slackware package manager to upgrade to 2.0.0 and then I downloaded and 
compiled KDE 2.0.1.

- - I recently upgraded from OpenSSH 1.x to 2.x with little trouble (other than 
correct config flags to log in to CLUE web server).

- - I like the BSD init scripts.  IMHO - They are easier for a newbie than the 
Sys V (RHAT, SuSE).  I will admit that the Sys V init scripts are more 
logical, though.

> To upgrade to a new version I think you still pretty much have to
> start from scratch.  You have to carry over any data and configuration
> files from your previous version.  Maybe this has changed with recent
> versions.

If you are running SuSE, I would start over.  I would recommend this when you 
change to any other distro.  The best thing is to make a separate partition 
for /home.  This way, you don't have to mess with that partition when you 
upgrade or change a distribution -- you leave your /home filesystem alone.

> Slackware also doesn't use an administration tool like SuSE's.  Yast
> with a minimal amount of information will tweak all of your necessary
> configuration files.  If you, like Jeff, believe that automated
> configuration tools are for the weak and timid ;-) and that real Linux
> users should learn which configuration files they need to edit, by all
> means use Slackware.  It will force you to learn.  You could install
> webmin or linuxconf.

Out of the box, slackware runs fine for 99% of the people, so configuration 
tools are not that big of a deal.  However, Slackware does use 'netconfig' 
for network configuration -- I have found this to be useful.  The admin tools 
are not necessary for single-user workstations.  Sure, linuxconf (when it 
works) is great if you are a sysadmin for 100+ users.  But using an 
'administration tool' to set up one or two accounts for your personal 
workstation seems pointless to me.  Why not use 'useradd' and be done with it?

I really do not have to edit the configuration files.  In my current 
workstation, I have made 2 changes to the configuration files.  1 to set up 
my dhcpcd for @home and 1 to set up my firewall.

It is true that Slackware does not use Linuxconf (because it is buggy).  It 
is a myth that when using Slackware, it takes a lot of hand-configuration.  
This just is not the case.  In fact, many users in alt.os.linux.slackware 
comment that they tried other distributions and found that Slackware was far 
simpler to set up and configure.  Go figure.

Like fine wine, though, Linux distributions are mostly a matter of taste.  
The important thing is that you run Linux!

Feel free to post Slackware questions to Clue-Talk.  There are several Clue 
folks (like Jim Ockers) who are Slackware users.  Also look for the Slackware 
FAQ on my website:

http://members.home.net/jccann/slackware

Check out http://www.slackware.com (forum section)
and alt.os.linux.slackware newsgroup.

Good luck!

Jeff
- -- 
jccann [at] home [dot] com
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